‘Want to make Goa home to gen next of Nobel laureates’

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Thursday that the government will design and support various activities that would make Goa "home to the next generation of Nobel laureates". Parrikar was addressing the Nobel Prize Series, a three-day long programme in the state, which began this afternoon. The series is organised by Nobel Foundation, Sweden.

"We would like to continue our engagement with the esteemed Nobel laureates and I propose to the Nobel Foundation that we set up an annual Goa Nobel Lecture series that my government will be very happy to support and organise," the chief minister said.

"We want to make Goa the home to the next generation of Nobel laureates," he added. Parrikar said that the state government seeks to "reinforce Goa's stature as a scientific hub of India" with a strong focus on not only significantly strengthening scientific education in the state, but also promoting a scientific temperament across the state.

"To this effect, we are setting up two new education hubs in Goa," he announced. The chief minister said that the government seeks to develop the capacity of the human capital, the "most precious resource", into knowledge powerhouse that fuels the country's growth and addresses the most critical development issues through innovation.

Parrikar announced that as a first initiative, his government would like to hold annual 'Innovation in Science' contest for all senior school and college students of Goa, where students will be invited to propose breakthrough research ideas, which the government will support for a period of one year.

The Nobel Prize series has four Nobel laureates who will be interacting with the students, academicians and researchers in Goa for three days before heading to Mumbai and Delhi.