• Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sri. Manmohan Singh Ji,
• HE, Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Shri. ESL Narasimhan,
• Hon’ble Union Minister for Law and Justice, Dr. Veerappa Moily ji
• Hon’ble Union Minister of State, Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Shri. Prithviraj Chavan Ji,
• Dr. Chdambaram
• Prof. CNR Rao
• Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission,
• Prof. Mustansir Barma, Director, TIFR
• Ladies & Gentlemen,

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and its parent Department of Atomic Energy are no strangers to the state of Andhra Pradesh. The State already has the Nuclear Fuels Complex of the Department of Atomic Energy, the Electronics Corporation of India, and the Atomic Minerals Directorate. I would like to inform this distinguished gathering that the State has provided land to set up Bhaba Atomic Research Centre’s second campus and Tata Memorial Hospital and Medical Research Centre at Visakhapatnam.

Government of Andhra Pradesh has allotted 209 acres of land to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in the prime area of the city, where Global IT majors are operating which indicate the commitment of our Government to the cause of scientific education, research and institution building, which alone will guarantee a place of pre-eminence to our country in this 21st century. The unveiling of this foundation stone today marks a new phase in this direction. The advent of TIFR's broad spectrum of fundamental research to this city and to the state will surely bring many academic benefits. 

We look forward to seeing a spurt in the training of young researchers and collaboration with the many outstanding institutions and industries   which already exist in this area, and in particular with the Hyderabad Central University which has already carved out a leading role for itself in the educational and Research segment of our country.

We are confident that the youth of this state who have a great hunger for higher learning and international level achievement will be able to realise to their full potential in the laboratories and lecture halls of TIFR's Hyderabad campus. In bringing together a critical mass of outstanding institutions in a given area, the State Government has a long term vision at fostering innovation and progress in the critical areas which will decide the future of the region and the country such as Health, Communication, Education and Biotechnology.

We urge the practitioners of fundamental science to keep abreast of developments in these areas and seize the opportunity of advancing them when possible. The fruits of this endeavour must reach out to the majority of our citizens whose labours keep our society going and whose taxes pay for such ventures. It is heartening to learn that the very first phase of this venture will be interdisciplinary and open ended and will foster interaction of the scientists with real world problems. I would also urge that strong efforts be made to convey what is happening in science   all over the world, including TIFR, to the common man, in a language that will understand.

Let this endeavour be informed by the motto that we not only enrich the knowledge of the world but also make that knowledge reach the “aam admi” so that he can lead a life of dignity and full of opportunities.