ABVP Calls For Universities Bandh In Protest Against Shifting Of Science Congress 

Hyderabad: ABVP called for a bandh of universities in Telangana on Thursday in protest against the shifting of Indian Science Congress from Osmania University to Manipur University.

Originally scheduled to be held at Osmania University during January 3-7, 2018, the 105th edition of the historic Indian Science Congress will now be held at Manipur University, Imphal, tentatively between March 15 and 25, 2018.

The annual event, which is on the Prime Minister’s calendar in January, was postponed for the first time in its over 100-year history after Osmania University expressed inability to organise it because of the student unrest prevailed on the campus. It was learnt that security officials anticipated protests by students against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of Dalits and minorities, and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao over government's failure in recruitment.

The changed venue was decided on Wednesday at an “emergency executive committee” meeting of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA).

“As per the decision of the Emergency Executive Committee meeting held on December 27, 2017, the 105th Indian Science Congress will be held in Manipur University, Imphal, in March 2018. The dates will be informed soon,” a statement by Professor Gangadhar, one of the general secretaries of ISCA, said.

The statement asked members interested in participating in the March event to register afresh and assured them that the fees paid to Osmania for registration and accommodation will be refunded by the university.

The association will have to approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his availability in March. “It will be organised between March 15 and 25. The final dates will be announced within a week. It is likely that the Science Congress would commence on March 17 or March 18,” Gangadhar said.

This is the second time the science congress will be organised in the North-East. In 2009, it was held in Shillong.

A total of six institutions expressed interest in hosting the event, among them Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University in Bareilly and the SAGE University in Indore.

However, Manipur University was the only one whose claim was backed by a letter of support from the Chief Minister and the Governor. “In the case of Manipur University, both the Chief Minister and the governor sent letters saying the state and the university would be very happy to organise the event and all infrastructural and logistical arrangements would be made on time. The vice-chancellor sent a detailed invitation proposing to host the Science Congress,” Gangadhar said.

“The meeting decided that Manipur University was most apt to hold the event. It even suited the theme of the Science Congress this time — Reaching the Unreached,” he said.

A representative from Osmania attended Wednesday’s meeting to explain the circumstances in which the event had to be cancelled. Osmania offered to host the event on some other date since it has already made preparations for it. But the association felt there was uncertainty and decided to look for alternatives.

A team of the association is expected to visit Manipur University on December 29 and 30 to assess its preparedness.