Addressing a press conference here Joshi said that India did not believe in nuclear apartheid and could not be forced to sign the CTBT.

"We believe in a non-discriminatory CTBT. We are against any discrimination in the area of nuclear science", Joshi said.

The minister said, "yesterday was a day of technology success - three nuclear device tests, the trishul test and a successful flight of the indigenously designed, Hamsa 3". All these were directed to world peace, he said. "India had never antagonised any country", he said, "But we also want to protect ourselves". Quoting a Sanskrit shloka, he said, a country protected by weapons alone could excel in the pursuit of knowledge".

"The three N-tests also demonstrated the will of prime minister AB Vajpayee, who had said that India would keep its nuclear optionsopen. It also proves that the prime minister does what he says", Joshi said.

Asked about the criticism from the Congress, Joshi shot back, "I wonder why the Congress did not do it for so long".

All these achievements had given rise to aspirations from scientists and technologists of this country, Joshi said. He said that after continuous interaction with 40 CSIR directors for two days, he had asked CSIR director general RA Mashelkar to prepare an action plan in consultation with the different ministries, Planning Commission and industry.

The action plan would lay stress on CSIR helping mitigate the country's energy needs by discovering oil fields and new gas sources. "The NGRI, a CSIR lab, had made good progress in this regard and also had discovered a new potential energy source called gas hydrates". An advancement in this area would mean an ultimate saving or Rs 30,000 crore in forex spent on import of petroleum oil.

Steps would also be initiated to stop bio-piracy worth billions of dollars bymultinationals. Efforts would be made to develop herbal medicines as well as to standardise them, Joshi said.

"India must take care of its food security and CSIR has been asked to interact with ICAR to develop new technology to raise farm yield, food processing and preservation.

"A major development had taken place in the leather sector, with the Central Leather Research Laboratory Technology reviving many leather units in Tamil Nadu and providing jobs to women and Dalits.