THE 18th All India People's Science Congress (AIPSC) which is the bi-annual meeting of the All India People's Science Network (AIPSN) was held from December 27-30, 2024, at Kolkata in the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences. Activists and intellectuals, along with those in academia, together deliberated on the issues at the intersection of science, technology, and society. More than 500 delegates from 43 member organisations which are part of AIPSN attended, representing states and union territories spread across the country. The 17th AIPSC was held earlier at Bhopal in June 2022.

The 18th AIPSC passed condolence resolutions that acknowledged individuals and communities who recently experienced loss and hardship. AIPSC extended its heartfelt sympathies to the victims of sectarian violence in Manipur, which has seen more than 300 lives lost, thousands injured, and tens of thousands displaced since May 2023.  AIPSC condemned the collapse of governance in the state. It expressed solidarity with those who suffered from natural calamities throughout India and demanded proper compensation for rehabilitation from the centre.  The victims of the recent railway accidents were remembered. As the accidents were mainly because of poor maintenance and government negligence, AIPSC demanded proper oversight and safety measures. AIPSC extended its sympathies to the children and people of Palestine and Gaza, who continue to endure genocide by the State of Israel which is being abetted by the US.

 Historian Parameswaran Thankappan Nair, a prolific researcher on Kolkata's local history, was remembered for his extraordinary contributions to historical scholarship. Professor Parthiba Basu, a renowned agro ecologist and AIPSN agriculture desk convenor, was honoured for his pioneering work on pollination and agro ecology with far-reaching impacts through grassroots movements and food security. Admiral (Retd) L Ramdas, former Chief of Naval Staff, was honoured for his contributions to gender inclusion in the armed forces, and his post-retirement activism for nuclear disarmament, secularism, and constitutional rights. AIPSN also mourned the loss of Dr C S Verma, a powerful voice for the downtrodden and an anti-privatisation activist of health and education.

AIPSC adopted condolence resolutions for three renowned personalities – legendary film director Shyam Benegal, renowned writer MT Vasudevan Nair and former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. These losses, combined with the loss of hundreds of scientists, teachers, and artists in the last two years, weighed heavily, and the AIPSC resolved to carry forward their legacy by continuing the quest for scientific temper, equity, and justice in society.

S&T, EQUITY AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE

The AIPSC in Kolkata had as its theme, "Science and Technology for Self-Reliance and Democratic Climate-Resilient Development”. Parallel to this in the same venue Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Vigyan Mela was started on December 26 and was continued till December 30.  The inaugural session of AIPSC was presided over by Satyajit Rath, President of AIPSN. Asha Mishra, General Secretary, AIPSN welcomed the gathering. The speakers were Prabir Purkayastha, technologist and founder of Newsclick, cultural historian Sohail Hashmi, academician Paromita Chakravarti of Jadavpur University, and scientist D Raghunandan of the Delhi Science Forum. Their voices set a thoughtful tone that underlined the intersections of developments in S&T, cultural diversity, gender, and climate resilience.

Nine sub-plenaries explored diverse themes over three days: S&T, self-reliance and emerging technologies; media and communication; cultural diversity and discrimination; gender, social justice and youth; scientific temper and science communication; agriculture food security and development; public health; climate change impacts, challenges and resilience; and education under the National Education Policy (NEP). The sub-plenary on self-reliance gave a note of warning for the loss of indigenous capabilities in artificial intelligence and public-sector R&D, drawing parallel concerns with 17th AIPSC on the impacting neoliberal paradigm on technological sovereignty. Discussions also targeted privatisation in health, education and agriculture, urging grassroots mobilisation for the reclamation of equity and access.

The backbone of the AIPSC were the 17 workshops, which dealt with subjects like agro ecology, mitigation of climate change, scientific temper, health, agriculture, social media and approaches toward gender and social justice. In the sessions, the participants came up with creative grassroots interventions into systemic challenges. Public health workshops discussed the perils that high-speed privatisation brings in its wake and highlighted several issues that lay in India's inability to seriously address access to health and right to health.

