A National Level ‘CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING COURSE IN PLANT TAXONOMY’ was jointly organized by the T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur and University Department of Botany, T.M. Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur in collaboration with Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and ENVIS Centre on Floral Diversity, Howrah at the Department of Botany, T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur from 20th to 27th February, 2015.
The training was the first of its kind organised at Bhagalpur. There were 60 participants, consisting of 30 Under Graduate students, 7 M.Sc. students, 15 Research Scholars and 8 Assistant/Associate Professors. Out of the 60 participants, 40 were from Bihar and the rest were from Assam, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The number of resource persons were 21, out of which, 19 were from BSI, 1 each from Bhagalpur and Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
On the inaugural day, the programme began with ‘Kulgeet’ and it was followed by ‘Swagat Gaan’, which was sung by the students of the Cultural Society Division of the College. Thereafter, the lamp were lit by the all the dignitaries, including the Chief Guest of the workshop Dr. Paramjit Singh, Director, BSI and Prof. R.S. Dubey, Chief Patron and Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor and Prof. A.K. Roy, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, T.M.B.U., Bhagalpur. The flower bouquets were then presented to all the dignitaries. Prof. D.N. Jha, Principal, T.N.B. College welcomed the participants. The Chief Guest Dr. Paramjit Singh addressed the participants. Later, Prof. K.L.B. Singh, Dean of the Science Faculty, T.M.B.U., Bhagalpur, Prof. A.K. Roy and Prof. S.R. Yadav, Head, Department of Botany, Shivaji University, Kolhapur emphasised the importance of taxonomy and dearth of trained plant taxonomists in India and the need for the training course. Prof. H.K. Chourasia, Organizing Secretary of the training course from T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur, outlined the contents of the training course. Dr. P. Lakshminarasimhan, Scientist ‘E’ & HoO, Central National Herbarium, BSI, Howrah and Convener of the training course, briefed about the various training courses organised by the BSI and the ENVIS Centre during the last one decade.
After the lunch break, Dr. Paramjit Singh interacted with all the participants. Thereafter, the first lecture was delivered by Dr. P. Lakshminarasimhan on ‘Herbarium Techniques’, followed by Prof. S.R. Yadav delivered a speech on ‘Botanical Gardens and ex situ Conservation’. Then the closing of the session was declared.
Day 2
On day 2, there were 2 lectures. The first lecture was delivered by Dr. Sangita Das Chowdhury, Postdoctoral Fellow, BSI, Howrah on ‘Identification of Angiospermic Plants’ and the second lecture was by Dr. V. Sampath Kumar, Scientist ‘D’, BSI, Howrah on ‘Classification of Plants’. After the lunch break a practical class on Identification of Angiospermic Plants was taken by Drs. Sampath Kumar and Sangita Das Chowdhury. Thereafter, practical demonstration of herbarium technique, involving drying, poisoning and mounting of plant specimens were given by Mr. Anand Kumar, Botanical Assistant, BSI, Kolkata and Mr. Gopal Krishna, Sr. Preservation Assistant, BSI, Howrah.
Day 3
A field visit to Mandar Hill, Banka Forest Division, Banka to identify the local flora was organised under the guidance of Dr. V. Sampath Kumar, Scientist ‘D’, BSI, Howrah, Dr. Devendra Singh, Scientist ‘C’, BSI, Kolkata, Mr. Anand Kumar, BSI, Kolkata and Mr. Gopal Krishna, BSI, Howrah. The team was divided in to three groups, for the convenience of collection and discussion. During the field tour, resource persons explained in detail the methods of collection the plant materials, and the importance of usage of GPS, camera and observation of field characters of plants. After the lunch break, the participants were divided in two groups and discussion was made regarding processing of the collected specimens and proper writing of the field notes.
Day 4
On day 4, there were 3 lectures. The first lecture was delivered by Dr. A.A. Mao, Scientist ‘E’ & HoO, Eastern Regional Centre, BSI, Shillong on ‘Conservation of Threatened plants using Tissue Culture Techniques’. The second lecture was by Dr. Dinesh Agrawala, Scientist ‘C’, Sikkim Himalayan Regional Centre, BSI, Gangtok on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Orchids’. He also explained about IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria version 3.1 as desired by some participants. The last lecture of the day was by Dr. Arti Garg, Scientist ‘D’, Central Regional Centre, BSI, Allahabad on ‘Palynology – Its applications in stemming the dichotomy between Classical and Molecular Taxonomy’. After the lunch break, practical classes on Tissue Culture Techniques and Preservation and Identification of Orchids were conducted by Dr. Mao and Dr. Agrawala, respectively.
