GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 758
TO BE ANSWERED ON 5-3-2008

DISMAL ATTENDANCE AT INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS

758. SHRI B.K. HARIPRASAD:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a) whether media reports suggest that the Indian Science Congress held in New Delhi in January 2008 resembled a mela with dismal attendance and rehashed papers presented by experts;
(b) whether premier scientific institutions like Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, various IITs were either not represented at all or had a mere token presence at the Congress; and
(c) whether out of 41 laboratories under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, only 2 were represented with the Director General of CSIR not showing up?

ANSWER

MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES
(KAPIL SIBAL)

(a) No, Sir. Indian Science Congress was held in January 2008 at Vishakapatnam. Five thousand outstation delegates and 1500 local students participated in the Congress. Eminent personalities like Nobel Laureates Dr. Roger Komberg, Dr. Robert Curl and Dr. Paul Nurse; and several icons of science like Dr. R. Chidambaram and Dr. M.S. Swaminanthan and a host of experts from India and abroad spoke. Their presentations were inspiring and stimulating.

(b) No, Sir. The premier scientific institutions like Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Indian Institutes of Technology at Kharagpur, Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kanpur and Roorkee and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research were represented in the Congress in a big way.

(c) No Sir. The laboratories under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) were represented by National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad; National Institute of Oceanography, Goa; National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Indian Institute of Chemical Biology; Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore. Emeritus Scientists of CSIR from different organisations also participated in the Congress. Director General of CSIR, however, could not participate for some unavoidable reasons.