Biologist chosen as India’s chief science adviser

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has appointed the developmental biologist Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan as his government’s principal scientific adviser.

VijayRaghavan confirmed his appointment in a series of tweets on 26 March, where he said his main task would be to “connect science to society and society to science”.

Another of his priorities will be to “democratise access to science” by opening it up to people at all levels of society, whatever language they speak, he said. He will also seek to strengthen basic research and increase India’s engagement with the world.