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| Last Updated::26/09/2014

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Seminar 2014

 
Botanical Survey of India

Industrial Section, Indian Museum, Kolkata-16

 

Report on SEMINAR “EXCITEMENTS IN TAXONOMY AND ETHNOBOTANY FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS” and Medal Award ceremony of APT & SEB

           

            A seminar on “Excitements in Taxonomy and Ethnobotany for Young Researchers” along with the Medal Award ceremony of Association of Plant Taxonomy (APT) and Society of Ethnobotanists (SEB) organized by Botanical Survey of India was held at Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall, Indian Museum, Kolkata on 19th June, 2014. On this programme, Prof. N.D. Paria, Calcutta University, was invited as Chief Guest. Important dignitaries graced the dais during inaugural ceremony were Dr. A.K. Sanyal, Chairman, Biodiversity Board, West Bengal; Dr. Kailash Chandra, Scientist ‘F’, ZSI; Dr. U.C. Bhattacharrya, Ex-Joint Director, BSI and Dr. D.N. Guha Bakshi, Ex-Deputy Director, BSI.  The seminar was attended by more than 60 students of Botany from various Universities of West Bengal, Professors of Botany, research fellows and Scientists of BSI, retired scientists of BSI, resource persons and academicians from other Institutes. Dr. B.K. Sinha, the Convener of Seminar welcomed the delegates. Dr. P. Singh, Director, BSI gave the inaugural speech and Dr. D.K. Singh, Addl. Director, BSI highlighted about the activities of APT & SEB. Dr. P. Lakshminarasimhan, the Coordinator of Seminar introduced the Award Winners of 2014 as Dr. B.K. Sinha (Dr. S.K. Jain Medal on Taxonomy); Dr. T.K. Paul (Prof. M.B. Raizada Medal on Taxonomy); Dr. (Mrs.) Chhaya Deori (Dr. V. Mudgal Medal on Taxonomy); Dr. Harish Singh (Dr. J.W. Harshberger Medal on Ethnobotany); Dr. S.S. Dash & Dr. A.K. Sahoo (Dr. S.K. Jain Medal on Ethnobotany). The medals were distributed by the Dignitaries in the dais to the awardees.

The Medal distribution ceremony was followed by various botanical lectures of the Award Winners viz. Dr. B.K. Sinha (Floristic diversity of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, Meghalaya, India); Dr. T.K. Paul (Family Chenopodiaceae in India- an overview with special reference to halophytic taxa); Dr. Chhaya Deori (Morphological diversity within the genus Dendrobium: Orchidaceae in N.E. India);  and ethnobotanical lectures by Dr. Harish Singh (Ethnobotanical studies in Botanical Survey of India); Dr. S.S. Dash (Traditional Knowledge and Herbal remedies in Sikkim) and Dr. A.K. Sahoo (Some Bioprospective Ethnomedicines of Kondh Tribes of Odisha). The first three lectures of the APT award winners session was chaired by Prof. N.D. Paria (Chairman) and Dr. V. Sampath Kumar (Rapporteur).  The other three lectures of SEB award winners were chaired by Dr. D.C. Pal (Chairman) and Dr. Tapas Chakrabarty (Rapporteur). After each session the chairman, briefed about the lectures and concluded the respective sessions.

               After the Lunch break, series of invited lectures during the Seminar were delivered. The post lunch session was chaired by Dr. G.S. Giri (Chairperson) and Dr. V.P. Prasad (Rapporteur). In this session, two taxonomic related lectures and three ethnobotanical related lectures were presented. First lecture was given by Prof. N.D. Paria, University of Calcutta (Seedling morphology and its potential in taxonomic studies in Indian flora), which was followed by Prof. S. Mandal, Visva-Bharati University (Pollen, Pollination and Pollen Biotechnology with reference to Plant Taxonomy); Dr. R.C. Srivastava, BSI (Traditional Herbal Medicines of Adi, Nishi and Apatani Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh); Dr. Harish Singh, BSI (Methodology and Approach on Ethnobotanical Research) and Dr. A.K. Sahoo, BSI (A Glimpse of Tribal diversity & Ethnobotanical studies in India). After each lecture, few questions were allowed to the participants to discuss about the subject.

Lastly, Dr. Pratibha Gupta, BSI shared her experience of recent Antartica visit by delivering a lecture on Antartica Expedition, an overview. The young researchers enthusiastically participated in all the lectures. The programme was concluded with the vote of thanks by Dr. Kanad Das, BSI.

            The Seminar and Medal Award ceremony programme was a grand success with participation of students and researchers from Universities & Institutes. The young research students utilized this opportunity to interact with experts of the subject to gain knowledge on the recent trends in the field of Plant taxonomy and Ethnobotany to explore the promising area of research career.