Ludhiana,
The three-day 21st Punjab Science Congress, currently underway at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, saw some renowned speakers share their views on science and technology on its second day. The theme of the Congress, organized under the aegis of Punjab Academy of Sciences, Patiala, is ‘Scientific Advances for Inclusive Development and Environmental Protection’.

The second day began with a plenary session on ‘Nutritional Security and Inclusive Growth’ in which Dr A.S. Nanda, Vice Chancellor of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Science University, Ludhiana was the Chairperson and Dr R.S. Sidhu, Registrar of PAU, co-chaired the session. Dr A.K. Srivastava, Chairman, Agriculture Scientists Recruitment Board, New Delhi, spoke on ‘Feeding 1.34 Billion with Nutritional Security: Livestock Sector, the Key Player’. Dr B.S. Dhillon, Vice Chancellor of PAU, deans, directors, an entire galaxy of scientists, faculty and students were present on the occasion.

Outlining the transformation from conventional farming to technology-led agriculture, Dr Srivastava explained how green, white and blue revolutions occurred in the country. Although white revolution was less talked about and less recognized, yet India has to rely on livestock production for food security, he said. The consumption pattern has been changing in India, he revealed, with the consumption of dairy products, fruits and vegetables on the rise over the years while the consumption of food grains has been comparatively decreasing. Drawing on various statistics, he informed that providing food and nutrition to 1439 million by 2020 and 1619 million by 2050 will be a major challenge for Indian food sector. The challenge is to produce more from less land for more people.

Stating figures on hidden hunger in India, Dr Srivastava said, “Despite rapid economic growth, one-fourth of the world’s hungry and poor have their home in India. 6000 children die annually due to malnutrition or lack of micronutrients in diet. 80% women of reproductive age are suffering from iron deficiency anemia.” In such a case, milk, milk products and livestock will be a boon, he added. There have been value added dairy foods like iron fortified milk and biscuits, probiotoic and symbiotic dahi, sorghum lassi, pear millet lassi, etc. He offered a new vision for agriculture food sector which aims at enhancing productivity by 40%, lessening hunger and poverty by 30% and reducing emission by 20%. The lecture was followed by an interactive session in which Dr Srivastava answered a volley of questions from the audience.

Lead lectures dominated the technical sessions held parallelly at five venues. During the session on ‘Biosciences, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology,’ the lead lecture was delivered by Dr D.K. Dhawan, Professor, Department of Biophysics and Coordinator, Centre for Nuclear Medicine, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Citing ‘the Relevance of Radiations in Medicine and Research,’ he opined that the radiations have an immense role to play in investigations related to biomedical research and in the diagnosis and treatment of several diseases. In the session on ‘Pure and Applied Chemistry and Physics, Mathematical, Nanotechnology, Environmental, Community and Social Sciences,’ Dr P.S. Vijaya Kumar of Institute of Nano Science and Technology spoke on ‘Modern Farm Production and Protection Strategies Based on Nanotechnology.’ He covered nanotechnology based methods for efficient fertilizer delivery and farm pest and diseases control with minimum residues in the products.

The session on ‘Medical, Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ included the lead lectures by Dr H.K. Verma, Director Extension Education and Dr R.S. Sethi of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary Animal Science University, Ludhiana. Dr Verma elaborated on ‘Sustainable Livestock Development in Punjab: Challenges and Strategies’ and said that a strategized approach to address constraints would broaden the scope of development in livestock sector for bringing about agro-diversification, employment generation and better life of the rural people. Dr Sethi deliberated on ‘Concomitant Effects of Low Dose of Pesticides and Endotoxin on Pulmonary Health.’

In the session on ‘Agricultural Sciences, Food, Dairy and Sugar Technologies,’ Dr D.K. Benbi, National Professor, PAU, delved upon ‘Intensive Agriculture: Options and Opportunities for Sustainable Soil’ and Dr Kulvinder Gill of Washington State University, USA, highlighted ‘Carbon Management Lab to Field Translation: Improving Heat Tolerance for Climate Resilience.’

A session on ‘Engineering Sciences including Computational Sciences and Architecture’ was also held in which the lead lecture on ‘Evolution and Trends in Software Engineering’ was delivered by Dr Hardeep Singh of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Tracking down the evolutionary milestones in software engineering, he touched upon things which are likely to happen in this domain of activity.

Besides this, several oral presentations were made during these technical sessions. A special session for the presentation of papers for the young scientist award was held post lunch in which 47 papers were presented.