Jharkhand student wins national science seminar award

Bangalore, Oct 6 (UNI) Nishant Prabhakar, 15-year-old student from Jharkhand, has won the first prize at the silver jubilee year National Science Seminar competition on 'Conservation of Biodiversity: Prospects and Concerns', which concluded here today.

Organised by the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), the seminar culminated with the competition in which 35 candidates in their traditional attire from all over the country presented their views on the emerging technology.

Tripura student Rajkamal Bhattacharya of the Shishu Vihar Higher Secondary School, Agartala, bagged the second prize and Repandi Lepcha, Tadong Senior Secondary School, Gangtok, was declared the third best in the seminar, followed by Akhilesh Kumawat (Rajasthan), Shibu Lijack A (Tamil Nadu), Aditya S Jambale (Goa) and Anjali (Bihar).

Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr V S Acharya, who gave away the prizes, said the country which had hit the headlines in information technology and biotechnology was all set to regain its past glory by excelling in all spheres.

Earlier, NCSM Director General Ingit Mukherjee told newspersons that over 30,000 students across the country had participated at the block, district and State level competition. The NCSM was organising the event for the last 25 years to inculcate scientific temper and analytical thinking in the minds of students and provide a platform for budding scientists to exchange ideas.

He said the topic of the seminar was selected to create curiosity and inspire younger generations to gain wisdom and courage necessary to tackle complex issues that might arise due to loss of bio-diversity.

University of Agriculture Sciences Vice-Chancellor Dr Sheelavanthar said the country had achieved both food security and self-sufficiency. However, the fallout of the green revolution had led to many problems, including forest depletion, pollution and loss of bio-diversity. Due to emerging technologies, the world was losing nearly eight per cent of wild-forest and over-exploitation had resulted in losing a large number of plant species.

He announced that the varsity had documented all plant species available in Western Ghats, one of the three bio-diversity hotspots in the country, and it would be released shortly.

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