Shillong, Jan 3: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the 96th Indian Science Congress in North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) here today.

The theme this year is "Science Education and Attraction of Talent for Excellence in Research".

Former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam will inaugurate the Children''s Science Congress on the January 5.

Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science Technology is the president of Indian Science Congress 2009.

The event which is being held in the North East for the first time, will be attended by a galaxy of scientists from India and abroad, who will interact with each other for common goal of scientific advancement for the good of the society.

These interactions will take place in various sessions, seminars and symposia.

Several public lectures have also been organised on the occasion. There will be a special programme with the focus on the northeastern region. These will include areas such as, biodiversity, natural disaster management, traditional knowledge, digital library, decentralised and clean energy generation, societal and technological response to climate changes.

Science education will be the focus of Children Science Congress.

Under the science education theme, several topics such as, role of academics, attraction of talent and excellence in research will be discussed.

There will also be a national consultation on attraction of talent for R&D Public-Private Partnerships. A panel discussion is also scheduled for Centre-State dialogue on science education.

Besides eminent scientists, hundreds of delegates from different areas of science and technology and a large number of students will participate in this annual gathering.

All adequate arrangements have been made for the event. (ANI)