The Indian Science Congress (ISC) is an annual event where a slice of the country’s scientific community gathers to present and discuss research and communicate science. It has curried prestige by having each edition inaugurated by the Prime Minister and, often, a Nobel Laureate or two in attendance. But in the past few years, the ISC’s reputation has been in tatters after it offered itself as a platform for a few members of the scientific community to advance pseudoscientific claims, particularly those that dovetailed to hyper-nationalist narratives in other spheres. Now, the ISC’s 109th edition, originally to be held in Lucknow University in 2024, has been cast in doubt after the University pulled out citing an ongoing dispute between the Department of Science and Technology (DST), a significant source of funds for the event, and the ISC Association, the autonomous body under the DST that organises it. The association then picked Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar to host it but the decision drew the DST’s ire, including an unspecific allegation of “financial irregularities” on the association’s part. Then Lovely pulled out as well even as the association went to court against the DST citing government interference. The association has also published a notice seeking the interest of other universities to host the 2024 event and has constituted a committee to find a new venue.
This pause in the ISC’s schedule is an opportunity to consider the relevance of the ISC. Of course, some reputed scientists have called the post-2014 event a “circus” that is deleterious to the cause of science in India, so the uncertainty may not bother them. But the ISC also hosts thousands of school and college students every year as well as some talks by researchers that contribute to learning and awareness. This is not as straightforward as a plea to throw away only the bathwater, not the baby. The ISC is itself flawed, with its oracular choice of speakers, disjointed agenda, and hectic schedule not facilitating meaningful engagement. Since 2015, the Indian government has also been rooting for the India International Science Festival, an event put together by the Ministries of Science and Technology and of Earth Sciences, the Departments of Space and of Atomic Energy, and Vijnana Bharati, an outfit connected to the Sangh Parivar. In effect, what the ISC should become is an independent, more frequent, and more coherent event after a critical appraisal of what the national scientific community, including its members in the private sector, offers to bring to the table. Everything else — including the presence of political leaders and Nobel Laureates — is ornamental.
