Two days National Conference on Promoting Applied Research in Plant Sciences (PARPS-2022), organized by Department of Botany, Central University of Jammu, was inaugurated at CUJ, on 09 November 2022.
Vice Chancellor of CUJ, Prof. Sanjeev Jain was chief guest on the occasion while Prof. JP Sharma, Vice Chancellor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKAUST), Jammu, Prof. Manoj K Dhar, Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu and Dr. CM Seth, Retd PCCF, J&K were the guests of honor.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. JP Sharma highlighted that despite decreasing land and water resources, we have surplus agricultural production. However, post-harvest wastage leads to considerable economic loss and technologies should be developed to reduce these losses which would also lead to farmer prosperity.
Prof. Sanjeev Jain emphasized the need to scientifically document, protect and patent our traditional knowledge of plants. He complimented the Department of Botany and its Head Prof. B.S Bhau for the efforts made to promote scientific dialogue and community interaction. Dr. CM Seth urged the participants to plan their research in such a way that it can go from ‘lab to field’, thus contributing towards the GDP of our nation.
Earlier, Prof. B S Bhau, while giving an overview of the proceeding to follow, reiterated his commitment that at Department of Botany, CUJ research is orient-ed with motto ‘Think Global, Act local’.
Highlight of the occasion was signing of MoU be-tween CUJ and SKAUST-Jammu which would pro-mote faculty and student exchange between the two leading Universities of the region. Dr. Vanya Bawa, Convenor, PARPS-2022 gave the vote of thanks.
Invited guests were Prof. Felix Bast, Central University of Punjab, Bhatinda, Prof. Tuhina Dev and Prof. Gurdev Chand, SKAUST-Jammu, Dr. Sumit Gandhi, IIIM-Jammu, and Dr. Reyazul Rouf Mir, SKAUST-Kashmir, Prof. Deepak Pant, Central University of HP and several scientists, academicians, research scholars and students from CUJ, Jammu University, SKAUST-Jammu, CSIR-IIIM, Govt Dept of School Education, Jammu, GDC Paloura, BGSBU, Rajouri.
