The 105th Indian Science Congress will be held at the Manipur Central University in Imphal from March 18 to March 22. The dates are still tentative, T Parthasarathy of Osmania University’s Department of Chemistry told Scroll.in.

The organisers were forced to reschedule the congress after Hyderabad’s Osmania University, which was supposed to conduct the event, said it would not be able to host it this year. This is the first time in more than 100 years that the event – the largest annual gathering of Indian scientists – has been postponed.

Osmania University had declined to host the Indian Science Congress because of “disturbances on its campus and other reasons”. It was scheduled for January 3 to January 7.

This was after a 21-year-old student, Eramaina Murali, was found dead in his hostel bathroom on December 3. Although his suicide note reportedly said he was taking the step because he was unprepared for upcoming exams, some students alleged that the handwriting in the letter did not match Murali’s, and he had been depressed because of anger over the lack of jobs in Telangana.

Security officials also feared that students would protest against some leaders attending the congress, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.