Narendra Modi to inaugurate 107th Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru today; two Nobel laureates to attend event

Bengaluru: Top scientists, including two Nobel laureates, will be among policymakers, academicians and other delegates to attend the 107th Indian Science Congress, to be inaugurated on Friday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The five-day event will see Nobel laureates Stefan Hell from Max Planck Institut Germany and Ada E Yonath, an expert in structural biology from Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, taking part. The president of Nanyang Technological University, Subra Suresh, a material scientist from Indonesia, and renowned cardiologist CN Manjunath, will also be present. The organizers are expecting around 15,000 people to attend the event. The event, with the theme ‘Science and Technology for Rural Development’, will see participants deliberate on the lack of communication between the scientific fraternity, industry and farmers which could minimize the agrarian crisis. The organisers said the last couple of decades had witnessed tremendous progress in the development of cutting edge science and technology. Many of the inventions and innovations had found applications in enhancing crop productivity, improving market access, enhancing and diversifying rural livelihood profiles. But due to the gap between the innovators and farming community, the benefits could not be explored fully, they said. The event will also provide a platform to the farmers who introduced innovations in the field of agriculture. “Many farmers in the country have become innovative and experts. We wanted to bring all of them on a single platform so their innovations and innovative ideas are discussed and deliberated for the whole day,” Dr S Rajendra Prasad, Vice-Chancellor of city-based University of Agricultural Sciences, had said. The other events will be Women’s Science Congress, Children’s Science Congress, Science Communicators’ Meet, Formal Science Congress and Yoga Science. The Forum of Vice-Chancellors and IIT Directors will deliberate on challenges in the higher education sector Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the inaugural session.