In the “One Week One Lab” programme of CSIR-NPL, Delhi, the program ended with a Skill Conclave held on April 21, 2023. The conclave was open to the public, and about 400 persons from various academic institutions, business, students, and members of the general public from a range of societal vocations were present.

Welcoming the gathering, Prof. Venugopal Achanta, Director CSIR-NPL, spoke about the nation’s need for demand and supply of skilled resource persons during the Skill Conclave. Additionally, he spoke about how the grooming of new talents, upgrading of current ones, and the development of new ones, as well as innovative thinking, are crucial for the progress of any nation. “CSIR-NPL organises various training programs/ courses on a regular basis in the field of metrology to promote and train the skill man power for the country in order to bridge the gaps between the skill manpower supply and demand of the country”, Prof Achanta added.

In his speech, the guest of honour, Dr. Nagahanumaiah, Director, CMTI, Bengaluru, discussed the problems faced by our education system and also discussed probable solutions for the same. He said “PSUs should revive themselves by introducing rigorous Graduate Engineering Training (GET) program.” Also, he motivated young brains to develop skills related to applied field of engineering and also described the internship and skill development programs at CMTI.

The chief guest of the event, Prof. T. G. Sitharam, chairman of AICTE, delivered a visionary speech. In his lecture on “Building a coherent skilling ecosystem for India”, he said, “Humans will be at the center even after the emergence of the artificial intelligence platforms like chat GPT as the technology is developed by humans only.

He also added that every day, the technology is changing at rapid speed, so to make pace with new upcoming technologies, we need to acquire knowledge and keep updating our skills to make India as Vishwa-Guru”.

In this captivating event, the keynote speaker Dr. R. Chidambaram, (Padma Vibhushan), former Principal Scientific Advisor, Govt. of India emphasized the need to generate new knowledge, and the importance of skill to add on to the knowledge. He shared his views on the Statements of World Bank which says that low skills perpetuate poverty and inequality. However, “Over-skilling and under-skilling are also a major concern”, he added. “To fight with the climate change and associated threats, we MUST need low carbon technologies and the relevant skills to address the issue” Dr Chidambaram said. Further in his speech he laid his views that skill conclave under One Week One Lab program has been good initiative and such programs will be very helpful to young generation that will help the country to attain a technological leadership position.

Several renowned scientists, administrators and industry invited experts including Dr. D. K. Aswal (Former Director, CSIR-NPL), Ms Priya Vyas (Springer Nature), Dr. H. C. Kandpal (Formaer Scientist, CSIR-NPL), Dr. S. K. Dhawan (Emeritus Scientist, CSIR-NPL), and Dr. Reena Sharma (Chief Scientist, CSIR-NPL) etc also delivered the lectures.

The conclave included a series of breakout sessions and panel discussions, which allowed participants to share their ideas and experiences for the remedial measures to the underlying problems.

In this one-day program, a social awareness demonstration by Dr. Bipin Kumar Gupta was organized to help the people spot difference between fake and real currency notes and to create awareness among the people to raise their understanding of Indian currency. Around 100 devices were distributed among the common people which can be utilised for checking the fluorescent features of the Indian currency. In this program, an initiative was taken to train 25 visually challenged young women from All India Confederation of the Blind Braille Bhawan, Rohini Sector 5, New Delhi, for checking the Indian currency on their own as a part of the demonstration. It was also demonstrated that the Indian currency includes the security features for visually impaired people.

The event concluded with cultural evening in which Dr. Diwakar Sharma and group mesmerized the audience with their musical performance on “Science in Music” followed by the performances of research scholars and children of staff of CSIR-NPL.