24 Sep 2015|Noida | Amity Campus Sector- 125 Noida
Amity Institute of Microbial Technology celebrates 11th Foundation Day
Amity Institute of Microbial Technology (AIMT) celebrated its 11th Foundation Day which was graced by Dr. K M Chacko- Director, Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Delhi, Dr. Gurinder Singh-Additional Group Vice Chancellor, Amity University, Prof. (Dr.) Narendra Tuteja- Director, Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Dr. Sunil Saran- Vice Chairman, Amity Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation along with other Directors/Head of the Institutions.
Welcoming the distinguished gathering, Dr. (Prof) Gurinder Singh- Additional Group Vice Chancellor, Amity University presented a brief overview of Amity University including the exhaustive R&D projects being carried on in the University in diverse areas with emphasis on frugal innovations aimed to benefit common man and the society. He appraised the gathering with the intellectual strength of Amity who are the best people in the industry and have been brought from under one roof so that they synergize their knowledge and innovative ideas, resulting in revolutionary breakthroughs in respective areas.
Sharing his views and congratulating the Institute on its Foundation Day, Dr. K M Chacko- Director, Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Delhi expressed his delight over the great work AIMT and its students have been doing with special reference to publishing scientific papers, filing patents and vital research work in diverse fields. He stated that although, India boasts of being the largest producer of milk but an assessment needs to be done that where does it stand when it comes to technology or adopting newer technologies. He stressed that there is a dearth of skilled research scholars in India since they go abroad for studies and projects and settle there, causing loss to the country. He suggested that in India, Scholars and Scientists need to focus upon demand based research,keeping in view the problem of food safety and security, knocking at our doors.He remarked that the quality of research has to step up in India and with lot of new diseases coming up, youngsters can contribute in the research of new medicines and vaccines.
Prof. (Dr.)Narendra Tuteja- Director, Amity Institute ofMicrobial Technology shared a glimpse of the achievements of AIMT since its inception, the research work done by the Research Scholars in the Institute, the patents filed, Seminars and Workshops successfully organized over the years. Further sharing his views on the“Relevance of Transgenic Plants in Agriculture”, Prof. Tuteja said that intransgenic plants, foreign genes are added to a plant resulting in the change in the genome structure of the plant. Genetically modified plants, thus, acquire new traits which do not occur to them naturally such as high yield, resistance to biotic and abiotic stress and other factors. Talking about the need for genetically modified plants, Dr. Tuteja remarked that world population is increasing at a fast rate and it is expected that by 2050, it will reach 9.6 billion whereas the crop production rate is not even remotely catching up with the population rate and adding to the situation is the further loss of crops due to abiotic (heat, cold, drought etc.) and biotic stress (weeds, insects,pathogens). Dr. Tuteja averred that it is imperative to obtain stress tolerant varieties of crops to cope up with the upcoming problem of food security. He shared that number of countries growing or releasing Bt crops is increasing world over with USA at the top of the chart and India on the fourth. He stressed that although there is lot of research going on in the area of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in India but their introduction and acceptance by the people will need lot of time and efforts. He remarked that GM crops areas safe as conventional crops but awareness regarding the same needs to be disseminated amongst the masses.
Corroborating the view point of Prof. (Dr.) Narendra Tuteja on GM crops, Dr. Sunil Saran- ViceChairman, Amity Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation stressed that there is no evidence across the world which supports that GM crops affects human beings or environment in an adverse manner. Developed countries like USA have realized the importance of GM Crops and they are promoting the cultivation and consumption of GM Crops. He asserted that lot of acceptance and awareness is needed in India for releasing GM crops.