APSCST chief Bamang Mangha calls for extensive research

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology (APSCST) chairman Bamang Mangha, while taking stock of progress and achievements made by the Centre of Excellence for Bio Resources and Sustainable Development at Kimin, exhorted the scientists to embark upon the research activities that can have more societal benefits and help the State to boost the economy of the State through natural resources.

"Arunachal Pradesh is bestowed with vast natural resources, which could not be tapped due to lack of scientific interventions," he said while reviewing the progress of the Centre under the APSCST at Kimin near here on Saturday.

Mangha added that the State Government needs to focus more on such scientific-based research activities to take the State on the path of self sustainable and to achieve the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The chairman lauded the efforts made by the scientists and officers of the centre for achieving excellence in the field of bio resources by exploring the hidden treasure trove of natural resources of the State.

Expressing his happiness over the achievements, Mangha also expressed his deep sense of gratitude to the State finance, planning and law departments for their unconditional support given at the initial stage of the project conceptualization and initiation and also hoped that the department would continue to do so in days to come as well.

Science and Technology secretary Ajay Chagti informed that the centre was set up with the support of Central Government on project mode for three years, which is likely to come to an end shortly.

The world-class infrastructures that have been created through the project need to be sustained for which support of the State Government is called for, he added.

Deputy secretary Law Dani Belo laid stress on tackling the bio piracy, which is taking place across the world, otherwise the State's natural resources would be exploited by unauthorized parties.

Finance deputy secretary Takhe Kani, while expressing his satisfaction on the progress of the project, said that the achievements made by the department of Science and Technology was commendable and appreciable and it is a stepping stone towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the State Government.

Planning joint director Okep Tayeng, in his deliberations, suggested that the department should take up more international and national collaboration projects in the field of bio technology that can really help the State Government to generate more avenues for the youths, farmers and entrepreneurs.

He also suggested for imparting training to the prospective farmers through S&T interventions to enhance the productivity in sustainable way.

Project director Dr Debajit Mahanta, through a power point presentation, showcased the achievements in the three years of the journey of the Centre which, had created the state-of-the-art orchidarium for conservation and multiplication of priority orchid species along with its satellite units in villages with a view to promote orchid based entrepreneurship in rural areas of the State.

Under this, the department is doing orchid germplasm conservation, vegetative propagation of orchids and micro propagation of orchids to enhance its value addition. Apart from this, the department is engaging banana fibre extraction and processing through units, which were set up in few selected districts of the State with the technical support of ICAR-CIAE, Coimbatore.

Till date, more than 100 beneficiaries have been selected based on interviews and availability of land for banana cultivations and more than 3000 banana saplings have already been distributed to the beneficiaries for the cultivation.

The department has also established a distillation unit for aromatic oil for promotion of cultivation of aromatic crops, such as lemongrass Jor Lab L8, Citonella JOR Lan C5 and Palmarosa RRL B77 and entrepreneurship development.

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