Sensitive side of the young scientist shows up during IISF 2016

New Delhi : On the penultimate day of India International Science Festival (IISF-2016) jointly organized by Ministry of Science and Technology (S&T) and Ministry of Earth Sciences in collaboration with Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA) at National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Delhi the campus was agog with activities. 

An innovative programme DST-INSPIRE (Innovation and Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) a national level exhibition and project, was initiated by the Department of Science and Technology to attract talents to the excitement and study of science at an early age. The sensitivity to the societal concerns was also reflected in the projects by the young scientists such as in the device created for comfortably carrying heavy loads on head, termed Lord Carrier. 

Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, inaugurated the program.

According to the information, 600 students from different states of the country showcased their projects after qualifying district and state level rounds. Three students will be conferred with national level awards and 57 with consolation prizes. Later, the short listed candidates will present their projects in the 'Festival of Innovation' to be held in March, next year at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The Science Film Festival during the IISF-2016 offered a bouquet of over a dozen Indian and foreign films in the ‘Best of the competitive’ and the ‘Non-competitive’ categories. This was followed by a lively panel discussion on ‘Science films as an effective tool for communicating science’. With Dr. Manoj Patairiya, director, National Institute for Science Communication & Information Resources in chair, this was joined by Inger Midtkandal, the S&T counsellor from Royal Norvegian Embassy; Andreas Roles-Olson, the Science Officer from the Embassy of USA and Alexander Jmyrev, the Science & Technology expert in S&T at Russian Centre of Science & Culture apart from 5 Indian experts. 

A lot of visitors continued to throng the halls and project display street on Saturday. In the start-up hall, one item on display that attracted a lot of visitors was the display of a hydroelectric cell that generates electricity using nothing except a few drops of water. In what appears to be a breakthrough, Chief Scientist RK Kotnala and his research fellow Jyoti Shah of NPL have demonstrated that this panel can generate up to about a quarter ampere current at a little less than one volt.

This device, much economical than solar panel, may revolutionize the energy generation scenario. The device has already been patented and published in an international journal. The efforts are on to shape it in a convenient form like dry cell and to improve in terms of longevity and electrical contacts, said the scientists. 

During the plenary sessions, 'Cashless Transactions', use of PAYTM etc. were talked about under Information Technology, while a road map for space crafts, communication, navigation and developments in the required materials was elaborated under the session on Space & Defence. 

On Sunday, the festival will conclude with the valedictory function with Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of S&T and Minister of Earth Sciences, Sh. Y.S. Chowdary, State Minister for the same, Dr. Girish Sahni, Director General, CSIR, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma and Sh. A. Jayakumar, Secretary General, VIBHA giving away awards.