The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Vigyan Rail' arrives for 9-day halt

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Vigyan Rail' arrives for 9-day halt

By Our Staff Reporter

Young visitors look at displays on Vigyan Rail in Bangalore on Monday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE, MAY 10. Step aboard the Vigyan Rail for a ride that will take you on a scientific journey through time and on a voyage of technological discovery.

Greeted by a curious crowd on its arrival today at the Cantonment Station, the 14-wagon train-cum-mobile science exhibition has been drawing in the crowds since its journey was flagged off by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, in New Delhi on December 15 last year.

A joint project of the Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Railways, the Vigyan Rail consists of a series of visual and written exhibits on science subjects that includes India's scientific heritage, space, atomic energy, environment, forests, and Defence.

The train's Bangalore trip is coordinated by the Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishat, which has organised the translation of material displayed at the exhibition into Kannada.

Welcoming the train's arrival in Bangalore, V.B. Kamble, Divisional Railway Manager, South Western Railway, Bangalore, said the Vigyan Rail had already fulfilled its aim of improving awareness about science among the people.

The Vigyan Rail was launched as an initiative for 2004, which was declared "World Year of Scientific Awareness." It had visited 40 centres around the country.

Mr. Kamble said: "No libraries or magazines can provide the same volume of scientific information, all in one spot, that the Vigyan Rail does. The exhibition has been received enthusiastically everywhere, with over 50,000 people visiting the exhibition every day in Bareilly, Patna, and Allahabad."

The Vigyan Rail will be stationed at the Cantonment Station till May 18, before moving on to Hubli.

The exhibition will continue touring the country till August 16, when it will have visited 56 destinations, covering a distance of over 59,000 km. Speaking at the exhibition's inauguration, G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation, (ISRO), said: "The Vigyan Rail is a unique mission in that it marries some of the latest innovations in science and technology with the organisational capacity of one of the world's oldest railway systems. Its great success is because of its mobility, which provides connectivity to people even in remote areas."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka