All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN) is a national network of Peoples Science Movements of India. It was established in the first All India Peoples Science Congress, organised in 1988 at
Kannur
Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...
in Kerala State. The attempt to establish a national platform for science organisations in India started in the late 1960s. By that time, there were Science organisations in
West Bengal
West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
, Assam, Orissa,
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
and
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
. In many other states, there were committed scientists who were interested to work with people for a social cause.
The first common platform of scientists was organised by working scientists of BARC in Mumbai. It was named the Federation of Indian Literary Scientists Association. They supported different groups of scientists in different language speaking states with science writings in the vernacular. In 1973 and 1978, regional conferences of scientists were organised in Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram. As a result, organisations were formed in few other states also. By the 1970s, there was
Assam Science Society
Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
in Assam,
Bangeeya Vigyan Parishad in West Bengal,
Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad in Kerala and
Karnataka Rajya Vijnan Parishad in
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
. The
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
On 3 December 1984, over 500,000 people in the vicinity of the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India were exposed to the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate, in what is considered the world's worst ind ...
of 1984 created a situation for these groups to work together against abuse of science and technology and lot of such activities were organised. In 1987, five national kala jathas were organised in the name
Bharat Jan Vijnana Jatha which culminated in Bhopal. Following this, organisations sprouted in various states which created a conducive atmosphere for the establishment of the All India Peoples Science Network.
When All India Peoples Science Network was established in February 1988, there were 28 member organisations and presently, it has 35 members. It functions as a common platform for interaction on
science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
and
technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
issues and learning. It organises All
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
Peoples Sciences Congress every two years to discuss various experiences in science and technology. The organisational conference of the network is held along with the congress.
Members
Major activities
1) Science Communication and Publication
2) Health
3) Education
4) Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development
5) Agriculture
6) Rural Technology
7) Decentralization
8) Samata
9) Cultural Communication
See also
*
Children's Indradanush
References
External links
"Secularism and People's Science Movement in India"an
"Towards a People's Science Movement"from ''
Economic and Political Weekly
The ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (EPW) is a weekly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all social sciences, and is published by the Sameeksha Trust. In January 2018, academic Gopal Guru was named the new Editor of the journal. Guru will be ...
''
"People's Science Movement"from ''Science, technology, imperialism, and war''
"The People's Science Movements"from ''Knowing Nature''
{{Authority control
Scientific organisations based in India
Social movements in India