National Science Day was celebrated in U R Rao Satellite Centre with enthusiastic participation of students and teachers in various competitions. The day began with the events - Science Quiz and Spot Painting being conducted simultaneously at two different venues. The students and teachers showed great interest in visiting the space exhibition which had displays of various satellite models right from Aryabhata to Mars Orbiter Mission. Mobile Planetatium, which is a new attraction introduced this year, turned out to be a crowd puller with as many as 500 students witnessing various cosmic events in 3D environment.

As part of the national science day celebrations, eight events were held which saw teachers and students from all corners of Bengaluru participating and competing with each other.

Essay writing attracted about 180 students who were keen to express their ideas on the chosen scientific topics in Kannada, Hindi and English. Dr. K. Kasturirangan special prize was awarded to the best essay among the three languages for each of the two categories. Test of Scientific Temper was an event held to assess the understanding of science in children and their ability to reason for the questions 'how' and 'why'. Extempore Science Elocution which tested the eloquence and ability of students to express scientific ideas was another attraction. Innovative ideas contest was held to bring out scientific proposals for tackling common problems faced by the society viz., "Local waste management" and "Power crisis management". Science quiz, being one of the major attractions, was held in two phases. Teams short-listed during the first phase of written test were allowed to battle it out for the final prize. Spot painting literally added colour to the day's celebrations. Apart from the winners for the identified categories, two students were recognized as "Budding Artists". Science in Action was another interesting event in which various experiments were demonstrated to the students and the underlying principle was sought. This event was aimed at encouraging the students to understand the basics of science and apply them. Not to leave the teachers out of the celebrations, Teachers' Event was conducted, during which teachers came out with innovative ideas to motivate the student community.

The valedictory function began in the afternoon with a melodious invocation song followed by welcome address by Dr D V Ramana, Chairman, NSD-2016. Mr. Ashwin G.S gave an insight into the life and achievements of Sir C V Raman in whose honour the event is celebrated. Dr. M Annadurai, Director URSC presided over the function. The Chief Guest for the occasion, Prof. C V Vishveshwara, Founder Director of Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore, delivered the invited lecture titled 'Black holes and gravitational waves'. Being a popular writer and orator, the talk turned out to be highly motivating. The programme concluded with the distribution of prizes for winners by the dignitaries on the stage.