INDIAN
SCIENCE CONGRESS - SCI & TECH
News:
Centre to pull the plug
on Indian Science Congress 'unless ISCA mends its ways'
What's
in the news?
●
After a continuous run for over a century,
the Union government has decided to pull the plug on the Indian Science
Congress following a rift between the
Indian Science Congress Association – the principal organiser - and the
Department of Science and Technology, the main funding agency.
Key
takeaways:
●
Barring a few exceptions since
Independence, Prime Ministers have traditionally inaugurated the Indian Science
Congress on January 3 each year,
making it the only congregation of scientists headlined by the country’s
topmost political office.
●
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too attended
most of the Congresses since 2015, with the last one being held in Nagpur in
2022.
Issues
between the Scientific Bodies:
●
In September, the DST announced the
withdrawal of financial support to the ISCA for the 2024 event.
●
Sources suggested that financial support
would be unlikely in the future unless the ISCA "changes the way it
functions".
○
The
DST’s contribution (which was raised to Rs 5 crore in 2023 from Rs 3 crore
earlier) pays for most of the event’s expenses.
○
The ISCA also receives some funding from a
few other government bodies, and raises some more from its members and by
renting out space for exhibitions etc. during the event.
●
The DST has alleged “financial
irregularities” and a “unilateral decision” by a few ISCA office bearers,
without government approval, to shift the venue of the 2024 session from
Lucknow University to Lovely Professional University at Jalandhar as the reasons
for dissociating with the 2024 edition of the Congress.
Go
back to basics:
Indian
Science Congress:
●
It is the annual gathering of researchers
in the country organised by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA).
●
The first meeting of the Congress was held
from January 15-17, 1914 at the
premises of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.
●
There are fourteen sections which include Agriculture and Forestry Sciences,
Earth System Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Environmental Sciences,
Mathematical Sciences, Medical Sciences etc.
Indian
Science Congress Association (ISCA):
●
Established in 1914, ISCA is a
professional body under the Department
of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology.
●
ISCA owes its origin to the foresight and
initiative of two British Chemists, namely, Professor J. L. Simonsen and
Professor P.S. MacMahon.