THE MP Council of Science and Technology (MPCST) will host a three-day national convention on science and technology communication with the support of the Union Department of Science and Technology (DST) from January 17 to 19. A special exhibition on `Planet Earth’ will be held simultaneously on the MPCST campus between January 17 and 21. The national convention will essentially be divided into two parts.
On January 17, a daylong national workshop on `major breakthroughs in science communication’ will be held while on January 18 and 19, representatives of two councils of science and technology in the country will hold a national-level consultation to prepare an outreach plan and strategy for carrying out a campaign under the `Year of Planet Earth 2008’, MPCST director general Dr Mahesh Sharma said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The main objective of a one-day workshop on the first day of the convention is to invite those persons who have been benefited by the activities of the council to share their experiences with the other participants.
Selected young scientists awarded by the council and winners of innovative teachers award for the years 1997, 1999 and 2001 are also expected to participate. Some field level officials who are implementing various schemes and activities of the council across the State will also participate. During the two-day national level consultation, representatives of the scienceand technology councils from across the country will be chalking out outreach plans and strategies for the international initiative on `Year of Planet Earth’.
The UN has adopted 2008 as the year of planet earth with broad objectives to understand atmosphere and climate, mega cities – going deeper, building safer, deep earth – from crust to core, ocean – abyss of time, soil – earth’s living skin, paradigms in nurturing nature, newer eco-friendly technology – case studies, ecological balance, sanitation and safety, preserving biodiversity and outreach – bringing earth sciences to everyone. The activities to be carried out across the country under the initiative would be finalised.
{{/usCountry}}The UN has adopted 2008 as the year of planet earth with broad objectives to understand atmosphere and climate, mega cities – going deeper, building safer, deep earth – from crust to core, ocean – abyss of time, soil – earth’s living skin, paradigms in nurturing nature, newer eco-friendly technology – case studies, ecological balance, sanitation and safety, preserving biodiversity and outreach – bringing earth sciences to everyone. The activities to be carried out across the country under the initiative would be finalised.
{{/usCountry}}The third aspect of the programme is the special exhibition that is coming to Bhopal from the Annamalai (Tamil Nadu) convention of the Indian Science Congress.
The multimedia exhibition will highlight various aspects of `Planet Earth’. Along with this national exhibition, stalls on biodiversity of Madhya Pradesh, agriculture, forest, environment and science communication will be put up. Dr Sharma mentioned Governor Balram Jakhar was expected to inaugurate the programme on January 17.