President bats for gender parity

New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) Pointing out that India's developmental goals are meaningless without gender parity, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said participation of Indian women in science was distressingly small.

"None of our developmental goals has any meaning without gender parity, and without equal opportunities for our daughters and girl children," the President said at the 76th foundation day of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). 

He pointed out that less than two of every 10 scientific researchers in India are women. 

"Of those who join the Indian Institutes of Technology each year, just about 10 per cent are women," Kovind said, adding that these numbers are simply not acceptable.

"In the past seven decades, the CSIR as a body and India as a society have made enormous progress. Yet, the participation of women in science in our country is distressingly small," he added. 

The President said if this disparity is not addressed, our scientific achievements will always be less than perfect and less than desirable.

He lauded the CSIR, stating that while it accounted for three to four per cent of India's scientific manpower, its contribution is 10 per cent of India's overall scientific output.