For more than a century, January 3 marks the start of the five-day Indian Science Congress, a showcase event to highlight Indian science, with the Prime Minister attending the inaugural event. Not this year. In an unprecedented break with tradition, this year’s event has been postponed, with no decision yet to hold it at a later date.
The Indian Science Congress could not be held in 2021 and 2022 as well, but this was due to the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic. The tenth edition of the event took place in 2023, although Prime Minister Narendra Modi was only able to appear online at the inaugural event. He personally attended all previous editions during his tenure.
This year’s suspension, which raises questions about the continuation of the event, is a direct result of a dispute between the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA), a registered society that organizes the event, and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), its main funder. In September last year, the DST withdrew its financial support for ISCA, citing “financial irregularities”, a charge ISCA denied. ISCA went to court against the DST directive not to use government funds to cover any expenses related to the Science Congress, which created more bad blood between the two. The court case has not yet been decided.
Ranjit Kumar Verma, Secretary General of ISCA, said it was unfortunate that the event was not held on time, but said this was not the end of the Science Congress.
“We hope to be able to organize the scientific congress before March 31 and we hope the Prime Minister will attend the event,” he said.
A government official, who wished to remain anonymous, also did not rule out the resumption of financial support for the Science Congress. “There were disagreements over funding for this year’s event, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be support for all future events. Discussions on cooperation will continue for the Science Congress scheduled for 2025,” he said.
The Rs 5 crore funding that DST is providing covers most of the expenses incurred for the Science Congress. ISCA receives money from some other government organizations involved in the promotion of science and also raises money through subscriptions from its members, but this is not a significant amount.
With funds short, ISCA decided to shift the venue from Lucknow University to Lovely Professional University (LPU) with the hope that the private Punjab university would be able to share some of the cost. The selection of LPU, which also hosted the 106th Science Congress in 2019, was also a major point of contention, with the DST saying it was not very happy with the venue. ISCA insisted that its executive committee never needed the DST’s permission to decide on the venue, and that a DST representative attended the meeting that finalized the venue.
Interestingly, LPU, which had offered to host the event when an alternative venue was sought, itself pulled out last month, barely two weeks before the event.
Once the premier event where the who’s who of the Indian scientific community gathered to speak and discuss the latest developments in science, the Science Congress has seen a sharp decline in quality over the past few decades, leading to demands from within the scientific community to reformed or disbanded. With most leading scientists staying away, the event was reduced to a gathering of mostly university and college professors with little scientific credentials or experience.
In recent years it has attracted more attention for mediocre and dubious speakers making outlandish claims or promoting pseudoscience than for any serious scientific discussions.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded to: 02/01/2024 at 11:41 PM IST
