Chief Conservator of Forest Anurag Shrivastava said the media was responsible to educate the public on bio-technology. The misconceptions about bio-engineering were to be removed through journalistic reporting.
He was addressing the valedictory session of the two-day media workshop on ‘Communicating Science and Bio-safety’ here at Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication (MCNUJC) on Wednesday.
The use of banned pesticides in crops is very harmful to human health. Bio-safety is one of the serious concerns of the world. The Government has taken several initiatives for ensuring bio-safety. The Scientific spirit is to be infused in Science reporters and the level of reporting on scientific innovations has been considerably increased.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor of MCNUJ Prof BK Kuthiala said dangers were ahead about the issues of bio-safety. The media workshop on bio-safety enabled the capacity building of journalists in reporting science and new technologies. The scientific reporting had gained momentum due to several changes like climate change, global warming and several scientific innovations.
The workshop really created awareness about bio-technology and bio-safety and the discussions and deliberations in the workshop are very fruitful and thought provoking. Prof Kuthiala and Anurag Shrivastava gave away the certificates to the participants of the workshop. The two day workshop is organized by the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in collaboration of Ministry of Environment and Forest and climate change.
United Nations Environment Programme and Global Environment Facility are the international organizations that are associated with this project. Geetha Bamezai, Anand Pradhan, Rayiese Altaf, Project Coordinator of IIMC have also participated in the Workshop. P Sasikala, HOD, New Media Technology, MCNUJC made an extensive report of the two day deliberations of the Media workshop.
Earlier in the day, observing that field trials are necessary to generate data on genetically engineered crops, Director (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) Ranjana Warrier said that certain State governments have some concerns in this regard. Field trials are necessary to generate data. However, some state governments are apprehensive and have decided to go only for organic crops, she added.
MCNUJC Vice-Chancellor Prof BK Kuthiala and Additional Director General (Prasar Bharti) Ranjan Mukherjee had inaugurated the workshop on Tuesday.