Advanced solar cell unit unveiled at science institute celebrating 150th yr

Kolkata: Marking a major milestone in India's clean energy mission, the country's first-ever indigenous Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) setup for the fabrication of amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells was inaugurated at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) in Kolkata by Union minister for science & technology Jitendra Singh on Tuesday.The advanced semiconductor fabrication unit was unveiled in the presence of IACS director Professor Kalobaran Maiti, alongside senior officials and academics.Singh said, "Currently celebrating the 150th year of its inception, IACS has been an integral part of India's growth journey across three centuries."It is the historic institute where Sir CV Raman discovered the ‘Raman Effect', fetching India's first Nobel Prize in Science. Singh also walked through an exhibition showcasing the institute's historic discoveries.Singh later held his first official meeting with CM Adhikari.Among the key decisions, Singh said in a statement in a X that the state's central CSIR institutions will launch a comprehensive study into the widespread effects of arsenic in drinking water and its toxic poisoning potential across the affected districts of West Bengal. Furthermore, drug trials for advanced cancer and antimicrobial therapies—led by central Department of Science and Technology (DST) institutions—will actively engage West Bengal's local institutes, government medical colleges, cancer hospitals, and healthcare networks.The meeting also laid out a blueprint to aggressively implement the Centre's flagship programmes focusing on startups, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Quantum technology. Similarly, youth and student-centric initiatives—such as INSPIRE, INSPIRE MANAK, Vigyan Jyoti for school girls, alongside the KIRAN and WISE programmes for women—will be rolled out in a highly coordinated manner to harness West Bengal's vast, under-explored human resources. This convergence of scientific institutions, academia, healthcare infrastructure, and innovation ecosystems aims to create a new model of growth for eastern India.