Why in news?

• The Union science ministry’s communication wing, Vigyan Prasar, has launched the India Science Technology and Innovation portal.

About the portal:

• The portal can be queried for information about the status of the technology, organisations carrying out research, those funding them, international collaborations, the scientists involved in the research, the states in which they are being carried out, their achievements and impact.
• A major thrust of the portal is to reach out to students, researchers, scholars, scientists both from India and abroad, so that they can choose from the mineof fellowships, scholarships and funding and start up opportunities that India puts on their plate.
• The portal follows a launch this week of India Science (indiascience.in), an Internet-based science channel, to showcase the developments in science and technology in India.
• Both the portal and the channel are part of a push by the Science Ministry to improve its public outreach.

Vigyan Prasar:

• Vigyan Prasar (VP) is an autonomous organization under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.
• Vigyan Prasar is focused on enabling access to appropriate information in a timely manner aligned with India’s developmental imperatives so that her citizens will be able to acquire the necessary scientific insights to improve their core strengths in all sectors of learning with implications for sustainable development.
• The logical framework of science communication, therefore, emphasizes enriched learning and enhanced abilities for well-informed action.
• The principal objective of VP is to serve India’s science popularization agenda.