Independence Day celebrated at IBSD Imphal

15th August, 2022

Independence Day celebrated at IBSD Imphal

IBSD celebrated Independence Day and organized a programme to commemorate “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” in Imphal.

Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India celebrated 75 years of Independence and organized a programme to commemorate “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” by highlighting various outreach activities of IBSD for bioresources development and boosting the economy of North Eastern Region of India.

The programme was addressed by Sh. Thongam Biswajit Singh, Minister for Power, Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Agriculture, Science & Technology, Government of Manipur. During the programme, Hon’ble Minister released a book highlighting various outreach activities of IBSD for the development of local bioresources, scientific achievements, societal upliftment and bioeconomy from bioresources of NER.

During the Independence Day Celebration, Prof. Pulok K. Mukherjee, Director, IBSD unfurled the tricolour flag and recalled the contributions of the freedom fighters and paid homage to all of them. He highlighted about the huge bioresources and biological diversity which refers to the variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life. He mentioned that to celebrate “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”, IBSD has organised more than 150 outreach activities including webinars, seminars, capacity building & training programmes, workshops, lab visits for researchers, scientists, school students, traditional healers, farmers, local entrepreneurs of NER.

He added that IBSD has initiated International Webinar series on “Re-imagine ethnopharmacology” in association with Society for Ethnopharmacology, India (SFE-India), International Society for Ethnopharmacology (ISE), Switzerland during the COVID-19 pandemic and organised several webinars with the involvement and deliberation of more than 85 eminent scientists from across the globe to grace the series and more than 12,000 participants have attended this webinar series so far.

Independence Day celebrated at IBSD Imphal

Prof. Pulok K Mukherjee highlighted that IBSD has been working on “Bioeconomy from Bioresources” to boost the economy of this region through sustainable utilization of unique bioresources. In this context, IBSD has organised many programmes on several aspects of development of the bioresources so as to explore the boosting the Bioeconomy, with special reference to NER.

He mentioned that IBSD has organised several webinars, traditional healer’s conclaves, capacity building & training programmes for scientists, researchers, progressive farmers, young entrepreneurs and other stakeholders. BSD has taken several activities through the initiation of the of the Science Museum, demonstration of scientific instruments, organizing lectures, seminars, scientific camps and outreach programs has been performed to develop scientific attitude and to inculcate general awareness, scientific temperament among the students and common people of NER for improving livelihood, employment generation; environment protection and ecological security of this region.

IBSD has set up a ‘Science Museum’ in Chandel District of Manipur which is an Aspirational District of Manipur. Main focus of this Museum is to develop scientific attitude and inculcate general awareness about local bioresources among the students and common people of the region. Under this programme, IBSD has organized several webinars and many interactive programmes for the students and other stakeholders from different schools and colleges across the state of Manipur. IBSD has organized series of webinars under “Science Setu” programme of Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India for the DBT STAR colleges of Assam.

These programmes have been organized for promoting the science among the students from different colleges of NER. Besides IBSD has organized various seminars on capacity building & training on instrumental techniques under IBSD-JU collaborative research programme for researchers, scientists, students from NER, which has been very useful and has great impact in their capacity building in specific areas with active collaboration between IBSD and Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

IBSD has organized several Industry-Connect (i-Connect) events under the theme “Exploring Traditional Medicines-Drugs from Nature & drugs from our Ancestors” in Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim states of NER to celebrate “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”. These programmes were organized for local entrepreneurs/ traditional healers and other stake holders of the region to explore ideas with experts from different industries and institutions for the development of bio-entrepreneurship.

He mentioned that IBSD is striving to synergize different activities for communication and popularization of Science and Technology through these outreach programs for fostering and strengthening the economic and social development of this region. This programme was attended by all the scientists, research scholars, students and staff of IBSD, Imphal.

Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal
(Department of Biotechnology,
Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India)
Takyelpat, Imphal 795001, India