National Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Programmes for 2022

• 29^th Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) of the Academy on June 05, 2022
• Foundation Day Lecture: The Foundation Day Lecture was delivered on June 5, 2022 by Prof. P. Balaram, Former Director, IIS, Bengaluru on Reflection on Science in the Age of the Corona Virus.
• Presidential Address By Dr. T. Mohapatra, President, NAAS

Scientific Presentations by Fellowship: Enhancing Nutritional Value of Brassica Oilseeds through Genetic Engineering by Dr. N.C. Bisht; Harnessing Genetic Variation from Wild Triticum and Aegilops Species for Wheat Gene Pool Enrichment by Dr. (Ms.) P. Chhuneja; Lentil Genetics, Genomics and Breeding: Achievements and Future Directions by Dr. J. Kumar; Improvement of Coarse Cereals for Crop Diversification by Dr. S. Rakshit; Development of Bio-fortified Maize through Marker-Assisted Breeding and Evolution of Nutri-Millet Varieties for Commercial Cultivation by Dr. N. Senthil; Wheat Yield Consolidation and Stabilization by Understanding Genetic Gain Pattern and Exploiting Genotype x Management Interaction by Dr. R. Yadav; Improvement of Citrus and Mango using Traditional and Molecular Approaches by Dr. A.K. Dubey; Developing high value functional foods and nutraceutical ingredients from horticultural crops by Dr. C. Kaur; Antioxidant Phytochemicals in Vegetables: Exploitation of Genotype Variation and Advancement in Analytical Protocols by Dr. J. Singh; Development, Propagation and Genetic Characterization of Livestock and Dissemination of Technologies through Innovative Extension Methodologies by Dr. T. Dutt; Testicular Stem Cell-Mediated Transgenesis and In Vitro Spermatogenesis by Dr. M.K. Gupta ; Sperm Functional and Molecular Markers for Bull Fertility Prediction by Dr. A. Kumaresan; An Effort to Detect, Develop Indigenous Diagnosis and Vaccine to Curtail the High-risk Viral Pathogens in India by Dr. P.D. Yadav; Aquatic Food Safety and Authenticity for Health and Economy by Prof. G. Jeyasekaran; Sustainable Use of Saline and Sodic Irrigation Waters for Crop Productivity by Dr. O.P. Choudhary; Legacy Phosphorus in Agricultural Soils: Control and Efficient Use by Dr. D. Damodar Reddy; Addressing Sustainability Issues in Rice-based Systems through Conservation Agriculture and Weed Management by Dr. J.S Mishra; Microbial Technologies to Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emission, Soil Health Improvement and Enhancing Crop Productivity by Dr. S.R. Mohanty; Climate Smart Agricultural Technologies and Practices for Enhanced Productivity, Profitability and Sustainability by Dr. R. Singh; Race Profiling, Diversity Analysis, Diagnostics and Management of Major Fungal Plant Pathogens of Pulse Crops by Dr. S.C. Dubey; Identification, Diagnostic Technologies and Management Strategy of Plant Viruses by Dr. B. Mandal; Evaluation of Plant Resistance and Botanicals for Management of Insect Pests by Prof. Ram Singh; Deciphering the Molecular Mechanism of Insecticide Tolerance in Insect Pests and their Natural Enemies and Development of Stress Tolerant Biocontrol agents against Crop Pests by Dr. T. Venkatesan; Geospatial Technologies based Decision Support System for Regional Scale Assessment of Non-point-source Pollution of Groundwater in Large Irrigation Projects by Dr. V.M. Chowdary; Innovative Extension Models for Technology Transfer, Entrepreneurship Development, and Up-scaling & Out-scaling of Farmer-led Innovations by Dr. J.P. Sharma ; Uses of Auxiliary information in Estimating Population Parameters in Finite Population Survey Sampling by Dr. B.V.S. Sisodia ; Video Presentation: RNA based Biopesticides-BioClay TM Technology by Prof. Neena Mitter ; Video Presentation: Benefits of Contract Farming In Developing Economies by Dr. Ashok Kumar Mishra; Video Presentation: Molecular Diversity of Disease Resistence Genes and Mechanisms in Wheat by Dr. Beat Keller; Working to Solve the 10-billion People question – i.e. How Can We Feed Our World Without Destroying Our Planet? by Dr. Rod A. Wing

