Vajpayee also called for a greater result-oriented deployment of science and technology. Disaster management also needs increased attention of our scientists, he said.

Knowledge capital will drive the wheels of the national economy in this century and India is determined not to be a mere participant in the IT revolution but be in its vanguard, the prime minister said.

RA Mashelkar in his presidential address said that India will emerge as a major centre of knowledge production in this millennium. This could be achieved because intellectual capital available per dollar in the country is the highest in the world and also because of the high quality of science base in India in select areas.

India's growing stature as a knowledge production centre will help retain the Indian talent in India. Mashelkar also presented a five point agenda for the new millennium - child-centred education, woman centred family, human centred development, knowledge centred society and innovation centred India. This agenda calls for going back to the basics and setting them right so that the country can emerge stronger in the 21st century.

Earlier the HRD and science and technology minister Murli Manohar Joshi said India has a stock of science and technology personnel close to ten million and this asset should be turned to the advantage of the country.