Scientists, research scholars and academicians in the city including students will organise a March for Science from Rajabazar to Esplanade on August 9 alleging low funds for research activities and saffronisation of education by the BJP-led government at the Centre. Similar programmes will also be held in several places across the country particularly in the state capitals. "We demand that the funds for scientific research should be three percent of the GDP which is now a meagre 0.85 percent. The allocation for education is presently three percent of the GDP which should be 10 percent. These will be the agendas for our march," Professor Soumitra Banerjee of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) said while making the announcement of the event on Wednesday. Banerjee also alleged that superstitions and unscientific knowledge is making inroads in the curriculum. "The Centre is giving priority for research activities in certain subjects which are discouraging researchers who go for quality research work. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), that has as many as 39 science laboratories under its aegis, has recently declared that the organisation is under a financial emergency," Banerjee said. Professor Partha Sarathi Roy of IISER alleged that saffornisation of education on the part of the Narendra Modi government is shifting the focus of scientific research. "They are treading a path that is based on certain superstitions. For example, Vedic Mathematics has no link with the original Vedas but it is being represented in that manner. This is not at all acceptable," Roy said.