Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Biotechnology programme for school students under way

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI May 8. Twentysix teenagers from different backgrounds, who have completed Class X, are undergoing a 3-week training programme here, which aims at exposing youngsters to emerging as well as traditional concepts in bioresources and biotechnology.

The vacation training, funded by the Union Department of Biotechnology, is being held at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Centre here. Today, the trainees began their interaction with experts, including Dr.Swaminathan, scientists of the centre and those from outside.

The trainees will next move to Dindigul and nearby areas to learn farming, waste processing practices and to interact with self-help groups.

The group will then visit the Pichavaram mangrove forests and the MSSRF's biocentre and `information villages'.

Dr. Swaminathan said the programme would give urban-based students an idea of how traditional wisdom and modern concepts were used for generating resources, even while conserving the bioresources and biodiversity. "You will see how poor uneducated women of rural India are the real scientists working for development as well for conservation."

An adviser in the DBT, S. Natesh said the programme began last year. This year, six programmes were mooted, including the one begun today here. The National Bioresources Development Board, has, since its founding in early 2000, had a mandate to spread awareness and disseminate knowledge on India's bioresources. It had taken up preparing a digitised inventory of the country's bioresources. In the next two years, the programme is expected to garner a substantial amount of information. Five different resources would be put on a common computer platform for research and study.

Butterfly park

The Board was also setting up a "butterfly park" on an 8-acre site provided near Bangalore by the Karnataka Zoo Development Authority, where thousands of butterflies of different species would be bred. People could visit the park for studying, painting or photographing them. The idea was to combine education, research and ecotourism.

He explained the projects on which the Board was working, mainly to map, correlate and document the bioresources of different regions. It was also working with other departments to prepare multimedia resources, which could be used by ordinary persons and even children to understand the legal and technical issues concerning bioresources and biotechnology, Dr. Natesh added.

The training course-coordinator, Ajay Parida, and executive director, MSSRF, P.C. Kesavan, explained the course contents, even while highlighting the importance of combining development and conservation efforts.

Dr. Parida said the foundation asked schools, ranging from local body institutions to the elite schools, to sponsor one student each.

Of the 100 students who applied for the programme, 26 were selected, half of them were from outside Chennai.

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