Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) organized a curtain raiser programme for the upcoming India International Science Festival – 2024 (IISF-2024) at Imphal, Manipur on Thursday. During the event, Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director, IBSD highlighted various research activities of IBSD for the promotion of bioresources and development of bioeconomy of the region. He highlighted that the main theme of IISF-2024 is “Transforming India into a Science and Technology Driven Global Manufacturing Hub” for Viksit Bharat 2047. He mentioned that IBSD is working on different bioresources and traditional practices of NER for the development of phytopharmaceuticals to promote entrepreneurship and startups in NER. He mentioned that IBSD is promoting the BioE3 policy of DBT, Govt. of India for the development economy, environment and employment. He mentioned that IBSD has organized a drawing competition on BioE3 policy for the awareness among students from schools and colleges in Imphal. IBSD is organising such outreach activities to promote science, and entrepreneurship development using bioresources of NER. 

During the programme, Dr. Shekhar C. Mande, Former DG, CSIR appreciated the efforts of IBSD for organising the curtain raiser of IISF2024 at Imphal, Manipur and congratulated Prof. Pulok K. Mukherjee, Director, IBSD and team for this initiative in NER. He highlighted the theme and significance of IISF for the scientific community and young brains of the country. He mentioned that IISF2024 is being organized this year at Guwahati, Assam which provides an opportunity for scientists, scholars, and entrepreneurs of NER to explore the opportunities. He also highlighted various leads from organizations like DBT, CSIR, and DST through science & technology towards Viksit Bharat 2047.  During the programme, Swami Devapriyananda Ji, Principal, Ramakrishna Mission School, Uripok, Imphal highlighted various initiatives of IBSD for popularizing science among school students for developing scientific temperament among them. He encouraged the students to visit IBSD labs and interact with scientists to explore the bioresources of NER. During the programme, prizes were distributed to the winners of the drawing competition on BioE3 policy organized by IBSD among the students from different schools and colleges of Imphal, Manipur. 

During the event,  Thongam Biswajit Singh,  Minister, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Manipur inaugurated a workshop on entrepreneurship development from mushroom cultivation. He appreciated the initiatives of IBSD for conducting such programmes for the development of entrepreneurs and startups in NER.  He highlighted that IBSD is working on different research areas Phytopharmaceutical Mission, Ethnopharmacology & Drug Development; Microbial resources, traditional foods; Animal resources, Medicinal Plant resources for their scientific validation, value addition to propel innovations for development of bioresources and catalysing the growth of industry in the region for livelihood generation and promoting bioeconomy from bioresources under the leadership of Prof. Pulok K. Mukherjee, Director, IBSD. For the promotion of Start-ups in the North Eastern Region, IBSD has set up a BioNEST incubator to develop women’s bioentrepreneurship through orchid floriculture in Meghalaya.

This training programme was attended by more than 30 progressive farmers of Imphal for mushroom cultivation. The programme was participated by officials, teachers, students from Imphal and scientists, and scholars from IBSD, Imphal and other centres.

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