Science Congress to open in Kolkata (Preview)

President Pranab Mukherje will formally inaugurate the five-day event in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Salt Lake Stadium.

The prime minister will unveil the country's science and technology policy at the event. The activity report of the Indian Science Congress will also be presented.

At the inaugural function, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will release a special publication "The Balancing Act: Stories of Women in Science".

Union Minister for Science and Technology S. Jaipal Reddy, Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal and West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan will also be present in the event.

"It is likely to be a momentous event. Its significance lies not only because the Science Congress is being held for 100 years, but because the centenary event itself is a great thing," Narayanan told reporters here.

The idea of the Indian Science Congress was conceived by eminent educationist and former vice-chancellor of Calcutta University Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee and its maiden session was held at the city's Asiatic Society in January 1914. Since then, it is hosted every year in some part of India.

Themed "Science for shaping the future of India", the centenary session has many firsts to its credit. It is the first time that a serving prime minister is the general president of the Indian Science Congress Association.

Another first is that both the president and the prime minister will be on the same dais at the inauguration.

Last but not the least, it will be the maiden occasion when the country's prime minister will chair the theme panel discussion.

Principal Scientific Adviser to the Indian government R. Chidambaram, chief scientific adviser to the UK government and noted applied population biologist John Beddington, and agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan will also be among the panellists. Union Science and Technology Secretary T. Ramasami will be the convenor of the theme panel.

The focal theme of the session would be the manner in which the new Science, Technology and Innovation policy 2013 could be implemented.

The session would aim to provide a road map for integrating science into India's development process and serve as a platform for creating coalition among all stake holders of science and society to pave a new path of progress for the country in the emerging global knowledge economy, the organisers said.

"As a mark of respect, all technical and plenary sessions will be named after people who have contributed to India's scientific development," said Narayanan. Among them are Maghnad Saha, Homi J. Bhaba and Satyendra Nath Bose.

The Nobel laureates attending the Science Congress include Scottish economist James Alexander Mirrlees, chemists Ei-ichi Negishi of Japan and Taiwanese Yuan T. Lee, Indian-born American and British structural biologist Venkatraman "Venki" Ramakrishnan. Environmentalist Rajendra Kumar Pachauri will also be present.

Another celebrity participant will be 2007 Able Prize winner S.R. Srinivasa Varadhan of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York. He is the only Indian to win the coveted award.

The number of papers and abstracts received are over 8,000, he said.

Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal will release a special stamp on the occasion, while certain special awards to outstanding scientists will be announced. Jaipal Reddy will inaugurate the "Pride of India" exhibition.

On Friday, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will inaugurate the Children's Science Congress, while the Women's Science Congress will be opened by Reddy.

Special sessions of the Women's Science Congress will be held Jan 5-6. As many as 20 noted women scientists will participate and mentor the sessions.

There will be a series of panel discussions, technical sessions and endowment lectures, including one on Ashutosh Mukherjee by Swaminathan.