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Rekha Dixit
Rekha Dixit

NEW DELHI

Prime Minister to inaugurate Indian Science Congress on Tuesday

PTI1_3_2016_000086A (File) Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 103rd edition of Indian Science Congress | PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to have an interesting mix of science and religion in his schedule on Tuesday. He begins the day by inaugurating the 104th session of the Indian Science Congress, hosted by the Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. Later in the afternoon, he will offer an hour long puja at the famous Tirupati temple.

The science congress is traditionally the first official engagement of the Prime Minister in the new year, a custom that was started by Jawaharlal Nehru. It is a meeting point for men and women of science from across the country, as well as different parts of the world. As in previous years, there will be several Nobel laureates at the event.

Nine Nobel laureates scheduled to participate are: Brian Kent Koblika (Chemistry 2012) from Stanford University, USA, William Moerner, (Chemistry 2014), Stanford University, USA, Steven Chu (Physics 1997), Stanford University, USA, David Jonathan Gross (Physics 2004), University of Califronia USA, Takaaki Kajita (Physics 2015), University of Tokyo, Japan, Serge Haroche (Physics 2012, Pierre and MArie Claire University, France), Jean Triole (Economics 2014, Toulouse School of Economics, France), Ada E Yinath (Chemistry 2009, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and Muhammad Yunis (Nobel Peace Prize, 2006, Bangladesh).

The Modi government began its association with the congress on a controversial note in 2015, at the Mumbai chapter, when it decided to emphasise on the contribution of ancient Indian sciences. One particular paper, which spoke of how Vedic Indians had mastered the science of aviation, came under particular scrutiny, given that the entire theory had been debunked by Indian scientists years ago. This year, the theme is non-controversial — Science and Technology for National Development. 

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Topics : #Narendra Modi

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