- On 107thIndian Science Congress (ISC), set to commence in Bengaluru, organisers said they had taken “special care” to ensure that ‘pseudo-scientific’ articles or talks did not creep in.
- At last year’s ISC at Lovely University, Jalandhar, G. Nageswara Rao, at the time vice-chancellor of Andhra University, asserted that the Kauravas of the Mahabharata had been born of ‘stem-cell’ technology and test-tube baby science and that Rama and Ravana had fought with ‘guided missiles.’
- While pseudo-scientific remarks at the congress aren’t unprecedented — in 2015, at the event in Mumbai, there was an entire session dedicated to ‘aircraft from the Vedic age’.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to inaugurate the congress, which is scheduled to take place between January 3-7, at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Bengaluru.
The theme for the congress this year is ‘science and technology: rural development’ and to emphasise it, the function — which draws school students, college science students and young scholars in droves — will include a Farmer’s Science Congress, providing a platform for innovative farmers.
