Never Mind Its Attitude towards Scientific Temper and Rationalism, the Vijnan Bharati has received a Rs 12 crore grant from the Minstry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences
A ‘science fair’, organised by a RSS-backed NGO, saw a 300% jump in funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), and that too within a year after launching the programme. The second India International Science Festival – organised by ‘Vijnan Bharati’ – has received Rs 12 crore from MoST and the Ministry of Earth Sciences, headed by Harsh Vardhan, who inaugurated an accompanying exposition on December 7. Three government departments under the MoST – science and technology, biotechnology and scientific and industrial research – as well as the earth sciences ministry, contributed Rs 3 crore each for the five-day show being held at the National Physical Laboratory here.
“We were told (by the government) to contribute Rs 3 crore for the event and we did. What option did we have,” an official told the media. The first edition of the festival held at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi last year received a funding of Rs 3 crore from the science ministry. On its website, Vijnan Bharati describes itself as a “science movement with swadeshi spirit”. The movement, it claimed, was started in the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, by a few scientists under the guidance of K I Vasu.
In addition to these departments, other scientific arms of the government like Indian Council of Medical Research, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, department of space and department of atomic energy were asked to put up stalls for the IISF 2016. One of the highlights of the festival would be a gathering of more than 500 students who would dress like Albert Einstein.