Dr Kidwai observed that being rich in biodiversity India can provide avenues for finding new plant materials and food products. “India has rich potential in energy generation. Coupled with this, we have the largest technical and scientific manpower,” he said. He exhorted the youngsters to avail the opportunities and contribute to their personal, national and global growth.

Dr R C Sobti said that the objective of the conference was to make a strong base of scientifically and technically qualified youngsters and also increase access to higher education. 

Dr S C Vaidya, Dean University Instructions and organising secretaries Professor A K Bhati and Dr R K Pathak also addressed the gathering. 

The plenary sessions started with a lecture by Professor S C Laroiya, Director, NITTTR, Chandigarh, on ‘Science for better future’. He motivated the young students by narrating the achievements of Sir CV Raman, Sir JC Bose, Homi Bhabha and others.

The second plenary session kicked off with an inspiring talk by Dr G P S Raghava, senior scientist and head, Bioinformatics Centre, IMTECH, Chandigarh. He is a recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in biological sciences in 2008.

Later, Dr S Srinivasan, Deputy Director, SASE (DRDO), Chandigarh, discussed a case study of ‘Western Disturbance using versatile Mesoscale Model: MM5 Version 3’. As many as 17 sessions were conducted at individual sections during the day.