105th Science Congress Postponed Due to Security Reasons, Says Osmania University

The 105th Science Congress, which was to be held between January 3 to 7, 2018, at the Osmania University, Hyderabad has been postponed “indefinitely”. The press release by the university did not give any reason for cancellation of the programme on the said dates,

“At one point in time, the University was flexible and was willing to have the inaugural outside the campus and the remaining session on the campus even if it meant incurring more expenditure and inconvenience,” said the statement. The event was to be attended by more than 25 Nobel laureates and nearly 20,000 people from the scientific community were supposed to take part in the congress.

One of the organising members of the Science Congress, on the conditions of anonymity, told Newsclick that it was due to security reasons that the event was being postponed. According to the reports, the students of the university had planned to stage a protest, during the inaugural address, which was to be attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. This comes after a science student, Murali, committed suicide over the fear of exams and not getting a job on December 3.The BJP at the centre and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) at the state, had earlier promised to provide jobs to the youth but have not implemented those poll promises yet. The suicide had led to massive protests on the campus. Over 100 students were detained and cases were filed against more than 25 of them, who were then sent to Chanchalguda Central Jail.

The member also said that the committee has agreed to meet on December 27, to decide on the next date and venue of the event.