Page 59 - CTB-1 10 May

PIONEERING A NEW FUTURE 59
OBJECTIVES
• To advance and promote the cause of science in India.
• To hold an annual Congress at a suitable place in India.
• To publish proceedings, journals, transactions and other publications.
• To secure and manage funds and endowments for the promotion of science including the rights to dispose of or sell all or any portion of the properties of the association.
• To do and perform any or all other acts, matters and things as are conducive to, or incidental to, or necessary for, the above objectives.
First Indian Science Congress was held in Calcutta in 1914
The question of a permanent habitation was kept in abeyance till 1952, when the Executive Committee of the association ultimately created
a ‘building fund’ out of its savings. The Calcutta Corporation generously agreed, as a mark of their interest to the cause of the progress of science
in India, to give on 99-year lease a piece of land measuring about 20,800 sqft in Calcutta, on a nominal rent of `1/- per year. The announcement about the gift of this land was made at the inaugural function of the 40th Session of the Indian Science Congress held at Lucknow in January, 1953.
As the association had little resources of its own, attention was diverted to the procurement of the necessary money for constructing the building. Representations were made to the Government of India, for a capital grant of `5.5 lakh in 1955. The Government of India agreed to sanction `2 lakhs
in early 1956, and subsequently the Government of West Bengal also sanctioned a sum of 1 lakh rupees.
The annexe was completed in 1957 and the
office of the association was shifted there from the premises of the Asiatic Society. The first meeting
of the Congress was held from 15-17 January 1914
at the premises of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, with Justice Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, the then Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University, as president. One hundred and five scientists from different parts of India and abroad attended the meeting. The 35 papers presented were divided into six sections – botany, chemistry, ethnography, geology, physics, and zoology – under six sectional presidents.
From a modest beginning with hundred and five members and thirty-five papers communicated
for reading at the first session, ISCA has grown into a strong fraternity. The number of papers communicated for reading has risen to nearly two thousand. Upto year 2000, there were sixteen sections, two committees and six forums.
At present, there are fourteen sections, namely, Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences, Anthropological and Behavioural Sciences (including Archaeology, Psychology, Education and Military Sciences), Chemical Sciences, Earth System Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Information and Communication Science & Technology (including Computer Sciences),