Amritsar, November 17 – Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences of the Guru Nanak Dev University organized Sardar Bishan Singh Samundri Memorial Lectureship Award lecture at conference hall of the Guru Nanak Bhawan. This lecture was organized in the profound memory of Sardar Bishan Singh Samundri, Founder Vice Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University.
Dr. Manjit Singh Kang, Professor Emeritus and former Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana delivered the lecture on “Sustainability of (Punjab) Agriculture: Time for devising long term policy”. Dr. Rajinder Kaur Pawar, Dean Academic affairs delivered the presidential address. Prof. Avinash Kaur Nagpal presented the vote of thanks. The lecture was sponsored by Sardar Jaswant Singh Memorial Education Trust, Jalandhar. Dr. A.K. Thukral, Director Research introduced the guest speaker.
While speaking on this occasion, Prof. Kang stressed on the rising concerns about sustainable agriculture and its long term strategy in special context to the Punjab.
Dr. Kang discussed about the judicious use of land, water and other natural resources for generation of food crops since the advent of green revolution in India. He laid stress on water saving technologies and strongly advocated the controlled and economist approach to counter the growing food concerns in India.
He credited the state of Punjab for being the bread basket of the country since the ushering in of green revolution by Dr. Norman Bourlaug, However, the present scenario demands further improvement of techniques and approaches to fulfill the growing food requirements of the nation. He also proposes the family planning and population control as effective contour strategies to address this quandary.
Prof. B.S. Ahluwalia, renowned scientist from Vienna, Austria who further emphasized upon the urgent need to control the growing human population in India to meet up the ever increasing food demands. Professor K.S. Rai, Chairman of Sardar Jaswant Singh Memorial Education trust appraised about the purpose of establishing such sustainable agricultural practices to secure the current food scenario in India.
Dr. Pawar in her presidential address drew attention to the negative influence of excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers in the current agricultural practices. She also thanked the speaker and other guests for providing such expert insight into the current agricultural scene.
Dr. Adarh Pal Vig, Head of the Department, Dr. Satwinderjeet Kaur, Dr. Saroj Arora, Dr. Jatinder Kaur, Er. Bhupinder Pal Singh, faculty members of other department and senior faculty members of Khalsa College, research scholars and students of the department were also present on this occasion.
