PM Modi addresses the Science Congress.
The Science Congress and Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), held in India every January, attract Nobel Laureates and inspire youngsters to dream. The Science Congress is inaugurated by the Prime Minister, a tradition started by Jawaharlal Nehru, who ensured that India’s Constitution included a reference to the “scientific temper”. JLF invariably invites the state governor or the chief minister to guarantee official support.
The two prestigious events are divided by the gulf highlighted by C P Snow in his famous lecture The Two Cultures. One assumes that the Science Congress will have content as foreign to that of a literature festival as light to a coal mine. However, since the arrival of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister, the Science Congress regularly features Hindu mythology that is usually included in JLF’s fare.
