S. Ayyappan, Secretary and Director, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, stressed on the importance of multidisciplinary research and applications to improve agriculture in the country. He was speaking at the ninth annual day celebrations of the School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, here recently.
A release, listing the agricultural innovations and achievements of India since its independence, suggested that the future of the country and the world lay in everyone becoming interested in the outcomes of agriculture, since it is “everybody’s business”.
He sounded a warning about the impending lack of natural resources but expressed confidence in the ability of young minds to overcome such hurdles through ingenious innovations. Dr. Ayyappan invited youngsters from different fields of expertise to take up agriculture-based issues for their future career and research.
Another chief guest, Vijay Chandru, Director, Strand Life Sciences, Bengaluru, spoke on the innovations that had taken place in genome sequencing, which might soon become personalised and a precise way of diagnosing diseases. He also spoke of the need for biologists, bioinformaticians and information scientists to collaborate in this regard.
