Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

 

The ISPGR has organized several dialogues, conferences, symposia, meetingsin the past that have led to inter alia formulation and publication of ‘National Policy’ and ‘ActionPlan’ on agricultural biodiversity, including the PGR.

A few important events are as follows:

National Dialogues

1. The first Dialogue- “Plant Genetic Resources in India- Developing National Policy Option”,December 1-2, 1993, New Delhi.

2. The second Dialogue – “Issues in Management of Plant Genetic Resources”, December 1-2,1998, New Delhi.

Conferences, Symposia, Workshops

  1. The ISPGR actively contributed to the deliberations of the Second Crop Science Congress and alsoorganized a Satellite Symposium in November 1996, New Delhi.

  2. The Society was a member of the confederation that jointly organized the International Conferenceon Managing Natural Resources in the 21st Century held during 14-18 February, 2000, at NewDelhi and organized a Session and Keynote Address on PGR/Agrobiodiversity.

  3. In the first Indian Science Congress of the New Millennium (88th session), held in January, 2001, New Delhi, the Society made significant impact on the deliberations on Household Food, Nutrition and Environmental Security.

  4. Symposium on “Plant Genetic Resources Management:Advances and Challenges” organized by the Society during 1-4 August, 2001, New Delhi.

  5. National Conference on “Transgenics in Indian Agriculture” was organized by Society incollaboration with ICAR and NBPGR during 9-10 March, 2004, New Delhi.

  6. International Symposium on “Introduction Achievements and Opportunities in South Asia”was organized by ISPGR in collaboration with NBPGR during 15-17 February, 2005, New Delhi.

  7. ISPGR celebrated the Birth Centenary of Late Dr. B.P. Pal by joint organization of the Symposium on Search for New Genes held on September 1-3, 2006, at National Academy of Agricultural Science, New Delhi.The then Hon’ble President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam inaugurated the celebrations.

  8. National Symposium on ‘Recent Global Developments in the Management of Plant Genetic Resources’, organized by ISPGR and NBPGR, New Delhi, 17-18 December 2009.

  9. National Symposium on ‘Crop Improvement for Inclusive Sustainable Development’, organized by Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, ISPGR, Crop Improvement Society of India and MTAI.

  10. Ist International Agrobiodiversity Congress 2016 –Science, Technology, Policy and Partnership, New Delhi, Nov. 16-19, 2016. the IAC2016 was jointly organized by the ISPGR and Bioversity International, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Right Authority (PPV&FRA), National Biodiversity Authority (NBA),Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), National Academy of Agricultural Sciences(NAAS), M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and Indian Society of Genetics and PlantBreeding (ISGPB). Co-sponsors of the Congress included International Maizeand Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), International Centre for Research in Semi-arid Tropics(ICRISAT), International Centre for Research in Dryland Areas (ICARDA), Global Crop DiversityTrust (GCDT), Japan International Research Centre for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Centre forAgriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), German Corporation for International Cooperation(GIZ) and Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutes (APAARI). Hon’ble Prime Minsiter of India Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Congress.

  11. ISPGR, in collaboration with Anand and Anand, a leading law firm dealing with IPR and patent etc.,organized a brainstorming session on “Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) - Striking the Right Balance”on October 22, 2016 (a pre-IAC2016 event).

Lectures

Dr B.P. Pal Memorial Lectures

(i) The first Dr B.P. Pal Memorial lecture was delivered by Dr R.S. Paroda, the then Regional Plant Production and Protection Officer at FAO Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, Bangkok Thailand, during the first Dialogue, held on December 1-2, 1993 on “Plant Genetic Resources in India-Developing National Policy Options”.

(ii) The second Dr B.P. Pal Memorial lecture was delivered by Dr Mangala Rai, Deputy Director General (Crops), ICAR Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi, on “Issues in Management of Plant Genetic Resources” on December 1-2, 1998. The lecture covered wide range of issue viz., importance of PGR in social-economic development, threats to PGR, global instruments associated with conservation and use of PGR and the social economic and ethical issues. The text of the lecture was also published and distributed by the Society.

Books

The Society has facilitated to compile and collate the information on PGR and published in form ofbooks as follows:

  1. Plant Genetic Resources in India - Developing National Policy Options edited by RS Rana, RKArora, BP Singh and S Kochhar. Proceeding of the ISPGR Dialogue, 1993 held at New Delhi,December, 2003, 219p.

  2. Prospects of Medicinal Plants edited by PL Gautam, R Raina, U Srivastava, SP Roy chaudhuri and BB Singh. This is based upon the proceedings of UHF-IUFRO international Workshop on“Prospects of Medicinal Plant” jointly organized by the International Union of Forestry Research organization and Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan from November 4-9, 1996, 290p.

  3. Plant Genetic Resources Oilseed and Cash Crops edited by BS Dhillon, RK Tyagi, S Saxena and A Agrawal, Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources,NBPGR, Pusa Campus, New Delhi, 215p.

  4. Plant Genetic Resource Management edited by BS Dhillon, RK Tyagi, Arjun Lal and S Saxena,Narosa Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources, NBPGR, PusaCampus, New Delhi, 434p.

  5. Plant Genetic Resources (Horticultural Crops) edited by BS Dhillon, RK Tyagi, S Saxena and GJ Randhawa, Narosa Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources, NBPGR,Pusa Campus, New Delhi, 332p.

  6. Plant Genetic Resources Foodgrain Crops edited by BS Dhillon, S Saxena, A Agrawal and RKTyagi, Narosa Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources, NBPGR,Pusa Campus, New Delhi, 345p.