Question : Indian Science Congress

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

(a) whether the Government has held 107th Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru recently;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the achievements made through organising such Indian Science Congress;

(c) the number of foreign and Indian delegates who participated and various issues deliberated in the said Congress along with the outcome thereof;

(d) whether the Government has taken any action on the outcomes/decisions of the preceding Indian Science Congress; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and the other steps taken by the Government for translational science towards promoting affordable sustainable innovation?

Answer given by the minister

(a) & (b): Yes Sir. The 107th Annual Session of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) was held at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru during 03rd to 07th January, 2020. The Children Science Congress, Women Science Congress, Farmer-centric Science Congress, Science Exhibition and Science Communicators’ Meet were also organized during the above period. Proceedings of the conference, journals, reports and other materials were circulated among the participants to popularize science and to create a scientific temper among the people of India. Through this process, the Indian Science Congress Association has been contributing to the development of Science in general and National Science Policy, in particular.

(c) About 15,000 participants, including Nobel Laureates, Scientists, intellectuals, academicians, policy makers, researchers, students and delegates from different institutions participated in the event. 14 Sectional meetings on subjects of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences, Anthropological and Behavioral Sciences (Including Archaeology, Psychology, Education and Military Sciences), Chemical Sciences, Earth System Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Information and Communication Science & Technology (Including Computer Sciences), Materials Science, Mathematical Sciences (Including Statistics), Medical Sciences (Including Physiology), New Biology (Including Biochemistry, Biophysics, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology), Physical Sciences and Plant Sciences, were held during the congress. The recommendations of these meetings as an outcome of the Congress were circulated among the participants for sensitizing the rural and student communities.

(d) & (e): The recommendations of the 14 sectional meetings of 107thISC, were circulated to 28 Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) regional chapters. These chapters envisage constructive work for the popularization and advancement of science throughout the year.

Ministry of Science and Technology has taken several steps for translational science and promotion of affordable and sustainable innovations. Some major initiatives in this direction are as follows:

(i) Department of Science and Technology (DST) has established five Technical Research Centres (TRCs) in the existing autonomous institutions of the department to reinforce translational research.
(ii) DST has also collaborated with Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) Project. The initiative expands the catchment of implementing institutions by adopting a more demand- driven strategy of solution development and incorporates specific externalities of the states of India so as to make end- user translation and technology adoption easier.
(iii) Department of Biotechnology (DBT) promotes innovative Research and Development activities in the field of Biotechnology through research institution, scientific organizations and universities. The department also promotes translational research through its public sector undertaking Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). BIRAC has been supporting innovative research & development activities in the area of biotechnology through various programs. The support is provided across all stages of product development including ideation, proof of concept, prototyping, pilot scale development, validation and product development.
(iv) The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is pursuing cutting edge science and developing technologies, products and knowledge based services in diverse areas such as Aerospace, Electronics and Instrumentation & Strategic Sector; Civil Infrastructure and Engineering; Mining, Minerals, Metals and Materials; Chemicals (including leather) and Petrochemicals; Energy (conventional and non-conventional); Energy Devices; Ecology, Environment, Earth Sciences and Water; Agri, Nutrition & Biotechnology; and Healthcare. Taking further steps for giving more emphasis on translational research, CSIR is implementing two types of projects, viz. Fast Track Translational Projects and Mission Mode Projects.

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