Indian Science Congress: PM Modi to Inaugurate Science Meet on January 3

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Indian Science Congress at Jalandhar on Thursday, an annual congregation that witnesses deliberations by top scientific minds of the country.

The theme for ISC-2019 is 'Future India-Science and Technology' and it will be hosted by the Lovely Professional University (PLU), Jalandhar from January 3-7, a statement said. During the five-day-long ISC, around 100 plus conferences and events of scientific and technological origin will also be held, where scientists, senior officials from DRDO, ISRO, Department of Science and Technology, AIIMS, UGC, AICTE, and many elite universities of the US, UK, India and other countries will participate, the statement added.

Union Cabinet ministers, including Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan and Textile Minister Smriti Irani, will also attend the event.

"The government's aim is to deliver the benefits of science and technology to the last man in the society. Scientists being a pivot should put their heart and soul into finding new solutions to the problems facing the nation and improve the quality of life of common man," Vardhan said in his message.

The participating Nobel laureates include biochemist Thomas Sudoph, who was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on vesicle trafficking, Nobel laureate in Chemistry Avram Hershko and, and Frederick Duncan Michael Haldane who was awarded 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The Children's Science Congress will be inaugurated on Friday. Near 150 science projects finalised by the DST are to be showcased, and children will also have the opportunity to listen, interact with eminent scientists and nobel laureates. On the third day of ISC, two-day Science Communicators' Meet 2019 will be inaugurated, where the main aim will be to brainstorm ways of dissemination of scientific information and inculcation of scientific attitude among masses. The Women's Science Congress, to be inaugurated on January 5 will showcase the contribution of women in science, technology and the society.

Some of the past ISCs have witnessed controversies over the kind of papers that were presented there. In the last ISC at Manipur, Vardhan received flak over his comments that cosmologist Stephen Hawking had said Vedas have superior theory than Albert Einstein's e=mc2.