COSMOS to democratize learning & ignite inquisitiveness: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

While underlining the importance of data, FM Sitharaman added that data is termed as the "new oil" these days but it is important that we know how to use it

PGurus Newsdesk

March 6, 2022

While underlining the importance of data, FM Sitharaman added that data is termed as the "new oil" these days but it is important that we know how to use it

FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s dream project takes off in Mysuru – A Rs.81 cr planetarium

Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman laid the foundation stone for the Cosmology Education and Research Training Centre (COSMOS) which features a planetarium at the University of Mysuru’s Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Centre for Higher Learning campus at the foot of Chamundi Hill.

The state-of-the-art planetarium COSMOS is set to build a good learning ecosystem in the Mysuru region. This will be India’s first planetarium with a Digistar 7 system and a Domex screen, COSMOS, and will serve as a planetarium and also provide students and research scholars a platform to access the real-time as well as archival data for analysis and use.

Speaking on the occasion Sitharaman said, “I strongly felt a need that something should be developed which is helpful not only for one generation but for many upcoming generations. This idea of COSMOS can help our generations to learn from the great heritage that observatories in Karnataka and India carry for centuries.”

The Digistar system will allow scientists, researchers, and students to display real-time data from observatories within the dome as all domes will be inter-connected. Regular teaching courses will be provided for school and college students, training on processing astronomical data, coding and hands-on experiments along with systematic documentation of astronomy heritage will be provided,” she added.

“This will be a centre where students can be guided by faculty, scientists to use the data and see the outcome which can be put in use for benefits of our state, nation, and humanity,” she added.

While underlining the importance of data, she added that data is termed as the “new oil” these days but it is important that we know how to use it. Comprehensive education and public outreach programme will be an integral part of the COSMOS project.

Taking the audience through the conceptualization of the COSMOS, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “As an MP for Karnataka, I wanted to do something unique, apart from attending to my regular duties as an MP and a Minister. My former Personal Secretary, a Karnataka-cadre IAS Officer, came up with the idea of a planetarium and it gradually developed into this mega-scale. The idea was germinated two years ago and now it has become an Rs.81 crore project,” she said.

The project is steered by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India (GoI) (PSA) and it is managed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, under an MoU between the University of Mysuru and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

Prathap Simha, MP, Mysuru-Kodagu; Prof. K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor, GoI; K N Vyas, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, GoI; S Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, GoI; Prof. Annapurni Subramaniam, Director, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore; Dr. Bagadhi Gautham, Deputy Commissioner, Mysuru; and Prof. G Hemantha Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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