The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `State should protect its biodiversity reserve'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 07, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`State should protect its biodiversity reserve'

Staff Reporter

WARM WELCOME: A student from Mizoram in the traditional dress greeting Governor T.N. Chaturvedi at the inauguration of the National Science Seminar- 2006 at the National Council of Science Museums in Bangalore on Friday. Seen from left are I.K. Mukhe rjee, Director General, NSCM, and S.D. Shikhamany, Director, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research.

Bangalore: Over 35 finalists presented their views at the national science seminar organised by the National Council for Science Museums, an autonomous body functioning under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

I.K. Mukherjee, director-general of NCSM, told presspersons here on Friday that NCSM had been organising the science seminar since 1982 on different topics. This year, the topic was "Conservation of biodiversity - prospects and concerns".

Students from across the country participated in the preliminary contests that were held first at the school level. Two or three students in turn participated in the block/district level competition. Winners of the district-level competitions participated at the State-level seminar. Coordination of State-level contests is done by the respective States and Union Territories.

"On a rough estimate, close to 30,000 students take part in the seminar organised every year," he said.

He also said that the topic was chosen to awaken curiosity and inspire younger generations to gain wisdom and courage necessary to tackle complex issues that many arise due to the loss of biodiversity.

This year, Nishant Prabhakar from Jharkhand secured the first prize. He will be getting a scholarship of Rs. 1,000 a month for two years. Nine students bagged the second place. They will get a scholarship of Rs. 500 a month for two years.

The winners are Raikamal Bhattacharya from Tripura, Repand Lepcha from Sikkim, Akhilesh Kumawat from Rajasthan, Shibu Lijack from Tamil Nadu, Aditya Janbale from Goa, Anjali from Bihar, Sidhant Mallik from Haryana, Tanya Srivastava from Madhya Pradesh, and Divya Mahajan from Delhi.

The seminar was inaugurated by Governor T.N. Chaturvedi, who interacted with the participants. V.S. Acharya, Minister for Medical Education, gave away prizes to the winners. He said that Karnataka had a large biodiversity reserve that had to be protected. He congratulated the NCSM for organising the science seminar continuously for 25 years.

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