The 13th All India People's Science Congress Concluded at Thrissur, Kerala last week. Sri T Gangadharan of KSSP has been elected as the new General Secretary and Sri Raghunandanan of Delhi Science Forum as the new President of the All India People's Science Network. See the news and views related to the events and some of the papers presented in the Congress on  peples science movements perspective.

News

The All India People's Science Congress here on Tuesday stressed the need to develop an alternative trajectory of sustainable development against the neo-liberal economic policies.

Addressing the function, All India People's Science Network general secretary Amit Sen Gupta urged scientists to fight against the ‘anti-people' science and technology policies. The neo-liberal policies were bringing about massive inequality in the country, he said.

Mr. Gupta said: “The corporate forces were trying to commodify science and research findings. The common man has been denied the fruits of the scientific inventions.”

‘Anti-science' attitude

He called for developing innovative means to spread awareness about science and its potential to change people's lives. The ‘anti-science' attitude in sectarian politics based on religion and caste had to be exposed, he said.

The science congress called upon the People's Science Movement activists to improve the access of knowledge, resources and technology to the common man. It stressed the need to translate books on science and technology into regional languages.

Social activists M.P. Parameswaran, Asha Misra, Vinod Raina and Komal Srivastava took part in the discussion.

Waste management

Addressing a seminar on ‘Solid Waste Management' at the congress, K. Rajendra Kurup, director, Environmental Engineers International, said there was no magic solution for waste management and localised strategies should be adopted according to regional topography and environmental conditions.

Lack of planning and ineptitude of authorities were creating hurdles in implementing waste management projects, he said.

Addressing another seminar, public health activist B. Ekbal said the responsibility of the People's Science Movement had increased against the backdrop of environmental deterioration with the potential of ecological disasters in several parts of the country.

The recent developments in science and technology and emergence of alternative movements with human and socialist principles had opened up ample scope for the People's Science Movement, he said.

For women empowerment: Social activist Komal Srivastava addresses the All-India People's Science Congress in Thrissur on Wednesday. Thrissur: Lopsided development programmes have led to violation of human rights of the under-privileged, Archana Prasad, associate professor at Jamia Milia Islamia, has said.Addressing the All-India People's Science Congress here on Wednesday, Ms. Prasad, an activist of the Delhi Science Forum, criticised the way in which environmental impact assessments had been done for various projects.