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FICCI & DST launch Coffee Table Book on the C V Raman International Fellowship for African Researchers to celebrate successful journey of African Research Scholars in India
Jan 18, 2018
NEW DELHI, 18 January 2018: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, today launched a Coffee Table Book on the C V Raman International Fellowship for African Researchers highlighting the successful journey of the programme so far. The fellowship scheme was introduced under the India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) to promote scientific cooperation between India and Africa.
According to Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST, the "C V Raman International Fellowship for African Researchers is one of the most prestigious programme of the Department of Science and Technology and we are proud to see the pan-India and Africa reach with our commitment to double up the number of fellowships". He thanked the African partner nations for their overwhelming support in making the programme a great success and strengthening the bond of partnership through scientific and technological linkages.
Mr. Alem Tsehay Woldemariam, Ambassador of the State of Eritrea to India, in his remarks, commended the Government of India for the strong partnership with African nations the field of science and technology, especially for the capacity building efforts undertaken by the Indian government. He expressed confidence that the Fellowship would be taken up by a greater number of researchers from Africa as the programme provides a holistic and well-rounded foundation to the CV Raman Fellows.
Following the announcement made by the Prime Minister of India in the India Africa Forum Summit III, the number of C V Raman Fellowships has been doubled from 100 to 200 fellowships every year.
The programme has helped to take the footprints of Indian science to 40 countries across the African continent, thereby helping to nurture and build scientific connect with hundreds of top researchers in Africa.
Dr. Arabinda Mitra, Adviser, International Cooperation, DST, who was instrumental in designing the scheme said, "The C V Raman International Fellowship is a unique programme to strengthen the bonds of scientific collaboration between India and Africa through supporting human capacity building which will enable long term partnerships in research and development".
The African scholars are able to nurture their research ideas under the guidance and mentorship of leading Indian scientists and academicians and benefit from access to advanced scientific facilities in premier educational institutes and research laboratories in India. Welcoming the guests, Mr. Nirankar Saxena, Deputy Secretary General, FICCI, said "India's C V Raman International Fellowship programme helps build capacity of African Researchers to scale research and cull out innovations that will shape the future of Africa and India".
Around 139 R&D institutions and laboratories, universities and colleges from across 70 cities in India have hosted the African researchers under this programme over the last seven years. For majority of the Fellows, the programme has contributed immensely to their career and helped them develop new research ideas in science and technology after returning to their home country.
The scheme has got overwhelming response from across Africa and going forward, the partners expect to raise the number of research fellows to 1000 and continue strengthening the bond by creating a bridge of knowledge between Indian research expertise and African scholars.