Mokokchung, Feb 28: Eminent scientists, professors, academicians and scholars across India are currently attending a two-day national seminar on ‘Advances in Biological Science Research’ organised by Department of Botany, Nagaland University, Lumami, presenting their papers and works on conservation and biological researches in different parts of the country .
The national seminar, which got underway today, will focus basically on biotical sciences in the conservation of biodiversity and bio-resources.
Guest of honour Prof. Pramod Tandon, chief executive officer of Biotech Park, Lucknow, said North Eastern Region (NER) consists of 7.9 percent of the country’s total geographical area and shares 96 percent boundaries with other countries. Prof. Pramod Tandon, who is also the former Vice Chancellor of NEHU, Shillong, added that 86 percent of the population of NER resides in villages and contributes 2.61 percent of all India Net domestic products.However, he lamented that NER is still lacking behind rest of the country even though it is rich in biodiversity. The professor also added that India as a fastest growing human population in the globe and predominantly agriculture base economy is also facing major challenges such climate change, loss of biodiversity, reduce in land and water availabilities, emerging pest and pathogens.
In this connection, he opined that biotechnology can be used to solve these challenges such as alleviating the hazard of biotic stress biotechnology, improving pest control, maintenance and improvement of environment, improvement of food quality and design of “Speciality food using biochemical engineering and production of biomaterials.”
The guest of honour also released the seminar abstract book, while the keynote address was delivered by Dr. Pawan Sharma, senior consultant, NER-BPMC, DBT, New Delhi.
The two-day national seminar will conclude on March 1. More than 30 papers will be presented by eminent scientists, professors, academicians and scholars during this seminar.
