JORHAT, Feb 27 - A three-day international conference on Engineering Sciences and Technologies for Environmental Care (ESTEC-2020) was held at the CSIR-NEIST at Pulibor here from February 20.
A CSIR-NEIST press note stated that participants from diverse areas of science and technology from across India and abroad attended the conference. Apart from a host of dignitaries, participants from academic and research institutes, the event was also attended by some industry bigshots.
CSIR-NEIST Director Dr G Narahari Sastry inaugurated the conference along with the chief guest Prof TG Sitaram, director of IIT Guwahati. The guests of honour at the inaugural ceremony were Dr KSMS Raghava Rao, director of CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR-CFTRI), Mysuru, and Dr Arup Kumar Mishra, director of ASTEC, Guwahati.
In his welcome address, Dr Sastry stated that the CSIR-NEIST theme for the year 2020 was �Revitalizing NEIST for Strengthening Northeast�. He said the thrust areas of research will be environmental care, herbal formulation and knowledge of empowerment, and organising of the conference was a step in that direction.
Dr Sastry mentioned that to give a fillip to the niche areas of research and live up to the theme of the year some new divisions and centres have been established in the institute, the note stated.
The CSIR-NEIST Director disclosed that Advanced Computation and Data Sciences Division (ACDS), Agrotechnology and Rural Development Division, Centre for Petroleum Studies, Centre for Instrumentation and Quality Control, Centre for Knowledge Resource and Information Sciences, have been set up for catering to the needs of north-eastern region in particular and the country in general.
Prof TG Sitaram, while addressing the gathering, said that to achieve the goal of India becoming a 5-trillion economy, �we need to look beyond mundane research problem and focus on real issues which is the crux of the matter�.
The IIT-Guwahati director delved upon the fact that India was the third largest dam-building nation and sustainable water is of paramount importance to the country�s economy.
In his keynote address, Dr KSMS Raghava Rao recalled the contribution of CSIR in the country�s growth and development and the pivotal role played by CSIR-CFTRI in spray-drying buffalo milk to produce the baby food Amulspray.
Dr AK Mishra, in his keynote address, elaborated upon concepts such as environmental care and protection, circular economy, eco-footprint and environment care.
During the conference, 11 technical sessions, covering seven plenary lectures, 26 invited lectures, 19 oral and 179 poster presentations were held. Moreover an industry session that included four lectures and three business talks from the petrochemical industries of the North East was held.
Among the speakers from abroad, Dr DB Das, associate professor at Loughborough University, Dr Sebastiano D�Amico, coordinator of the Geophysics Laboratory, Department of Geoscience, University of Malta and also the vice president of the European Seismological Commission; Dr Rabah Boukherroub, research director at the National Centre for Scientific Research and Group Leader at the Institute of Electronics, Microelectronics and Nanotechnology, University Lille, France, delivered lectures.
