FINALLY, the mega-event in the country’s science sector comes to town. The city of Ananthapuri will host the National Science Congress in 2010. The honour of organising this humongous scientific meet goes to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the University of Kerala. The venue for the 97th Indian Science Congress, to be held from January 3 to 7, would be the Kariavattom campus of the University of Kerala. In the history of the Indian Science Congress, that began in 1914 in Kolkata, this is just the second time that the State will be hosting the Congress. The first instance was at Kochi, where the 77th Indian Science Congress was held in 1990. This year, it is the special interest of ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair that has brought the event to the city. ``The National Science Congress would definitely bring in radical changes to the Kariavattom campus in terms of outlook and scientific culture. The interaction with the top people in today’s science will, without doubt, benefit our research students,’’ said G.M. Nair, member of the local organising committee. The Indian Science Congress will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 3. Several top scientists from India and abroad, and especially Indian scientists working abroad, are expected to be present at the meet. The total number of delegates to participate in the event is expected to touch 7,000, with 5,000-odd delegates coming for the main event and over 1,500 school students for the National Children’s Science Congress that will be held along with the mega event. Dor
mitory facilities are being arranged at the various hostels at Kariavattom and city hotels are being booked to the full. Apart from the local organising committee chaired by VSSC Director K. Radhakrishnan, 18 functional committees have been formed, such as the ones for accommodation, food, transport, venue and so on. A meeting of the local organising committee was held on Tuesday at the Taj Residency, where discussions were led by Education Minister M.A. Baby. A broad Plan of Action was presented by Local Secretary T.S. Ramadevi. The total expenditure for the event is expected to touch Rs 7 crore and ISRO has already committed an amount of Rs 5 crore as its share. This shall also be partly utilised for infrastructure facilities at Kariavattom, especially a semi-permanent structure which could be utilised in future for other purposes too - a suggestion from Madhavan Nair himself. A facelift is also on the cards for the rest of the venues - the various seminar halls of the different departments of the Kariavattom campus. The theme of the Congress would be ‘Science and Technology of 21st century - National Perspective’. As many as 2,000 papers are expected to be published in 14 different categories. A single author can submit a maximum of two papers only and the last date for submission of papers is September 15. The best papers will get the Young Scientists Awards plus a research grant. The different sessions of the Congress include Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences, Anthropological and Behavioural Sciences (including Archaeology and Psychology & Educational Science and Military Sciences), Chemical Sciences, Earth System Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Information and Communication Science & Technology, Materials Science, Mathematical Sciences (including statistics), Medical Sciences, New Biology (including Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology and Biotechnology), Physical Sciences and Plant Sciences. Some of the top scientists expected to participate are J.S. Yadav, director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology; S.P. Gautam, chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board; D.D. Patra, head of the Agrotechnology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow; Avneesh Singh, director of the Regional Labour Institute; Gauri Sankar Mukherjee, joint director, G-FAST, Defence Research & Development Organisation; Indranil Manna, who is a professor at the Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering and chairman, Central Research Faculty, Indian Institute of Technology and Pramod Tandon, Vice-Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University, among many others. Moves are also on to bring in Nobel Laureates from different parts of the world. So, for the five days in January, the city will be a melting pot of the most brilliant of scientists and research scholars in the country, one that the city has not witnessed so far in its history.
mitory facilities are being arranged at the various hostels at Kariavattom and city hotels are being booked to the full. Apart from the local organising committee chaired by VSSC Director K. Radhakrishnan, 18 functional committees have been formed, such as the ones for accommodation, food, transport, venue and so on. A meeting of the local organising committee was held on Tuesday at the Taj Residency, where discussions were led by Education Minister M.A. Baby. A broad Plan of Action was presented by Local Secretary T.S. Ramadevi. The total expenditure for the event is expected to touch Rs 7 crore and ISRO has already committed an amount of Rs 5 crore as its share. This shall also be partly utilised for infrastructure facilities at Kariavattom, especially a semi-permanent structure which could be utilised in future for other purposes too - a suggestion from Madhavan Nair himself. A facelift is also on the cards for the rest of the venues - the various seminar halls of the different departments of the Kariavattom campus. The theme of the Congress would be ‘Science and Technology of 21st century - National Perspective’. As many as 2,000 papers are expected to be published in 14 different categories. A single author can submit a maximum of two papers only and the last date for submission of papers is September 15. The best papers will get the Young Scientists Awards plus a research grant. The different sessions of the Congress include Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences, Anthropological and Behavioural Sciences (including Archaeology and Psychology & Educational Science and Military Sciences), Chemical Sciences, Earth System Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Information and Communication Science & Technology, Materials Science, Mathematical Sciences (including statistics), Medical Sciences, New Biology (including Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology and Biotechnology), Physical Sciences and Plant Sciences. Some of the top scientists expected to participate are J.S. Yadav, director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology; S.P. Gautam, chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board; D.D. Patra, head of the Agrotechnology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow; Avneesh Singh, director of the Regional Labour Institute; Gauri Sankar Mukherjee, joint director, G-FAST, Defence Research & Development Organisation; Indranil Manna, who is a professor at the Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering and chairman, Central Research Faculty, Indian Institute of Technology and Pramod Tandon, Vice-Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University, among many others. Moves are also on to bring in Nobel Laureates from different parts of the world. So, for the five days in January, the city will be a melting pot of the most brilliant of scientists and research scholars in the country, one that the city has not witnessed so far in its history.
