Page 2 - Curiosity_Jan2021

EDITOR IN CHIEF:
Nakul Parashar
EDITOR:
Arvind C. Ranade
PRODUCTION:
Bipro Kumar Sen
EDITORIAL:
Sumita Mukherjee
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Published and Printed by Dr Nakul Parashar on behalf of Vigyan Prasar, A-50, Institutional Area, Sector-62, Noida-201 309, U.P, India
Cover Design & Illustrations By: Bipro Kumar Sen
Arvind C. Ranade
IISF-2020: Connecting People
he 6thIndia International Science Festival (IISF) was organized from 22ndto 25th December 2020. It is the first
festival of its kind which was celebrated on the virtual space connecting more than one lakh delegates from India and abroad. The central theme of the festival was ‘Science for Self-Reliant India and Global Welfare’. The festival was a joint venture of Ministry of Science & Technology, Min- istry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Earth Sciences in association with Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), the largest science movement of the country.
IISF 2020 was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on the auspicious National Mathe- matics Day, birthday of the great Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. The Prime Minister stressed on the im- portance of science in our life by saying, “What is called science today becomes the technology of tomorrow and engineering solution later”.
The festival had 41 events distributed over nine different verticals, namely Sci- ence for Agriculture and Rural Develop- ment; Sustainable Development; Science and Humanities; National and Interna- tional Linkages; Inclusive Development; Science for Masses; Science for Students; Industry and MSME; and New Frontiers. Thirteen new events were introduced this year. Inclusion of such events attracted participation of various stakeholders from all walks of life.
Five Guinness World Records were established during the Festival: largest online science festival on virtual space, most people assembling sundial online, most people applying protecting face
mask online, most people washing their hand online and most people attending online nutrition talk. The concurrent International Science Film Festival of India saw participation of 634 films from 60 countries and delegate participation from more than 81 countries. More than 400 sessions were organised during these four days; a mega science, technology, and industry expo recorded participa- tion from more than 300 organisations; and online book fairs, exhibition, poster presentations etc. attracted hundreds of visitors. More than 500 delegates have been recognized for creative writing,
essay and poem writing, paper and poster presentations, model making, painting, etc. IISF-2020 is the first festival wherein science literature went beyond Hindi and English and covered eight Indian languag- es, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Konkani, Punjabi, Assamese, Tamil and Gujarati.
IISF-2020 concluded in the gracious presence of Hon’ble Vice President Shri Venkaiah Naidu on 25 December 2020, the birthday of late legendry Prime Minis- ter Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
It is proud to mention that I was on the responsible role of looking after the IISF secretariate from first week of December till the end of festival. I consider that it was an honour to me as well as the entire team of VIPNET. Like every month, VI- PNET Curiosity is full of exciting knowl- edge inputs and updates on science and technology. Wish you a successful and happy new year 2021.
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EDITORIAL
Dr. Arvind C Ranade is Scientist ‘F’ and National Co-ordinator of Vigyan Prasar Network of Science Clubs. Email: rac@vigyanprasar.gov.in
January 2021