To commemorate the completion of 75 years of India’s independence, our nation will celebrate a year-long mega event, Bharat Ka Amrut Mahotsav, which will conclude on August 15, 2022. The Central Government ministries have scheduled programmes to focus on the high points of social, cultural, scientific and technological aspects in the country’s post-independence journey. Along these lines, ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres (ICAR-CRIJAF), Barrackpore organised three virtual lectures, during the week coinciding with World Environment Day, on the theme Making of Clean and Green India.
Dr Gouranga Kar, Director of ICAR-CRIJAF in his introductory remarks of the programme said that jute will see its golden days again as the most ideal fibre to replace plastics and save the environment.
Dr S. K. Jha, Principal Scientist for ICAR-CRIJAF, in the first lecture, explained the different kinds of pollution caused by plastic waste, its negative impact on agriculture, wildlife, aquatic life, marine ecosystem and human health. The reasons for seeking alternatives to plastic and why natural fibres, especially jute fibre, can be a good alternative was explained.
In his special remarks, Dr Kar expressed concern over plastic pollution and emphasised that the technologies and road map have been framed to achieve the future demand of jute fibres in case of phasing out of single use plastics. There will be an additional requirement of more than eight lakh bales per year due to the renewed demand for jute shopping bags created in the country and overseas.
In the Chairman’s remarks, Dr D B Shakyawar, Director, ICAR- NINFET, Kolkata advocated strong linkage and coordination between the various stakeholders to make the jute sector more vibrant.
Dr A K Singh, Principal Scientist for ICAR-CRIJAF, delivered a virtual lecture on Wealth from waste and Eco farming. Improper management of agricultural waste has been contributing towards increasing air, soil and water pollution. The huge quantity of agricultural and municipal waste generated in the country can very well be converted to generate electricity and green fertiliser for use in agriculture. There are numerous technologies available for wealth creation utilising various waste materials generated during agricultural activities for sustainable eco-farming and to create employment opportunities in the rural areas.
Dr B K Das, Director-CIFRI, Barrackpore, said that it’s high time to act proactively to translate the technologies to create wealth from agricultural waste for the benefit of the farmers and the environment.
Dr S Datta, Principal Scientist for ICAR-CRIJAF, delivered a lecture on “genome editing in jute” in which he talked about genome editing technology, its scope in development of jute with better quality, higher productivity in a shorter duration of the crop.
Dr Kar emphasised on the need to prepare a roadmap to use genome-editing technology in a systematic manner to develop improved jute and allied fibre varieties that will sustain and perform well in the climatic condition of the coming decades.
The staff of the institute participated in the virtual drawing and poetry competition organised on the occasion.