Sadananda Gowda presents 10th National Awards for technology innovation in petrochemicals & downstream plastics processing industry

New Delhi, Feb 24 (KNN) D V Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers presented the 10th National Awards for technology innovation in petrochemicals & downstream plastics processing industry to the awardees on Tuesday at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary (C&PC) also graced the occasion. Apart from the awardees, Senior Government officials, representatives of industries, academia and R&D institutions were present on the occasion.

In line with the National Policy on Petrochemicals announced in April 2007, the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals (DCPC) has set up an Award Scheme to incentivize meritorious innovations and inventions in the field of polymeric materials, products, process areas of national and social importance.

The ultimate objective is to develop and maintain the petrochemical industry as a globally competitive industry using eco-friendly processes & technologies. Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET), an autonomous organization under DCPC has been entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the scheme of the National Awards for Technology Innovation.

The Union Minister said that India has the potential to become global petrochemicals hub. He said that the thrust of the Government of India to promote key end-use sectors, through PLI schemes under AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, such as pharmaceuticals, telecommunication & networking equipment, automobiles, electronics, mobiles, medical devices, textiles, etc. will drive the demand for chemicals and petrochemicals in the country further.

He said that the Chemicals & Petrochemicals sector could emerge as a leading sector in fulfilling the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in reaching $ 5 trillion economy at the earliest. He informed that the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals has been taking several facilitation measures to attract investment in the sector.

He informed that the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals has been taking several facilitation measures to attract investment in the sector such as supporting setting up of six plastic parks in coordination of State Governments in Assam, Madhya Pradesh (two parks), Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand. This will allow downstream plastic processing industry, most of which are in the MSME sector, to emerge stronger, and competitive enough to become part of the global value chain in the future, he added.

The Union Minister highlighted that to achieve the Prime Minister’s Vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat in the Petrochemical sector, the Ministry is implementing the National Awards, the Centre of Excellence & Plastic Parks schemes & encouraging the Indian Innovators & Research organisations.

He said Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET) has been successfully implementing the scheme over these years. The scheme has not only boosted the morale of passionate researchers but has also encouraged the young minds to pursue research as a career option.

In the current edition of 10th National Awards, 273 nominations have been received, and finally, 04 nominations have been selected as Winners and 09 nominations as Runners-up for 2019-20.

CSIR- National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; CIPET:SARP, LARPM, Bhubaneswar; Shibaura Machine India Private Limited, Chennai and Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala were the winners of the 10th National Awards.