Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal Monday promised to set up a national mission for nano-technology and to promote efforts to dicover preventive medicines for malaria and tuberculosis.

Sibal, who was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary award by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the 92nd Indian Science Congress here, said: "While the scientific community will make efforts to provide solutions in resolving issues. I hope to provide the necessary enabling environment for you.

"For the scientific community I pledge to do the following. Bring autonomy in their functioning, for only those who are irreverent of the past in the scientific sense, will guide the future.

"Invest in Human Resource Development and expand the skilled human resource base to meet the needs of technology for industry, academia and research and development institutions.

"Provide a suitable regulatory mechanism for an effective bio-technology policy.

"Strengthen the management system for intellectual property rights including awareness, modernization of the patent office; providing for an effective system of enforcement of such rights and helping educational institutions and small industries in protecting their intellectual property.

"Provide for an effective public private partnership in R&D and technology based industries.

"Set National Missions in nano-technology, transport intelligence systems, technology development for judicial re-engineering. Eradication of malnutrition and discovery of curative and preventive medicine for malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis."

Declaring new innovative schemes to guarantee working-level support to "performing scientists", Sibal announced the name of the new "nurture scheme" as "Ramanna Fellowships" after the late nuclear scientists Raja Ramanna who died last year.