Kathmandu, December 7

Former prime minister and Co-chair of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal today stressed the need for research on ‘gene’ and genetic diseases to produce healthy citizens.

He said the number of people suffering from genetic diseases was increasing in the country and this had made it difficult for the government to achieve sustainable development goals.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the national conference on genetic diseases organised by Society of Life Science Nepal and Decode Genomics and Research Centre today, Dahal said the government had not been able to allocate enough budget for research in the field of science and technology.  “We should focus on producing such manpower who can contribute to the field of science, technology and agriculture. Universities should be able to produce self-employed youths, who don’t depend on the government for employment,” Dahal added.

In the same way, secretary of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology Buddhi Ratna Khadgi said NAST had not been able to do much in the field of science and technology due to unnecessary political interference. “Developed countries allocate huge amount of budget for science and technology, but the budget allocated for NAST is so less that it is not even enough to construct four kilometres of road, let alone conduct research work,” said Khadgi.

Speaking at the programme, Research Director of University Grant Commission Deepak Kumar Khadka shared that UGC provided fellowship to students and teachers for research work, but very few people knew about this.