It started in 1914 at the Asiatic Society in Kolkata to “stimulate scientific research in the country through a gathering of research workers.” But 94 years later, at a time when borders between different science disciplines are fast disappearing, the Indian Science Congress is facing a crisis of identity.

So much so that top scientists have kept away from the latest edition that began on January 3 here, flagged off by none else than the Prime Minister himself. The Congress ends tomorrow but attendance is at a dismal low at most of the sessions, papers being presented are two or three years old, and the government is left wondering “what it needs to do in this situation.”

Barring full halls for lectures by the three Nobel Laureates invited this time, Paul M Nurse (Medicine), Roger D Kornberg (Chemistry), and Robert Curl Jr (Chemistry), a top official in the Science and Technology Ministry told The Sunday Express: “For the past three years, hardly anything of relevance has come out of this Congress.”

The Ministry provides a grant of Rs 1 crore every year to the Congress which is supposed to showcase the best of Indian science and popularise it among young scientists and students. But now, the official said, the Ministry is forced to “rethink whether to continue its association with the body of scientists (Indian Science Congress Association) who are running the show.”

“I am sorry to say so but the Science Congress has become more of a mela,” says Prof C N R Rao, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister, who is among the country’s top scientists who has skipped the Congress here. “I have become frustrated with it. I have my research to attend to and decided to stay away,” he said.

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