27-Feb-2023: Three national flagship programmes inaugurated at ICAR-CIBA campus, Chennai
Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India inaugurated and launched three national flagship programmes viz., Genetic Improvement Programme of Indian White Shrimp (Penaeus indicus), National Surveillance Programme on Fish Diseases, launching of aquaculture insurance product and laying a foundation stone for the Genetic Improvement Facility at ICAR-CIBA campus, Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai.
India is the third largest fish producing country with a fish production of 14.73 million metric tonnes and one of the largest exporters of farmed shrimps around 7 lakh tonnes. However, the country loses about 7200 crores annually due to diseases. Therefore, early detection and managing the spread of diseases is considered crucial for controlling the diseases. Considering the importance, the Government of India is implementing the National Surveillance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases (NSPAAD) since 2013 with a major emphasis on strengthening farmer-based disease surveillance system, so that disease cases are reported at once, investigated and scientific support is provided to the farmers. The results of the first phase proved the reduction in revenue losses due to diseases, increased farmers’ income and exports. To continue the efforts with intensity, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India has sanctioned the NSPAAD: Phase-II under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana programme of the Govt. of India. The phase-II will be implemented at pan-India, and all the State Fisheries Departments along with Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) are expected to play an important role in this nationally important surveillance programme.
13-Jan-2023: CSIR-NIScPR Organised National Brainstorming Meeting to Discuss Science Communication in 22 Indian Languages
CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR-NIScPR), New Delhi organised a national level brainstorming meeting on science communication efforts in all 22 Indian languages on 10th January 2023. This meeting was organised in hybrid mode.
Shri Hasan Jawaid Khan, Chief Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR, explained many efforts of science communication being made by CSIR-NIScPR and other organisations. He also addressed the importance of science communication in untouched languages, far-flung regions, undiscussed topics and media of communication for dissemination of science.
Dr. Manish Mohan Gore, Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR, is the Principal Investigator of the project focused on science communication in the Indian languages for CSIR-NIScPR. He discussed the status, achievements, challenges and possible solutions for communicating science in respective languages. The framework for developing popular science literature in Indian languages, particularly those that have comparatively less literature was also discussed by him.
In this brainstorming meeting, experts of science communication in all the 22 Indian la
5-Jan-2023: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates National Genome Editing & Training Centre (NGETC) at Mohali, Punjab
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today inaugurated "National Genome Editing & Training Centre" at National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) Mohali, Punjab.
The Minister also, at the same time, inaugurated a 4-day International Conference on Food and Nutritional Security 2023: - iFANS.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Agri-tech StartUp has an exclusive potential in India and the concept needs more awareness by all the stakeholders in the country to become a success. He said that due to a push from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the StartUp movement has picked up momentum in India and led to creation of over 80,000 StartUps whose number was only about 350 before 2014.
The Minister said, this quantum jump in the number of StartUps must equally and proportionally reflect in Agri and Bio-tech as well because this area is yet to be fully explored and taken advantage of by Indian entrepreneurs and youth. He insisted on creating awareness about lucrative livelihood and income avenues in Agri-tech entrepreneurship.
"National Genome Editing & Training Centre" (NGETC) inaugurated today is a one-roof state-of-the-art facility that will serve as a national platform to cater to the regional needs to adapt different genome editing methods, including CRISPR-Cas mediated genome modification. It will also empower young researchers by providing them with training and guidance about its know-how and application in crops. In the current climatic scenario, improving crops for better nutrition and tolerance to the changing environmental condition is a significant challenge. Genome editing could be a promising technology that Indian research could adapt to offer the desired tailor-made traits in crops. NABI has shown ability and can expand the genome editing tools to vast arrays of crops, including Banana, Rice, Wheat, Tomato, Maize and Millets.
The International Conference on Food and Nutritional Security (iFANS-2023) will be jointly organized by the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Centre for Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), National Institute of Plant Biotechnology (NIPB), and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) at NABI, Mohali. The 4-day conference will brainstorm how genome editing could enhance the country's food and nutritional security under changing climate in the country. The conference will have multiple sessions with as many speakers from 15 different countries. They will share their experience through their contribution to plant sciences in the frontier areas of their research. The conference will bring on new challenges and new ideas and will also work as a stage for fostering new research collaborations between laboratories in different countries.
The conference envisages bringing together international experts and young researchers in the areas of agriculture, food, and nutrition biotechnology, and genome editing. The theme of the conference is pertinent to inspire young students and researchers considering the fact that food and nutrition security is a global demand. Advanced biotechnology tool such as genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 has potential to achieve these goals in a sustainable manner. More than 500 participants from various parts of the country have registered for this conference. In addition, 80 speakers (40 international and 40 national) will be sharing their scientific knowledge during these four days.
NABI, under the Department of Biotechnology, is a national institute with a mandate focusing on research activities at the interface of Agriculture, Food and nutritional biotechnology. Genome editing is a crucial tool to cause site-specific gene mutations/changes so that important crop traits can be developed. These mutations have the potential to mimic nature-like mutations and could be target specific in the genome. In the current climatic scenario, improving crops for better nutrition and tolerance to the changing environmental condition is a significant challenge. Genome editing could be a promising technology that Indian research could adapt to offer the desired tailor-made traits in crops. NABI has shown the ability to utilise genome editing tools and can expand the genome editing tools to vast arrays of crops, including Banana, rice, wheat, tomato and millet.