The School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) organised a Distinguished Lecture titled “Science & Technology for Specially-abled Persons” by Dr. P. Babu, Department of Clinical Psychology, Sweekaar Upkaar, Secunderabad on the occasion of National Science Day on February 28, 2017.
Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, former Vice-Chancellor, UoH & Director, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru gave the presidential remarks. Prof. Mehta said, “I am seeing the future scientists and the flag of science is flying high at UoH because of the quality research being carried out by the University faculty.” “Research institutions and Universities should coordinate and work together which will help the future generations to come. Scientific contributions given by Sir C V Raman and his discovery were in the domain of Physics but till today it is flourishing in Sciences and Chemistry. No one has defined science correctly till today but we can recognize science and the methods and characters of science are helpful throughout our life, opined Prof. Mehta”.
Dr. P. Babu while addressing the packed auditorium said that, it is a pleasure to share the dais with such accomplished academicians. He further added that our country celebrates today as the National Science Day to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect by Indian Physicist Sir C V Raman for his discovery and for being awarded Nobel Prize in Physics in the year 1930. Dr. Babu talked about the vision disability, cognitive or learning and mental health impairment. The Government of India through the Act 2016 (signed by the President of India on December 27, 2016) has increased the rights of persons with disabilities from 7 to 21 and have the power to add more, he said. People with disability meet barriers of all types. For many years they had to rely on someone to do their things. But now with the help of assistive technology, they are able to perform activities like switching on a light to having a voice to express themselves, he added.
Dr. Babu said that new technologies are improving the effectiveness of rehabilitation services provided to the people with disability. Technology has always lent a helping hand for the people with disability to improve their lives, he added. There are number of apps and gadgets which can help them in their daily activities. While concluding the lecture, he said that disability can be in any phase of life and treating the problems & giving solutions to it in the form of technological innovations will be the platform for the disabled to feel normal.
Students from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, RC Puram; CHIREC, Kondapur; KV-Picket, Secunderabad; KV-UoH took part in the competitions organised. Elocution, Drawing and Quiz were organised for these students and for the visually-challenged students Elocution and Quiz competitions were organised. The Chief Guest, Dr. Mehta and Dr. Redanna distributed prizes to the winners. The students also visited the laboratories to have firsthand information on the experiments and research being carried out at the School of Life Sciences.
Earlier Prof. Prakash Babu, Coordinator, National Science Day-2017 welcomed the gathering, while Prof. P. Reddana, Dean, School of Life Sciences, talked about the significance of Science Day. Prof. Anand K Kondapi, Head, Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences gave remarks on Science Day-2017, Dr. M. Venkataramana, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics introduced the speaker while Dr. N. Prakash Prabhu, Assistant Professor proposed a vote of thanks.