Brainstorming Sessions/ Strategy Workshops/ Experts’ Meet

• Stakeholder Consultation on Draft Regulation for GM Food and Feed Imports and Detection of Unauthorized GM Events was organized on January 10, 2022 under the Convenership of Prof. K.C. Bansal
• Expert Meet on Self-sufficiency in Edible Oil Production was organized on March 28 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. Sanjeev Gupta
• Strategy Workshop on Impact of COVID 19 on Livestock (Animal Health and Dairy/Poultry/ Meat/Feed Industry) was organized on June 24, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. R.K. Singh
• Brainstorming Session on Sustaining Pulse Revolution was organized on April 05, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. Anjani Kumar
• Brainstorming Session on Food Fortification Issues and Way Forward was organized on March 11, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. Anjani Kumar
• Brainstorming Session on Promoting millets production, value addition and consumption’ was organized on July 22, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. O.P. Yadav
• Strategy Workshop on Scaling up Innovative Agricultural Extension Models was organized on September 12, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh
• Expert Meet on Beyond Price Support and Subsidy was organized on September 30, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. P.S. Birthal
• Brainstorming Session on Sea Weed Cultivation and Utilization was organized on November 16, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. J.K. Jena
• Brainstorming Session on Service Delivery Mechanism in Livestock Sector was organized on December 5, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. M.L. Madan
• Brainstorming Session on Plant based vs Dairy Milk-myths and facts was organized on December 10, 2022 under the Convenership of Dr. A.K. Srivastava

Other Activities

• National Science Day: A lecture delivered by an eminent economist Prof. R. Ramakumar from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, under the chairmanship of Dr. T. Mohapatra, President, NAAS on 28 February 2022.
• International Women’s Day: The Academy celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022, organizing a panel discussion on ‘R&D Innovations for Sustainable Agriculture in India’ through an online platform. The program was co-chaired by Dr. T. Mohapatra and Dr. K.M. Bujarbaruah and moderated by Prof. K.C. Bansal.
• The Regional Consultation on One CGIAR reform process was organized jointly by NITI Aayog, Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) and National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) involving eminent experts and NARS leaders from South Asian countries (Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) at New Delhi on 02 April, 2022
• Stakeholders’ Consultation Workshop was organized by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) in association with NAAS on Study on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) on 11 May 2022. In the CSA study report, the strategies for deployment and implementation of identified technologies in the field are captured and concretize were discussed.
• World Biodiversity Day: A discussion on Global Genebanks and Biodiversity Management for Sustainable Agriculture. Over 350 delegates participated in this program on 22 May, 2022.
• Special Lectures: A special lecture by Dr. Amit Roy, Former President, and CEO, IFDC and Former Executive Director, Global Phosphorus Institute (GPI), Ben Guerir, Morocco was organized on the topic “Managing Fertilizers for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability”. It was co-chaired by Dr. T. Mohapatra, President, NAAS and Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, DARE & DG, ICAR on 08 September, 2022
• Special talk on The International Governance of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: The Academy organised a special talk on The International Governance of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: The Role and Place of the International Plant Treaty’ by Mr. Kent Nnadozie, Secretary, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, United Nations, FAO, Rome on 15 September, 2022
• NAAS Virtual Workshop in collaboration with World Food Prize Foundation: National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (together with ICAR, ICRISAT, ICARDA and The WorldVeg) in collaboration with the World Food Prize Foundation, USA organized a virtual workshop entitled ‘Global Food and Nutritional Security, and Sustainable Development through Major and Minor Pulses’ on October 14, 2022
• Interaction with Press & Media on GM mustard hybrid: In view of the Government’s decision for the environmental release of genetically engineered (GM) mustard hybrid, a brief interaction with Press & Media was arranged jointly by NAAS and TAAS on October 31, 2022
• Nutrition Awareness Programme: On the occasion of Children’s Day, NAAS Office-bearers Dr. T. Mohapatra, President; Dr. Anil K. Singh, Vice President; Dr. P.K. Joshi, Secretary; Dr. Malavika Dadlani, Editor and Dr. Sanjeev Saxena, Executive Director interacted with more than 500 girl students along with Mrs. S. Narang, Principal and other teachers on Nutrition Awareness at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, IARI Campus, New Delhi on 14 November 2022
• National Academy of Agricultural Sciences organized Academia-Industry Meet to discuss various topical issues with regard to policy development in agriculture and allied sectors on December 23, 2022.