Manmohan Singh with Amartya Sen at the Indian Science Congress in Hyderabad on Tuesday. (AFP)

Hyderabad, Jan. 3: Perhaps overawed by an economist-Prime Minister, India’s science establishment today almost forgot an economist-Nobel laureate.

Amartya Sen was compelled to consider calling off his address to the Indian Science Congress after a vote of thanks got under way in place of his speech.

Sen eventually relented, but cut short the original 25-page lecture to a 20-minute extempore talk.

Around 11.30 am, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had finished his inaugural address and it was the turn of Sen to speak. But the organisers forgot to tell anyone that the Nobel Laureate would be delivering a lecture after the Prime Minister.

The official schedule did not mention the time of Sen’s speech, probably because the organisers wanted to keep some room for manoeuvre in case of likely delays ? as it turned out, the Prime Minister’s speech began 20 minutes late.

As Sen, who was sitting in the VIP enclosure around 300 feet from the dais, strode towards the podium, another person took the microphone and began reeling off the vote of thanks.

A stunned Sen broke his stride, holding the 25-page lecture he had prepared to share ideas with scientists from across the country.

By then, seeing the Prime Minister getting up and leaving for the exhibition hall nearby, many delegates had started heading to the food counters for tea.

“There is no time (for me). I am not giving this lecture. I am going away,” Sen said, standing amid a thicket of television cameras, and handed over the draft of the lecture to one of his associates.

Sensing something was wrong, senior scientists like M.S. Swaminathan and C.N.R. Rao, the scientific adviser to the Prime Minister, hurried up to the economist and many delegates on their way for the tea break turned around.

The president of the Indian Science Congress, I.V. Subba Rao, then rushed to Sen, profusely apologising.

“We should have made an announcement about the change of schedule before the conclusion of the inaugural session,” said Subba Rao, explaining that the delay in the Prime Minister’s arrival caused the mix-up.

Some scientists who were around Sen were so outraged by the turn of events that they decided to boycott lunch. “The theme of the congress this year is Integrated Rural Development, Science and Technology. We could not have got a better person than Sen to address us,” said a delegate.

Sen later spoke extempore on the subject he had chosen, Science and Practical Reason. He hardly glanced at the 25-page draft but gave a chilling warning on the widening income gap in the country: “Very soon, India will be divided into half California and half Sub-Saharan Africa.”