Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment(KSCSTE)

The 33rd session of the Kerala Science Congress was conducted as a virtual event from 25-30 January 2021. The focal theme of 33rd KSC was Pandemics: Risks, Impact and Mitigation. The programme was inaugurated by Hon'ble Chief Minister of Kerala on 30.01.2021. Dr. Jacob John, Retd. Professor in Virology, CMC Vellore was the chairman of 33rd KSC. There were focal theme lectures, Memorial lectures and paper presentations from 12 subject areas.

CWRDM has organised 3rd Indian National Groundwater Conference at CWRDM HQ from 17 to 20 February 2020. Jointly conducted with Central Groundwater Board and NIT Calicut. Around 200 delegates from different countries participated in the event

Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) hosted the 27th edition of National Children’s Science Congress and the 1st in Kerala during 27th to 31st December 2019 at Mar Ivanios Vidyanagar, Thiruvanathapuram, with the participation of 652 Child Scientists from 28 States, 8 Union Territories, Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Gulf Countries. 228 Escort teachers, 91 Organising/Academic coordinators, National Academic committee members and eminent scientists were also part of the programme. The event started off with a colorful procession of the participants in their own state attire from Mar Ivanios College to the Mar Ivanios College ground. Technical sessions for the 27th NCSC were scheduled in 12 parallel sessions on 27th, 28th and 29th December 2019. Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology was the venue for the technical sessions and the 12 halls were named after eminent scientists. The National Academic Committee (NAC) team prepared the schedule of the presentations for the convenience of Child Scientists. The presentations were based on the focal theme “Science, Technology and Innovation for a Clean, Green and Healthy Nation”. Child Scientist were awarded for the best promising project at the valedictory function held on 31st December 2019. The presentations were evaluated by the scientists from National institutes and KSCSTE R&D centres who are familiar with different languages in the country as NCSC offers a platform for the students to present their project in mother tongue. An evaluators workshop was conducted by NAC team on 26th December at Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology for the scientists. 40 Scientist were present for the workshop and evaluation.

Considering these inevitability, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate change (MoEF & CC), Govt. of India organized a mass cleanliness-cum awareness drives in beaches named as Swachh – Nirmal Tat Abhiyaan involving National Green Corps – eco club students and colleges/ local community and volunteers in the identified beaches of Kerala from 11th to 18th November 2019. CWRDM had organized the programme by join hand together with district administration, Kozhikode, Kozhikode Corporation, district education department, NGOs’, Residents’ associations etc. The exciting part was Union Minister, MLA, elected officials, district collector, Executive vice president of KSCSTE, Executive Director of CWRDM, Scientists, leaders, students and private citizens had joined under one umbrella to make this program successful. The programme had planned as two segments: 1) Beach cleaning and 2) Awareness programmes on beach cleanliness. The goal is to make people aware about marine debris, and are engaged and empowered to make a change. In Kozhikode, 1950 participants of different schools, government and non-governmental officials, NGOs, Residents associations around Kozhikode worked tirelessly to collect over 488 bags of trash.

The Kerala Science Congress (KSC) is an event initiated by the erstwhile Science, Technology & Environment Committee (STEC) way back in 1989, which has become an annual event thereafter. KSC over the years has been providing a platform for young researchers, scientists, academicians, technologists and all interested in Science& Technology from the State and elsewhere to exchange knowledge and share their research findings for the S & T development of the State. The 31stsession of Kerala Science Congress was held at Fatima Mata National College, Kollam, Kerala from 2nd to 3rd February 2019. The event was inaugurated by the Hon. Chief Minister and President of the KSCSTE, Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan on 2nd February 2019 at 10.00 am. Hon. Chief Minister presented Dr. S. Vasudev Award, Chief Ministers Gold Medal for 3 Young Scientist Awardees of KSCSTE and 5 Science Literature Awards. The focal theme of this science congress session was ‘Our Environment - Our Future: Science and Technology for Rebuilding Kerala. Dr. Eldo T. I., Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT, Mumbai, Dr. J. Sundaresan, Head, Climate Change Informatics, CSIR- National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, New Delhi, Er. G. Sankar, Architect, Habitat Technology Group, Thiruvanatnthapuram, Dr. Shekar Kuriyakose, Member Secretary, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority were the speakers in this session. This was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Prof. T. Jayaraman, State Planning Board (SPB), Kerala including the focal theme speakers and the experts, Dr. B. Ekbal, SPB, Kerala, Dr.Purnachandra Rao, Director, NCESS & Dr. P. V. Joseph, Former Director, IMD. A total of 986 delegates were registered for the 31stKSC. 624 delegates submitted papers in 12 subject areas. After peer reviewing 172 papers were selected for Oral presentation and 205 for poster presentation. Under the Best paper contesting section, 53 papers were selected for presentation during the event. Among 986 registered delegates, about 90% attended the Science Congress, among whom about 73% are women.