Day 5
On day 5, there were 4 lectures. The first lecture was delivered by Dr. A. Bhattacharjee, DST Young Scientist, BSI, Howrah on ‘Flora, Revision and Monograph’; the second lecture was by Dr. S. Bandyopadhyay, Scientist ‘B’, BSI, Howrah on ‘Plant Names and Typification’, the third lecture was by Dr. R.K. Gupta, Scientist ‘D’, BSI, Kolkata on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Algae’ and the last lecture of the day was by Dr. Devendra Singh, Scientist ‘C’, BSI, Kolkata on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Bryophytes’. After lunch break, practical classes on Preservation and Identification of Algae and Preservation and Identification of Bryophytes were conducted by Dr. Gupta and Dr. Devendra Singh, respectively.
Day 6
On day 6, there were 3 lectures. The first lecture was delivered by Dr. B.S. Kholia, Scientist ‘D’, Northern Regional Centre, BSI, Dehradun on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Ferns’ and the second lecture was by Dr. V.P. Prasad, Scientist ‘D’, BSI, Howrah on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Sedges’. The third and last lecture was by Dr. Pushpa Kumari, Scientist ‘C’, BSI, Howrah on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Bamboos’. After the lunch break, practical classes on Preservation and Identification of Bamboos, Ferns and Sedges were conducted by Dr. Kumari, Dr. Kholia and Dr. Prasad, respectively.
Day 7
On day 7, there were 3 lectures. The first was delivered by Dr. G.P. Sinha, Scientist ‘D’, Central Regional Centre, BSI, Allahabad on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Lichens’. The second lecture was by Dr. Kanad Das, Scientist ‘D’, BSI, Kolkata on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Macrofungi’ and the last lecture of the day was by Dr. H.K. Chourasia, T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Micro-fungi’. After the lunch break, practical classes on Lichens and Macro-fungi were conducted by Dr. Sinha and Dr. Das, respectively.
Day 8
On the last day of the training there were three lectures. The first lecture was delivered by Dr. P.V. Prasanna, Scientist ‘F’, Deccan Regional Centre, BSI, Hyderabad on ‘Collection, Preservation and Identification of Grasses’. The second lecture was by Dr. P. Lakshminarasimhan, Scientist ‘E’, BSI, Howrah on ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’ and the last lecture of the workshop was by Dr. Lal Ji Singh, Scientist ‘D’, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, BSI, Port Blair on ‘How to Prepare a Project Report in Taxonomy at UG and PG level’. Then a practical class on ‘Preservation and Identification of Grasses’ was conducted by Dr. Prasanna. After that, the training course was ended with a valedictory session.
Prof. Dubey, Prof. Roy, Prof. (Retd.) S.K. Varma, T.M. Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur and Prof. D.N. Jha and Prof. N.K. Sah, T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur, Dr. Lakshminarasimhan and Dr. Chourasia were the delegates for the valedictory session. During the valedictory session Dr. Lakshminarasimhan on behalf of BSI submitted a draft copy of MoU (between Burdwan University and BSI) to the Vice-Chancellor, T.M.B.U. with a request to have a similar MoU between T.M.B.U., Bhagalpur and BSI, which will be of great academic use, especially for research students who wish to register their Ph.D. programme at the university. The Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, in his valedictory speech, agreed that it would be beneficial to have a MoU between T.M.B.U. and BSI, and he also assured to find out the possibilities to have such a MoU between the University and BSI. Three participants from different academic status, viz. Dr. Makhan Singh, Assistant Professor, Government College, Mahendergarh, Haryana; Mr. Kishor Kumar Mandal, Research Scholar, P.G. Department of Botany, North Orissa University and Ms. Abhilasha Kumari, B.Sc. F.Y. Student, T.N.B. College, Bhagalpur shared their feedback on the training course. Mr. Gopal Krishna and Mr. Anand Kumar of BSI and former students of T.N.B. College/T.N.B.U. also shared their opinion on the training course. Feedback forms were collected from all the participants, which were very positive. Certificates were distributed to all the participants. Vote of thanks was given by Dr. Lakshminarasimhan and Dr. Chourasia at the end of the training course.
