Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 108th Indian Science Congress through video conferencing on January 3. The inaugural ceremony will start at 9.30 am.
The event is being hosted by Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) at its Amravati Road Campus.
The theme of the event this year is “Science and Technology for Sustainable Development with Women Empowerment.” The Public Talks and exhibitions are open to the general public.
The Plenary Sessions will feature Nobel Laureates, leading Indian and foreign researchers, experts and technocrats from a wide variety of fields, including space, defense, IT and medical research.
The technical sessions will showcase path-breaking and applied research in Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences, Anthropological and Behavioural Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Earth System Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Information and Communication Science & Technology, Material Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Medical Sciences, New Biology, Physical Sciences, and Plant Sciences.
The technical sessions of the 108th Indian Science Congress have been divided into 14 sections under which parallel sessions will be conducted at different venues in the university’s Mahatma Jotiba Phule Educational Campus.
Apart from these 14 sections, there will be a Women’s Science Congress, a Farmers’ Science Congress, a Children’s Science Congress, a Tribal Meet, a section on Science and Society and a Science Communicators’ Congress.
A special attraction of the event is a mega expo “Pride of India”. The prominent developments, major achievements and the significant contributions largely of Indian Science and Technology to the society will be showcased in the exhibition, which brings together and displays hundreds of new ideas, innovations, and products covering the entire canvas of the scientific world.
Pride of India displays the strengths and achievements of Government, Corporate, PSUs, Academic and R&D Institutes, Innovators & Entrepreneurs from all across the country.
In the run-up to the event, the Vigyan Jyot programme, a tradition of the Indian Science Congress was held today.
Vigyan Jyot – Flame of Knowledge – was conceived on the lines of the Olympic flame. It is a movement dedicated to nurturing scientific temper in the society, especially the youth.
The flame was installed at the university campus and will continue to be alight until the end of the 108th Indian Science Congress.
Histroy of Indian Science Congress:
The first Indian Science Congress was held in 1914 at the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. Honorable justice Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta presided over the Congress.
The 34th Annual Session of the Indian Science Congress was held at Delhi in 3–8 January 1947 with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as General president. Pandit Nehru’s personal interest in the Science Congress continued and there was hardly any session which he did not attend.
After pseudoscientific speeches at the 2019 Indian Science Congress, the congress has established a policy that requires speakers at future conferences to be vetted and scrutinizes the content of their talks.
