COSMOS to democratise learning & ignite inquisitiveness: Sitharaman

Mysore, March 6 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday laid the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art planetarium in Mysore University's Chamundi Hill Campus.

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.

"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 since centuries," said Sitharaman.

COSMOS is being developed with a budget of Rs 81 crore and is supported under the MPLAD of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. An amount of Rs 2 crore has been released through DC Mysore.

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.

"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.

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

Comprehensive education and public outreach programme will be an integral part of the COSMOS project.

Prathap Simha, MP, Mysuru-Kodagu; Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, 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.