GUWAHATI, April 7 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visited IKP Knowledge Park in Genome valley in Hyderabad, an official release received here said.
During his one-and-a-half hour long stay at the sprawling 200-acre campus, Chief Minister Gogoi interacted with the managing director and the chief executive officer, Deepanwita Chattopadhyay and senior faculty members.
Chattopadhyay while welcoming the Chief Minister, apprised him about the various research activities in the field of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, chemistry etc. �The master plan of the Knowledge Park mirrors its objective of nurturing an environment for innovation and the expected growth in life sciences and related fields. Our mission is to create a world class centre for leading-edge business-driven research in India,� she apprised the Chief Minister.
Jointly set up by the ICICI Bank and Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1999, the Park has Life Sciences Incubator with fully furnished dedicated lab space, shared equipment and an assistance programme benefitting innovative start-up companies and scientist entrepreneurs. In all, eight companies and two R&D centres have been given 66 acres of land on long lease to build their own facilities. IKP has so far promoted 45 R&D based companies from six countries out of which 16 have graduated. Currently there are 29 companies working in various areas of pharma, biotech and chemistry.
Chief Minister Gogoi while appreciating the research activities of the institute, requested Dr. Chattopadhyay to visit Assam and to explore the possibility of setting up a centre in the State.
Gogoi, also visited Advanta�s facility in Hyderabad situated at the ICICI Knowledge Park where Advanta (a United Phosphorus Ltd Company), a leading supplier of advanced genetic worldwide, is working on several aspects related to agriculture viz., market assisted breeding, insect resistance, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency etc. Nanjappa alongwith his team mates Soumen Sarkar, Dr Vilas Parkhi, Dr Elangovan, Raghuram and Shishir Saxena apprised him about latest technological interventions in agriculture field and its benefit for the farmers. Gogoi was also apprised about Advanta�s presence in Assam which is working very closely with Assam Government from 2007 for the upliftment of Assam�s farmers through introduction of hybrid rice technology (Hybrid � PAC 801, PAC 832, PAC 835, PAC 837 and PAC 807), Hybrid Tomato � GS 1500 and hybrid maize � PAC 740.
The Chief Minister also visited the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) at Patancheru. A non-profit, non-political organisation, ICRISAT conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world.
The Chief Minister went round the sprawling 3,500 acres campus and had threadbare discussions with the Director General of ICRISAT, Prof William D Dar and other faculty members. �ICRISAT envisions a prosperous, food-secure and resilient dryland tropics. Our mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics,� said Prof Dar.
Prof Dar said that the institute conducts research on five highly nutritious, drought-tolerant crops � chickpea, pigeonpea, pearl millet, sorghum and groundnut. �ICRISAT also develops sustainable management of semi-arid tropic systems through efficient and sustainable management of natural resources, and enables policies and institutions for improving livelihoods and achieving food, nutrition and health security while protecting the environment,� added Prof Dar.
Chief Minister Gogoi pointed out that as research activities by ICRISAT revolved around creation and sustenance of rural livelihoods in addition to releasing crop varieties that yield better, the institute could provide its inputs towards raising further farm productivity in Assam. �ICRISAT�s research programmes can be of great help to smallholder farmers to go beyond subsistence farming, thus paving them the way for economic prosperity,� he added.
Later the Chief Minister also visited the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) at Gachibowli. An autonomous research university founded in 1998 under not-for-profit public private partnership (NPPP), the first IIIT to be set up under this model in India, the institute focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains.
Prof Rajeev Sangal, Director, IIIT-H explained to the Chief Minister how the institute has managed to build large research groups to carry out cutting edge research, and use it to solve real-life industrial and societal problems. �The institute has evolved strong research programmes in a host of areas with computation or IT providing the connecting thread and with an emphasis on the development of technology and applications which can be transferred for use to industry and society,� he added.
Making a power point presentation, Prof Sangal said, �The goal of education is to develop a broad and humanistic outlook among students and that is the reason why the institute runs a unique human values programme at the undergraduate level.�
Chief Minister Gogoi while lauding the good work of the institute urged Prof Sangal to extend help and cooperation in the further expansion of IT sector in the State.
