Students of various schools visited the Regional Science Centre (RSC) being developed in Uttarakhand by the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) in collaboration with Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) at its premises in Jhajra, Dehradun. The students enjoyed viewing practical and interesting demonstration of various scientific principles and exhibits on campus and various galleries set up in the RSC which is slated to be inaugurated in the near future. The students were also informed in detail about Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) programme on the occasion.
Abhijit Sarkar from National Science Centre, Delhi, a unit of NCSM, said that the purpose of inviting the school children was to introduce them to the facilities which will be available to them in the subject of science here. The regional science centre developed here comprises a wide range of exhibits, interactive displays and practical demonstrations to teach the children various aspects of science in an interesting manner, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the nearly complete RSC spread across 30450 square metres at Jhajra in Dehradun, comprises a Science Park and the RSC building. The Science Park contains a dinosaurs park and varied interactive exhibits based on scientific theories and principles. Scientific law based interactive exhibits here include ‘Gravity Chair’, ‘Whispering Garden’, ‘Musical Bar’, ‘Sympathetic Swing’, ‘Birding Cage’, ‘Eco Tube’ and ‘Perspective House’. The RSC building comprises the first Himalayan gallery among science centres in India also comprising display of the cultural, geographical and ecological details of Uttarakhand, frontiers of technology gallery, science innovation lab, 3D theatre, auditorium with a seating capacity of 200, exhibition hall, library and meeting hall. In addition to these, intelligent materials, new trends in nuclear power generation, cloud computing, robotics, and carbon nano-tube and graphene along with various other exhibits are also part of the displays at the centre. It should be noted here that the RSC here is slated to be inaugurated by the union Science and Technology minister in the presence of the chief minister though a date has not been fixed for this yet.
Earlier, at the INSPIRE orientation programme held for the school children, UCOST senior scientist Dr DP Uniyal informed the students in detail about this programme and how the State can benefit from this programme. Senior scientific officer of the council Dr Arun Kuksal informed that UCOST is the implementing agency for the INSPIRE programme of the Department of Science and Technology in Uttarakhand. Joint director Dr BP Purohit spoke about the aims of INSPIRE while adding that the RSC will be opened soon in Dehradun. The opening of the RSC will help in generating interest in science and nurturing scientific talent among the children in Uttarakhand, he added. Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists (SPECS) secretary Dr Brij Mohan Sharma spoke on the INSPIRE programme citing examples of children in Uttarakhand and elsewhere in India innovating and achieving scientific development through the programme. Dr Prashant Singh also addressed the students on the occasion.