Explained: Why 109th Indian Science Congress has been shelved indefinitely

Since 1914, January has been time for a premier event for Indian science: the Indian Science Congress. In all these years, the five-day event has not been held only in 2021 and 2022 — because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this year, it has been cancelled for a very different reason. The government has stopped the funding of the association that organises the Indian Science Congress. To know more, read on.

What is the Indian Science Congress?

The Indian Science Congress, which is usually held from January 3 to 7, is organised by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA), a professional body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology.

Not only is it a keenly-awaited event among a section of the scientific community, it has been a showpiece event for the country, with the prime minister inaugurating the event since Independence. The 108th Congress in Nagpur last year was also inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though virtually.

For decades, the Indian Science Congress used to be a showpiece event where the who’s who of the Indian scientific community would gather to discuss the latest scientific developments. However, the last couple of decades had marked a dramatic deterioration in its quality, with most leading scientists keeping away from the event. There have been demands from within for reforms, which have never been seen.

Why was the 109th edition shelved?

Eventually, differences cropped up between the government and the ISCA a few years ago over the event’s organisation. As a parallel event, the government started promoting the India International Science Festival (IISF) from 2015.

Things worsened in September last year when, the DST, following differences with the ISCA on the content of the event, announced that “support from all its resources for the forthcoming ISC event in 2024 will be discontinued”. The DST accused ISCA of “financial irregularities”, which the latter denied.

The DST provides Rs 5 crore to the ISCA every year, of which sizable funds are allocated to the host institution to make arrangements for the five-day event. Besides, the ISCA gets some funds from other government organisations and raises some money through subscriptions from its members.

However, in September, the DST directed the ISCA not to use government funds for the Science Congress, after which the ISCA went to court against it, alleging government interference in its functioning. The case is yet to be decided.

After the withdrawal of DST’s support, Lucknow University, which was the original host for the 2024 Congress, pulled out of the event. Lovely Professional University stepped in and offered to host the event. But last month, even Lovely Professional University withdrew as the host of the event, forcing the ISCA to put the 109th Congress on hold indefinitely.

Is this the end of Indian Science Congress?

ISCA President Arvind Saxena said the association has decided to post an appeal on its website inviting universities to host the event, possibly in February.

The Indian Express quoted ISCA general secretary Ranjit Kumar Verma as saying that it was unfortunate that the event had to be postponed but they hoped to be able to organise it by March 31, with the Prime Minister attending it as usual.

A government official told news agency PTI that “the DST can think of resuming the funding if ISCA mends its ways”.

(With agency inputs)