It's time to make science a 'Jan Andolan': Vardhan

New Delhi: Setting the tone for the India International Science Festival (IISF), which is scheduled to be held in Kolkata from November 5 to 8, Union Minister for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan said that the festival will attract young minds towards the field of science and promote networking of stakeholders working towards the propagation of science.

"The IISF 2019 will play a crucial role in promoting love and passion of science among students by bringing science outside the lab. It is time to make science a Jan Andolan," Vardhan said.

"The theme for this year's festival is 'Research, Innovation, and Science Empowering the Nation' (RISEN India') and it will host 28 different events covering the various aspects of science and technology," he said, adding that the aim of the festival would be to celebrate the achievements of India's scientific and technological advancements with the participation of students, innovators, scientists and technocrats to craftsmen and farmers.

The highlight of the programme would be setting up of a Students Science Village, where more than 2,500 school students from different parts of the country would be housed.

Also, members of Parliament have been asked to nominate five students each along with their teacher from their adopted villages under the Pradhan Mantri Saansad Adarsh GramYojana.

Another important event would be a Young Scientists' Conference, where about 1,500 young scientists and researchers would interact with subject matter experts from various fields and present posters and papers.

Explaining about the festival, Vardhan said, "It was fortuitous that the event was taking place around the birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman, which falls on

November 7. Programmes would be organised in about 100 places across the country to create public awareness about it."