By Sunderarajan Padmanabhan (Twitter handle: @ndpsr)
New Delhi, Nov 4, 2019 (India Science Wire): The fifth India International Science Festival (IISF) is all set to begin in Kolkata on Tuesday. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi will inaugurate the four-day programme by addressing the audience at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre through video conference on November 5 at 4 pm.
The main objective of the festival is to promote scientific temper among the people, showcase India’s contributions in the field of science and technology over the years and encourage translation of its benefits to the common man. It aims to build a strategy for inclusive advancement of research and development.
Minister for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan, along with several other ministers, scientists, academicians and government officials will participate in it.
The festival is an annual event organised jointly by science and technology related Ministries and departments and VijnanaBharati. The theme for this year’s festival is `RISEN India – Research, Innovation, and Science Empowering the Nation”.
IISF-2019 is expected to host a gathering of approximately 12,000 participants from India and abroad. Biswa Bangla Convention Centre and Science City in Kolkata will be the main venues for the festival events. A few events will also be held at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Bose Institute and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology.
The programme consists of over 28 different events, including the Students Science Village where more than 2500 school students from all over the country would engage in several science-related activities and interact with top scientists and technocrats. Every Member of Parliament was requested to nominate five students each along with their teacher from his or her constituency for the science village.
Another important event in terms of variety and number of participants would be a Young Scientists’ Conference, where 1,500 young scientists and researchers will interact with various subject matter experts of international repute and also get a chance to present their posters and papers.
A vast exhibition of India’s scientific and technological prowess will also be on display through several expos – most prominent being a Science Expo at Science City, a new age technology show and an expo for the differently abled. A book fair has also been organised at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre.
The programme would, among other thing, feature a science film festival, a science literature festival, a women scientists and entrepreneurs conclave, an agricultural scientists’ meet, a global Indian scientists’ and technocrats’ meet, a health research conclave, an industry-academia conclave, a national science teachers’ congress, and a national start-up conclave. Vigyan Prasar, autonomous organisation of DST, is the nodal agency to coordinate IISF 2019. (India Science Wire)