NATIONAL AND GLOBAL ISSUES

Resolutions which had arisen from the various desk committees of the AIPSN were passed at the AIPSC.  There was a call to augment international commitments along with grassroots mobilisation to contend with the fallout of climate change, including climatic heat waves, urban flash floods, landslides etc. The resolution on self-reliance called for reconsidering "Make in India" and "Skill Development" schemes in the light of much needed public investment in education, research, and employment rather than neoliberal policies that failed to deliver industrial growth. Deep-seated problems of caste and gender discrimination were recognised and a call towards social justice and inclusion was made. Education-related resolutions stressed the need to scrap NEP 2020 and the resulting National Research Foundation which is are too centralised and push for privatisation. The promotion of pseudo-science and mythology by wrapping it up as Indigenous Knowledge Systems was criticised. The "Kolkata Declaration", adopted in February 2024, was reaffirmed to emphasise commitment towards rational thinking and evidence-based reasoning while highlighting the constitutional duty to promote scientific temper. The necessity of the State to embrace scientific temper while eschewing pseudo-science and Hindutva politics was pointed out.

The AIPSC stood in solidarity with the genocide-stricken Palestinians of Gaza and criticised India for the shift in stand in diplomacy on the issue. The RG Kar issue was highlighted and the demand was made to establish safe working conditions for hospitals, structures for public health and legislation to provide health care as a right. The resolutions outlined above collectively renewed the commitment towards democratic values, equity linked development.

A special session on the development of West Bengal was addressed by Prof. Achin Chakraborty and Prof. Sivaji Chakravorti, who analysed the progress of the state in agriculture, industry, and technology. The valedictory session of AIPSC was on "Towards a People's Science Movement". R Ramanujam, scientist and educationist, during his talk on "AI: A People's Science Movement Perspective," promoted the slogan "People's Data in People's Hands! " In the presentation "NEP 2020: For Whom Is It?", former Vice Chancellor of University of Hyderabad, Ram Ramaswamy had a lot to say about the problems in the National Education Policy 2020.  He criticised the recent "One Nation One Subscription". Former MP, Lok Sabha, Malini Bhattacharya urged that culture needs to be joined with development.  ND Jayaprakash, Co-convenor Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti, spoke on 40 years of Bhopal Gas Disaster.

A COLLECTIVE VENTURE

The 18th All India People's Science Congress was under an overall organising committee. It exemplified the ethos of   collective venture. The president of the congress was Prof. Subimal Sen; Satyajit Chakrabarti served as the working president; and the general secretary was Pradip Mahapatra. It included three secretaries: Pradip Kumar Das, Prabhat Kumar Bera, and Anup Sarkar, while the treasurer was Tarun Kumar Mandal. The organisation involved 15 specialised subcommittees, each headed by committed members who took care of the most crucial activities such as reception, accommodation, food, transport, finance, and cultural programmes. The AIPSC was well planned and organised by Paschimbanga Vigyan Mancha (PBVM) and the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences. Grassroots mobilisation, the hallmark of the People's Science Movement, marked the entire exercise.

PBVM played an especially significant role not only in event management but organised wonderful opening and closing choreographed performances. All artistic expressions of such nature had thoughtfully taken up the Congress's theme "Science and Technology for Self-Reliance and Democratic Climate-Resilient Development" in their form.

The 18th AIPSC released several relevant documents.  These included a souvenir prepared by the AIPSC organising committee, the AIPSN calendar crafted by the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) and a small book on the "Kolkata Declaration and Resolution on Scientific Temper" reaffirming the congress’ commitment to promoting rational thinking and evidence-based reasoning.  A bouquet of position papers adopted by AIPSN in the last two years was released as well. The JVV Telangana calendar was released. Overall they reflected the team work of both state-level and national-level organisations of People's Science Movement. Among the significant highlights of the 18th AIPSC were numerous state-based exhibitions and cultural programmes. The special exhibitions presented through paintings, posters, and photographs showed that even after 40 years of the Bhopal Gas Disaster, people's sufferings still prevail. Other notable sections celebrated the life and contributions of scientist ACP Roy and the 75th anniversary of India's Independence. A Science Rally was taken out on the last day of the congress.

FUTURE TASKS

The 18th All India People's Science Congress (AIPSC) outlined the agenda for the next two years and proposed campaigns focused on critical issues in society: a national campaign on heat waves and other impacts of climate change to activate grassroots action and policy advocacy; campaign about people's  engagement with the problematic  National Education Policy (NEP) including a  five-year review; campaigns on right to health and healthcare advocacy  in pursuit of universal access and systemic reforms; the "Kolkata 2024 Declaration and Resolution on Scientific Temper" will be taken to the people; campaigns for gender and social justice will strive for making the silenced voices audible, so equity may prevail in each and every sphere of life. All these campaigns will help reinforce AIPSN's strong continued stance for equity, sustainability, and scientific temper.