India International Science Festival 2025 concludes in Panchkula
A panel on “Women’s Development to Women-led Development in S&T,” featuring Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar, Vibha Tandon, Bineesha Payattati, Tanushree Bhowmik and Manjusha Rajagopal, highlighted the need to break social barriers, support early opportunities for girls and strengthen systems that enable women scientists to lead.
The four-day India International Science Festival (IISF) 2025 concluded in Panchkula on Tuesday. The event drew over two lakh visitors and brought together 1,800 students, 167 teachers, 32 resource persons and thousands of delegates across tracks such as New Age Technology, Blue Economy, Clean and Nuclear Energy, and the Himalaya in Changing Climate.
The final day focused on “Nari Shakti” and saw strong participation from girl students. A panel on “Women’s Development to Women-led Development in S&T,” featuring Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar, Vibha Tandon, Bineesha Payattati, Tanushree Bhowmik and Manjusha Rajagopal, highlighted the need to break social barriers, support early opportunities for girls and strengthen systems that enable women scientists to lead.
A parallel session on gene editing brought together experts KC Bansal, Ramesh V Sonti and Dr Rahul Purwar. They discussed advances in genome engineering, agricultural resilience, India’s CAR-T cell therapy efforts, gene therapy trials, CRISPR research and organoid models.
At the valedictory ceremony, Haryana governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh praised the festival for showcasing India’s growing scientific capabilities and aligning with the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047. Awards were presented across pavilions and institutions. Chitkara University won first prize in the S&T Hackathon for its civic reporting app JanSamadhan, while CSIR, DRDO, MoES, DST and NCSM were recognised for innovation and thematic displays.
