Inception Workshop of NMSHEheld at ICAR, Umiam
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi is implementing the National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE), Task Force (TF-6) with the theme on ‘Sustainable agriculture for food nutritional and ecological security and for ameliorating climate change impacts in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)’.The NMSHEis one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is coordinating the implementation of NMSHE. ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam and its six Centres (one in each NEH states) is the lead Institute for NMSHE-TF6 project for the eastern Indian Himalayas. NRCs on Yak, Mithun and Pig are the collaborators. Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC), Dehradun, Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi, Directorate of Cold WaterFisheries, Bhimtal, NBPGR, Umiam are the knowledge partners of the project. Database creation,Monitoring system, Modelling and Simulation, Vulnerability assessment,Adaptation Policy Research and Pilot Studies for revalidation are the component of the Task Force.
The inception meeting of the NMSHE, TF-6 project for eastern Indian Himalayas was held on 09 February, 2016 at ICAR research Complex, Umiam, Meghalaya. About 90 agricultural scientists and experts from across the IHR especially from North Eastern Region of India attended the inception meeting. Dr. S.V.Ngachan, Director, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya presided the meeting and Shri P.L.N. Raju, Director, NESAC, Umiam, Meghalaya was the Chief Guest. Dr. A.K.Tripathi, Director, ATARI, Umiam, Dr. B.C.Deka, Joint Director, ICAR Research Complex, Nagaland Centre and Dr. RK Avasthe, Joint Director, ICAR Research Complex, Sikkim Centre, Dr. D.J.Rajkhowa, Principal Scientist and Head Crop Production, Dr. AK Mishra, Head NBPGR, Umiam also addressed the meeting. Dr. Charan Singh, Principal Scientist, IISWC, shared the activities under taken by the IISWC under the NMSHE project in Central Himalayan Region.
The inaugural session began with a welcome address by Dr.ArnabSen,Principal Scientist and Head, Animal Health, ICAR Research Complex, Umiam. Dr. Anup Das, Senior Scientist, Agronomy briefed about the components and project activities to the participants.Dr. P.L.N. Raju, Director, NESAC, Umiam, Meghalaya in his address to the gathering emphasized the need of space technology for humanity and how space technology can come as an aid to develop the Himalayan region and offered full support for developing strategies to sustain the Himalayan ecosystem. Dr. S.V.Ngachan in his Chairman’s remarks emphasized on sustaining health of Himalayas through location specific technological interventions. Traditional farming, organic farming, indigenous technical knowledge, natural resource conservation etc. were emphasized by him.Dr. Ngachan also emphasized on collaboration and convergence among Institutes for identifying and implementing location specific interventions for food and nutritional security in one hand and sustaining ecosystem in other hand. Prof. Dr. A. Unal, Stanford University and Visiting Professor, IIT Gauhati also shared her thought with the delegates and emphasized on data management and information sharing for developing efficient plans. The technical session saw the presentations and the work plans and progress reports from the collaborators. With the suggestion and inputs from the participants, the works plans were improved for achieving the desired objectives.The meet ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. K.P Mohapatra, Sr. Scientist (Agroforestry) ICAR RC, NEH Umiam.
