People's Democracy

 Tenth All India People’s Science Congress

THE Tenth All India People’s Science Congress was organized in Shimla during October 10 and 14. The Congress saw the participation of nearly 500 delegates representing almost all states. In addition to the opening and closing plenary sessions, technical sessions were organised that focused on six major themes: Science and Reason; Globalisation and Self Reliance; Natural Resource Management; Samata and Women Empowerment; Peace and Security; Social Security: Health and Education. The technical sessions included plenary lectures in the mornings and a number of workshops in the afternoon.

Gautam Ray, while placing the general secretary’s report at the Congress, noted that the Congress was being held in the backdrop of the nationwide Kalajatha organised by the People’s Science Movement in September. The Kalajatha, organised around the slogans of Peace, Unity and Sovereignty, comprised 60 Jathas that traversed all parts of the country and culminated on October 2, at five different places: Wardha, Champaran, New Delhi, Sabarmati and Jalianwalaa Bag.  The Jathas were able to directly reach out to over half a crore people. He noted that the Jathas faced attacks by fundamentalist forces at several places, but moved on undaunted. The success of the Jathas have enthused the organisation at all levels and has created a vibrant base to carry forward the tasks of the People’s Science Movement.

Inaugurating the Congress, Himachal chief minister Virbhadra Singh exhorted scientists to ensure that scientific development was so directed that it helped in the overall development of society and the country. S P Shukla, former member Planning Commission, spoke on the threat posed by imperialist globalisation in his keynote address. He referred to the collapse of the WTO meeting at Cancun and said that there is a growing awareness across the globe about the dangers posed by imperialist globalisation and neo liberal economic policies that are being pushed by the triad comprising of the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO. Eminent physicist, Dr Rajaram, from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, spoke about the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and the consequences of a nuclear holocaust.

Utsa Patnaik, in her plenary lecture on Globalisation and Self-Reliance described in detail the increasing pauperisation of the Indian people in the past decade and a half. She spoke about the crisis in Indian agriculture and the deep erosions that have taken place in the area of food security for an overwhelming majority of the Indian population. Speakers at the plenary on social sectors spoke of the phenomenon of “withdrawal of the Indian State” leading to privatisation of vital sectors such as Health and Education. Speakers talked about new initiatives by the PSM, like the campaign for “Health as a Fundamental Right” and the setting up of “Gyan Vigyan Vidyalayas” all over the country.

In the plenary session on the gender dimensions of globalisation, Indu Agnihotri spoke about the twin pressures of imperialistic globalisation and communalisation on women. She said that globalisation is comfortable with larger workforce participation by women as long as women are confined to low paid work, largely working from their homes. She said that globalisation, while claiming to be a modernising force, was actually reinforcing the backwardness being propagated by fundamentalist forces. Ms Saeeda Hamid said that fundamentalism of all shades, like that of the Taliban, was a product of imperialism and was pushing back the gains made by women since the mid 20th century. Dr M K Prasad, President of the outgoing EC of the AIPSN, presiding over the session on natural resource management, expressed concern over the impact of global warming. He and other speakers at this session drew attention of the delegates to the increased pace of predation of natural resources under the onslaught of imperialist globalisation.

Nilotpal Basu and D Raghunandan spoke about the deterioration of both the external and internal security environment in the country in the last few years. They pointed to the dangers of collaborating with imperialism and selling out to their interests. Dr Suraj Bhan, speaking in the session on “Science and Reason” described in detail the misuse of archaelogical evidence to further the cause of “Hindutva”. Dr Satyajit Rath, from the National Institute of Immunology, cautioned the delegates about the use of dubious “scientific” evidence to propagate a communal agenda.

A striking feature of the Congress was the excellent arrangements that had been made by the Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti, which hosted the Congress. Over 200 volunteers worked round the clock to make the event a truly memorable experience.

The Congress gave a call to its delegates to participate in the World Social Forum that is being organized in Mumbai in January 2004, around the central slogan of “Another World is Possible”. It also decided to work on a plan to organize activities around the rare celestial event called “Transit of Venus” that will take place in June 2004. The Congress ended with the election of a 37 member Executive Committee, which in turn elected C P Narayanan of the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) as president and re-elected Gautam Ray of the Paschim Banga Vigyan Mancha (PBVM) as general secretary.