Udaipur 11 January: Six eminent and coveted scientists were felicitated with the ISMMP Life Time Achievement Award during the inaugural session of the Global Conference on Plant Pathology by MPUAT, for their outstanding contribution in the field of Plant Pathology.

During the session, which was chaired by Dr. C. D. Mayee, the Dr. Norman Borlaug Memorial lecture was delivered by Prof. S. S. Chahal, Vice Chancellor, MPUAT. Dr. Norman Borlaug is known as the Father of the Green Revolution.

Prof. Chahal presented scenarios of food production in the pre-independence era to begin with. Thereafter, he stated that presently India is emerging as a nation of strong National Agricultural Research and Education System in the world.

He emphasized on safe and scientific storage of agricultural produce through post harvest management strategies to minimize losses and economically empower the farmers. Prof. Chahal mentioned the need to focus our attention on losses caused by microorganism as “Food Saved is Food Produced”.

The Presidential address was delivered by Prof. S. R. Niranjana, President, ISMPP on the topic “Plant diseases threats to global food securities in the new millennium’.

Further, the participation of eminent personalities from India and abroad, viz. Prof. Gary Harman, Prof. Dilip Shah, Dr. Alok Adholeya, Dr. T. R. Sharma, Dr. Anil Kush, Dr. David E. Cooke to mention a few made this academic international event an historical one.

Plenary lectures were conducted by Dr. Alok Adholeya; Dr. Gary E. Harman of Cornell University, New York; Dr. Dilip Shah of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, Missouri; among others.

A cultural night was held for the delegates of the conference. The 4 days Global Conference is extending a platform for scientific deliberations and plenary lectures of renowned plant pathologist from all over the world. So far 400 Indian and 35 foreign delegates are attending the Conference which will conclude on 13th Jan., 2012.