National Urdu Science Congress

The first Urdu Science Congress was hosted in Delhi to encourage scientists and researchers to work towards understanding scientific literature in Urdu.

New Delhi: The first National Urdu Science Congress, was organised by the Anjuman Farogh-e-Science (Organisation for Science Promotion, Delhi), at Zakir Husain Delhi College, on 20-21 March 2015. The inaugural session was presided by Dr. Khwaja Mohd Ekramuddin, Director of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL). This very first event had over a 100 delegates from across the nation with over 25 presentations. The conference brought together scientists, scholars of Arabic, Urdu and Persian languages; educators, writers, poets, historians, heads of institutions and science reporters.
The first Urdu Science Congress aimed to foster communication between scientists and researchers, interested in presenting their works in Urdu language. The Conference covered topics like: The Problem of Teaching Science in Urdu Medium Schools: General Understanding of Scientific Literature in Urdu: Environment and Scientific Literature: Scientific Experiments in Urdu: Teaching and Learning of Science in Madrasas: Modern Medical Knowledge and Scientific Literature: Islam and Science.
A brief documentary titled, ‘Muslim Heritage in our World’ was also screened. At the end of the two day Congress, there were several recommendations. The first and foremost recommendation was to recognize and give credit to the place of Urdu in the Indian society. It is to be recalled that Urdu is the official language of five Indian states (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir). It was recommended that basic education of children should be done in their mother tongue, and Urdu Medium Schools, should have Hindi and English languages which will enable the students to pursue higher studies.
Anjuman Farogh-e-Science (Organisation for Science Promotion, Delhi), is a registered non-governmental organization (NGO), established in 1992 through the efforts of Dr. M. Aslam Parvaiz, Principal, Zakir Husain Delhi College. It works towards the promotion of scientific attitude and popular science and environment among Urdu speaking masses. Since, 1994, it has been regularly publishing a popular science monthly magazine, Urdu Science Mahnamah (Urdu Science Monthly), edited by Dr.Parvaiz. It has also held science popularization conferences in Urdu and confers awards, recognizing school students with highest scores in science subjects.
Zakir Husain Delhi College, formerly Zakir Husain College, Anglo Arabic College and Delhi College, founded in 1692, is the oldest existing educational institution in Delhi, and is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, offering undergraduate and post graduate courses in Arts, Commerce and Sciences. It has had a considerable influence on modern education as well as Urdu and Islamic learning in India, and today remains the only Delhi University College offering BA (Hons) courses in Arabic and Persian. The first National Urdu Science Congress is the brainchild of Dr M. Aslam Parvaiz and is a major step and a milestone for the Urdu Community and far beyond.
(Dr Parvaiz can be reached at [email protected])