IBSD Manipur to set up two centres in Delhi

TAKYELPAT, Feb. 4: In a move to nurture and strengthen immense talents of students by providing a forum for ‘expression and innovation,’ the Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), a Manipur-based central organisation, is all set to open two centres in New Delhi. Manipur Governor Dr. Najma A Heptulla will open the two centres namely IBSD Kalandi North East Centre for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Kalandi College and IBSD Miranda House Centre for Women’s studies at Miranda House both in Delhi on February 17 and 27. “The idea is to catch them young or train them young,” IBSD Director Prof Dinabandhu Sahoo told this reporter at its well maintained institute premises on Saturday. Once these two centres are opened at Miranda House and Kalandi College which reportedly houses not less than 600 NE students, students studying in various disciplines in the national capital can take their time out and attend periodic sensitisation programmes on setting up of business establishment once they went back home after their studies, Prof Sahoo added. Besides, they also can exchange ideas with wide range of people from diverse fields belonging to other parts of the country to bridge the “missing link”. It will also create awareness, educate on both research based understanding of the challenges and opportunities in a culturally sensitive manner and ultimately lead to achieve the sustainable development activities as the centres aims to focus right from under-graduate students, he felt. IBSD, which currently has just one centre in Sikkim apart from its existing Takyelpat campus near here, has been undertaking various research based programmes in collaboration with 15 well known research institutes in the country and abroad. Last year, IBSD had signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South Korea-based Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources, the think tank on freshwater organisms, and the Biodiversity Conservation and Inter American University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR), USA, to research more on micro-organisms and bio-resources and joint research on sea weed, medicinal plants and phytoremediation. Besides it also signed another MoU with Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, for joint collaborative research and development programmes for sustainable management of bioresources in January this year.