27-Jul-2022: Schemes for gifted and talented children

The Government of India under National Talent Search, awards 2000 scholarships in the country to the talented students. Government also launched Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme- ‘DHRUV’ on 10th October, 2019 at ISRO, Bengaluru with active participation & consultation of State Governments to mentor and nurture talented children to enrich their skills and knowledge so that they can realize their full potential and contribute to society. Under this Programme students of Science group and of Performing Arts group were selected from class 9 to 12 by an Advisory Committee headed by the Principal Scientific Advisor in consultation with the Department of Science and Technology, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT), Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) and Sangeet Natak Akademi, Ministry of Culture.

10-Oct-2019: Union HRD Minister launches a unique initiative for talented students ‘Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme- DHRUV’

Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’  launched a unique initiative, the Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme-DHRUV, which will act as a turning point in the lives of extra ordinarily talented students, from the premises of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Headquarters at Bengaluru.

The new Programme DHRUV will act as a platform  to explore the talent of outshining and meritorious students, and help them achieve excellence in their specific areas of interest may it be science, performing arts, creative writing, etc. In this way, these talented students will not only realize their full potential but also contribute to the society in a big way.

The Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme has been started to identify and encourage talented children to enrich their skills and knowledge In centres of excellence across the country, gifted children will be mentored and nurtured by renowned experts in different areas, so that they can reach their full potential. It is expected that many of the students selected will reach the highest levels in their chosen fields and bring laurels to their community, State and Nation.

Speaking on the occasion, the HRD Minister said that the programme represents the vision of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and he expressed his happiness that the programme has been launched in the presence of the bright students. This programme will prove to be a turning point for the students as well as the society, and it is through their achievements that the world will know ‘Saare Jahan se accha Hindustan Hamara’. Giving details, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal said that we have included students of performing arts along with students of science, since performing arts have a great power to move ideas and people. With children drawn from all over the country, the DHRUV programme reflects the true spirit of EK Bharat Shreshth Bharat. The Minister further said that now the onus is on these energetic and dynamic students to work towards taking India to the peak of its glory by which it was famous in the ancient times. Not only this, the students will now act as a beacon for the 33 crore students in the country and lay down a unique path for them to follow. He lauded the initiatives taken by the Government under the guidance of Prime Minister’s Vision such as Make In India, Startup India, Skill India, Digital India and several others which will make the country a world leader.

While addressing the gathering, Dr. Sivan said that each selected student will be christened as Dhruv Tara and expressed happiness that the flagship programme has been inaugurated at ISRO Headquarters which will provide a source of inspiration to the young minds. Quoting example of India’s Space programme Dr. Sivan said the programme has reached unexpected heights due to the talented and bright young minds over the last 60 years and the Dhruv Taras are also expected to make similar contributions to solve problems faced by the people.

While sharing his experiences ,Shri Rakesh Sharma said that these Dhruv Taras are the future innovators in their respective fields. He appealed to the student to be future ready to take on the challenges like terrorism, climate change, pollution which are staring us in the face now. He advised the youngsters to choose the purpose higher than yourself and also to revisit your personal definition of success. He also said it is not wealth but cutting edge work which brings greater satisfaction in life.

60 outstandingly talented students have been selected in the first batch of DHRUV programme. The students will thus both shine through their achievements and light a path for others to follow. To begin with, it will cover two areas i.e. Science and Performing Arts. There are 60 students in all, 30 from each area. The 60 students come from across the country. The students have been broadly chosen from classes 9 to 12, from all schools including government and private.

After today’s launch, a 14 days programme has been organized for these students in which the science and performing arts students will be separated into two groups. The science students will be divided into 3 groups of 10 each and also the performing arts students into 3 groups of 10 each. Each group from science stream will be required to produce a project under the mentorship of experts from the field of science. Similarly, each group in performing arts will be mentored by icons from the field of culture and will be required to choreograph a programme. All the six teams will be given themes relevant to issues being faced globally like environment change, pollution, terrorism, etc.  From 14th to 23rd October, 2019 students will participate in various activities at IIT, Delhi and National Bal Bhawan.

A valedictory programme will be held on 23rd October, 2019in which these 6 groups will present their project/performances on the above mentioned themes. This is only the first phase of the programme which will be expanded gradually to other fields. These students will be visiting important places of scientific and cultural interest in Bengaluru and New Delhi.

Students will be able to interact with renowned mentors both in Delhi and abroad through video conferencing with global personalities. In addition, mentors who have excelled in innovation in non-science and non-performing arts fields will also interact with the students

A short film on Wg. Cdr. Ramesh Sharma was also played on the occasion. Three students innovators and budding scientists namely Rifat Sharook, Yagna Sai and Vijay Lakshminarayan who have built a Nano-satellite"Kalam-Sat-V2" which was launched by ISRO on 24th January 2019, gave a presentation on their innovative project. These students have been mentored by Dr. Srimathi Kesan from Space Kids India. Later, Shri Sivan answered many questions asked by the  students on various issues.

11-Mar-2020: Protecting IP Intensive Industries

Intellectual Property (IP) intensive industry is not defined, however, this Department has taken various initiatives to strengthen Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Regime in India like legislative improvements, modernisation of IP offices, manpower augmentation, use of IT and technology, e-filing of applications, acceptance of email in all IPO transactions, online delivery of certificates of grant/registration of patent, trademark and designs in digital format, use of video-conferencing for hearing of IP applications, SMS alert to get updates, expedited examination of IP applications, spreading awareness in IPR, India’s accession to WIPO administered treaties, signing of pilot Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) project with Japan in the month of December 2019.

Impacts of the initiatives taken during last 5 years are as under:

• Period of examination of new Trademarks applications has been reduced from  13   months to less than 30 days.
• Trademark is registered in less than 7 months, if there are no objections or opposition filed, as compared to 3-5 years required earlier.
• 11.25 lakh trademark registrations in just four and half years (2015 to 2019)   as   compared to 11 lakh registrations during 75 Years (1940-2015).
• Patent examination increased from 22631 in 2014-15 to 85426 in 2018-19.
• Time required for patent examination reduced from average 72 months in 2014- 2015 to average around 36 months in 2019.
• Grant of patents has increased from 5,978 in 2014-15 to 15,283 in 2018-19.

The Government of India has been working steadily to improve India’s ranking in Global Innovation Index (GII) and this is evident from the fact that India has been consistently moving up on global ranking in past few years. India’s ranking has improved from 81 in 2015 to 52 in 2019 in GII.

Amendments in IP Acts are considered by the Government of India as and when deemed necessary.