The 90th Indian Science Congress beginning Friday in Bangalore will create a history of sorts with both the President and prime minister attending it for the first time.

Departing from protocol, President A P J Abdul Kalam has decided to attend the session, being held in the Jnana Bharathi campus of the Bangalore University from January 3-7.

As is customary, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will inaugurate the congress. On Saturday, Kalam will inaugurate the space summit, which is being held as part of the five-day event.

Indian Science Congress president and Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Kasturirangan told rediff.com in Bangalore that Kalam had offered to attend the session to interact with scientists, technologists and hundreds of schoolchildren.

"For protocol reasons, we thought the President may not be able to attend the congress after the prime minister inaugurates it. The issue of protocol also came in the way of extending an invitation to Kalam this time by the organisers.

"Though Kalam has regularly attended the session... his elevation to the office of the President has thrown up the problem of protocol, as every congress is normally inaugurated by the prime minister," Kasturirangan stated.

The organisation had even arranged to beam Kalam's address to the delegates directly from Rashtrapathi Bhavan in New Delhi via INSAT satellite.

"We thought at least in this way we could ensure Kalam's 'presence' and participation in the event.

"But he told us on phone that he would like to personally inaugurate the space summit and interact with scientists and technologists," Kasturirangan said.

Doordarshan will telecast the session across the country.

The proceedings of the congress will also be available on the Internet from its Web site isc2003@isro.org.

Being held in Bangalore after a gap of 15 years, scientists from India and abroad will attend the congress.

"We are expecting a gathering of over 6000 delegates from all over the country and overseas, including students, technologists, industrialists, science managers and policymakers," said Kasturirangan.

Making a departure from earlier themes and conventions, ISRO and the Bangalore University have decided to focus on 'Frontier Science and Cutting Edge Technologies' to address the needs of the country.

"The focus of the congress is apt in an era of globalisation, where safeguarding national interests has become imperative," Kasturirangan said.

The space summit will bring together agencies from around the world.

"India will project the success of its space program, which is primarily applications oriented, and thus contributing to the development of the nation on the whole," Kasturirangan said.

Expressing concern over the decline of scientific papers from India in international journals and the dwindling number of students opting for IT and business management courses at the academic and occupational levels, Kasturirangan said there is an urgent need to revitalise the scientific and technological enterprise across the country.

"In today's world, science teaching needs a great impetus to bring back students to the realm of science and enable science career opportunities. India today needs a new generation of scientists.