- By Sunderarajan Padmanabhan (Twitter handle: @ndpsr)
New Delhi, September 24 (India Science Wire): The Union Minister for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, today announced that the annual India International Science Festival (IISF) would be held this year at Kolkata from November 5 to 8. This is the fifth edition of the festival since its inception in 2015.
The theme for this year’s festival is `Research, Innovation, and Science Empowering the Nation’ (`RISEN India’). It will host 28 different events covering the various aspects of science and technology. The aim would be to celebrate the achievements of India’s scientific and technological advancements with the participation of students, innovators, scientists and technocrats to craftsmen and farmers. It will also seek to attract young minds towards the field of science and promote networking of stakeholders working towards the propagation of science. The events would be held at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, Science City, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Bose Institute and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology.
A highlight of the programme is setting up of a Students Science Village, where more than 2,500 school students from different parts of the country would be housed. Member of Parliament has been asked to nominate five students each along with their teacher from their constituency to be part of the village under the Pradhan Mantri Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. These students would be engaged in several science-fun activities and have opportunities to interact with scientists and technocrats.
Another important event would be a Young Scientists’ Conference, where about 1,500 young scientists and researchers would interact with subject matter experts from various fields and present posters and papers. India’s Scientific & Technological prowess would also be in display through several expos. The most prominent expo will be at Science City. A book fair and a science literature festival would be part of the four- day fair.
It, among other things, would highlight the special role of women scientists and entrepreneurs in shaping the scientific growth trajectory of the country in the form of a conclave. The programme is aimed to develop new entrepreneurship and explore new vistas of opportunities in the field of science.
The festival include an agricultural scientists’ meet; an assistive Technologies conclave and expo for the handicapped; an industry-academia conclave; an International science film festival; a national start-up conclave; and a science and technology media conclave. About 12,000 students, scientists and other stakeholders are expected to participate.
Addressing a press conference, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said it was fortuitous that the event was taking place around the birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Sir C.V.Raman, which falls on November 7 and said that as part of the run up to the festival, programmes would be organized in about 100 places across the country to create public awareness about it.
“Our Government is keen that science is used to solve the various problems facing the people in various aspects such as health and in this context wanted to promote scientific temper particularly among the younger generation”.
The festival is organised jointly by science & technology-related Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and Vijnana Bharati. Vigyan Prasar an autonomous organisation of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, is coordinating the event. (India Science Wire)
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