Saturday, January 8 2005 15:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Assuring that appropriate legal system would be put in place to protect the Intellectual Property rights, Union Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal today (Jan 8, 2005) told the Scientists and Technologists of Indian Origin (STIO) that the country had become a land of 'opportunity'.

Addressing STIO at the Third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Mumbai, he said that the Indian Government was in the process of de-bureaucratising various procedures to welcome them in large numbers.

The Government has submitted proposal for STIO where the scientists and technologists could come to India and collaborate with Indian institutes for a period of two to 12 weeks.

"I promise to build an environment to welcome all of you," Sibal said.

"India is planning to increase the investment in R&D to two per cent and heavily invest in patents to meet the IP regime. Our collaboration should continue on a bigger scale and the dialogue should continue," he said.

He said that an appropriate environment will be created for STIO and priority would be given to collaboration in fields that would boost the Indian economy.

There were difficulties in predicting southwest monsoon in the country, he said adding, "We have to invest in our weather system." Referring to recent tsunami tragedy, Sibal called upon scientists to work in a collaborative mode with nature.

Some of the areas of collaboration he mentioned were nano technology, agriculture and energy.

Mentioning about foreigners investing in knowledge in India, Sibal said that STIO should also look at collaboration in these fields.

Recognising the challenges before the scientists after the great tsunami tragedy, Sibal said understanding the rules of the game, which is the 'law of the nature', was very important.

Meanwhile, some of the STIOs told the Minister that India should take a leading role in the recycling technology to mitigate the 'dumping disaster' of so many products.