Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded Indian scientists for their efforts, theories and ideas to battle the "global challenge" of Covid-19 pandemic that has plunged India into a crisis. He also appreciated them for developing made-in-India vaccine in a year.

The PM was speaking at the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research Society meeting while giving this statement.

India used to wait for years to get hold of innovations achieved outside, now our scientists working at the same quick pace, said PM Modi.

Further talking about Aatmarnirbhar Bharat amid the Covid-19 pandemic, PM Modi said, “Covid-19 crisis may have slowed down a bit, but even today our resolve is ‘self-reliant India, strong India’,” he added.

Stressing on self-reliance, the PM said that from agriculture to astronomy, disaster management to defence technology, vaccine to virtual reality, India aspires to become self-reliant and empowered in every direction.

India is leading the world in the fields of sustainable development and clean energy, he said.

Noting that the world is grappling with the biggest challenge in a century, PM Modi praised the scientific community, saying it is perhaps unprecedented that vaccines were prepared within a year.

"Scientists put forth an idea in the form of a theory, conduct practicals in labs and then hand it over to society after implementation. The scale and speed at which our scientists have conducted this practice in the last 1.5 months is unbelievable," PM Modi said.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan will also be present at the meeting which was joined by eminent scientists, industrialists, and senior officials of scientific ministries.