KIMIN, May 08: Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology Chairman Bamang Mangha on Saturday said the State government needs to focus more on scientific-based research activities to make the State self-sustainable for realising the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Atmanirbhar Arunachal.
Bamang Mangha made the statement during a review meeting on Saturday at the Centre of Excellence for Bio-resources and Sustainable Development of Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology at Kimin.
The meeting reviewed the progress and achievements made by the Centre.
The review meeting was attended by Director-cum-Member Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology, CD Mungyak, Director of Centre for Earth Sciences and Himalayan Studies, Tana Tage; Kimin ADC Bekair Nyorak, Joint Directors Liagi Tajo, Bamang Apo and OSD Nyelam Tath.
While chairing the review meeting, Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology Chairman Mangha lauded the efforts made by the scientists and officers of the centre for achieving excellence in the field of bio-resources by exploring the hidden treasure trove of natural resources of the State, said an official statement.
Expressing his happiness over the achievements, Chairman Mangha exhorted the scientists to embark upon the research activities that can have more societal benefits and help the state to boost up the economy of the state through natural resources.
“Arunachal Pradesh is bestowed with vast natural resources, which could not be tapped due to lack of scientific interventions,” he said.
In the meeting, Mangha also expressed his deep sense of gratitude to the Department of Finance, Planning and Law Department for their unconditional support given at the initial stage of the project conceptualization and initiation and also hoped that the department would continue to do so in days to come as well.
The Secretary to the Department of Science and Technology, Ajay Chagti informed the participating delegates from the Finance, Planning and Law departments that the centre of excellence was set up with the support of central government on project mode for three years, which is likely to come to an end shortly.
The world-class infrastructures that have been created through this project need to be sustained for which support of the State government is called for, the Secretary said.
He further said, “It is the collective responsibility and the onus lies on us to convince the State government to take care of the employees for their job security so that brain drain is avoided.”
Deputy Secretary, Law, Dani Belo stressed on tackling the bio piracy, which is taking place across the world otherwise the State’s natural resources would be exploited by unauthorised parties.
“We are lucky to have this centre of excellence in our State, which is taking care of our resources,” Belo added.
Deputy Secretary, Finance, Takhe Kani while expressing his satisfaction at the progress of the project, said the achievements made by the Department of Science and Technology is commendable and appreciable and it is a stepping stone towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the State government.
Joint Director, Planning Department, Okep Tayeng, suggested the department take up more international and national collaboration projects in the field of biotechnology that can really help the State government to generate more avenues for the youths, farmers and entrepreneurs, the statement said.
He also suggested imparting training to the prospective farmers through S&T interventions to enhance the productivity in a sustainable way.
In the three years of its journey, CoE for Bio-resources and Sustainable Development of Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology has created the state-of-the-art orchidarium for conservation and multiplication of priority orchid species along with its satellite units in villages with a view to promote orchid based entrepreneurship in rural areas of Arunachal Pradesh.
“Under this, the department is doing orchid germplasm conservation, vegetative propagation of orchids and micro propagation of orchids to enhance its value addition. Apart from this, the department is engaging in banana fibre extraction and processing through units, which were set up in a few selected districts of Arunachal Pradesh with the technical support of ICAR-CIAE, Coimbatore,” the statement said.
Till today, more than 100 beneficiaries have been selected based on interviews and availability of land for banana cultivation and more than 3000 banana saplings have already been distributed to the beneficiaries for the cultivation, the statement added.
The department has also established distillation unit for Aromatic oil for promotion of cultivation of aromatic crops, such as lemongrass Jor Lab L8, Citonella JOR Lan C5 and Palmarosa RRL B77 and entrepreneurship development.
The department is also working on bioprospecting and translational product development research on medicinal aromatic foam forming plant resources of Arunachal Pradesh.
It has also conducted the Ethnopharmacological survey, documentation of the traditional knowledge, plant collection, scientific validation and the expected out come in the form tablets will helpful for treating disease such as superficial fungal infections, hypertension, tonsillitis, liver ailments, Antiseptic cream, lungs disorder, etc.
In order to preserve and revive the indigenous rice of Arunachalee tribes, the department has its exploration, collection and documentation of 16 rice varieties from Ziro in Lower Subansiri, having phytochemical properties, nutritional value and antioxidants.
Towards protecting the endangered local rice varieties, the department had collected 126 traditional rice landrace samples for germplasm registration and accession numbers with NBPGR, New Delhi from seven districts of Arunachal Pradesh namely, Papum Pare, Kurung Kumey, Kra Daadi, Upper Siang, East Siang, Lower Subansiri and East Kameng, the statement further said.
