By Nithin Sridhar
Mysore: The 103rd edition of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) that is currently being hosted in the city has received enthusiastic response from hundreds of delegates who have come from across India.
The event, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 3, will continue till January 7. The ISC is holding simultaneous talks on diverse areas of scientific research ranging from Nano-Technology to Diabetes, and from Bio-technology to Sanitation.
Additionally, various sectional departments like Agriculture, Veterinary science, Anthropology, Earth system science, Engineering, Mathematics, Information and communication, etc. are all hosting lectures and paper presentations.
NewsGram visited the venue on Monday i.e. January 4 and found great enthusiasm among the participants that ranged from school and college students to teachers, lectures, and general public.
Morning saw simultaneous sessions on topics like Sustainability and Future Generation Wireless Networks, Session of Diabetes, Evolution: The Frontiers, etc. Afternoon was filled with sessions of sectional departments and Young Scientist award presentations. In the evening, the Nobel Laureate talk was delivered by Professor John B. Gurdon, followed by Field Medalist talk delivered by Professor Manjula Bhargava.
Additionally, the ISC also hosted Children Science Congress on Monday. School students from different states exhibited their models, experiments, and research results. The topics ranged from a study on advantages of Bamboo structures presented by a student from Arunachal Pradesh to a modified model of JCB loader that requires no fossil fuels to run. One student had designed an innovative platform based on hovercraft mechanism, which could be used in flood situations to rescue people and airlift them. Another student from Punjab demonstrates using field tests how organic fertilizers are better than chemical ones.
The Children's exhibition clearly demonstrated that India does not lack talent in scientific fields. The young children only lack proper guidance and attractive opportunities to work further in their fields of interest.
This lack of harnessing of scientific talents is directly reflected in the academic outputs that India is producing each year. India filed only 17 patents per 1 million population in 2013 as against 910 in US and 541 in China. Similarly, India's scholarly impact is 30% below the world's average.
It is high time that Indian government, as well as private companies and stakeholders, invest money and time in improving R&D situation in India.