CSIR-IITR (CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research), Lucknow, celebrated the national campaign “One Week, One Lab” from 27 February to 3 March 2023.
As a prelude to the event, a two-day conference on “Women in Academia, Research and Management of Food Safety and Toxicology (WARM-FoST)”, was organised by CSIR-IITR in association with the CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR-CFTRI), Mysuru, and Association of Food Scientists and Technologists of India (AFSTI), Lucknow Chapter, on 24 and 25 February 2023.
In her inaugural address, Dr N Kalaiselvi, DG, CSIR, said that this conference shall provide a platform for women scientists, technologists & entrepreneurs to showcase their achievements in multidisciplinary aspects of food safety, toxicology, public health, technology and entrepreneurship.
Dr Kalaiselvi dedicated a "Jigyasa Aroma Garden" at CSIR-IITR main campus and also unveiled the new logo of the institute that signifies the renewed vigour and energy of the institute. She launched the “One Week, One Lab” campaign and also released a Millet Recipe Book coinciding with the International Year of Millets declared by the United Nations.
The inaugural event was enriched by the presence of Padma Shri Mrs Usha Chaumar, President, Sulabh International; Olympian and Padma Shri Ms Sudha Singh; Dr Radha Rangarajan, Director, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow; and Dr Sridevi Annapurna Singh, Director, CSIR-CFTRI, Mysuru.
The Chief Guest Prof. Pratibha Goyal, Vice Chancellor of the Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya Avadh University (RMLAU), Ayodhya, inaugurated the “One Week, One Lab” endeavour of CSIR-IITR on 27 February 2023. She appreciated CSIR’s contributions to humanity and highlighted the severe health problems that society has been facing due to the blatant use of pesticides and overexposure to different types of toxic chemicals. Prof. Goyal was hopeful that an elite organisation like the CSIR-IITR would continue to do meaningful research.
Dr Bhaskar Narayan, Director, CSIR-IITR, echoed that with efficient, well-trained Manpower, Machines (resources), and Mechanisms, our country too would soon join the league of developed nations. Dr Narayan spoke about the need for connecting science transpiring within the labs with the public at large and emphasised the importance of “robust, well-built systems”.
During the function, a workshop on the “Importance of NABL accreditation in the laboratory management system of testing laboratories” was also organised. Dr Avijit Das, Senior Director, NABL, and the Guest of Honour of the programme spoke about the importance of quality systems in laboratories. He hoped that the participants of this workshop would be able to learn new skill sets and use them to improve efficacy at their respective workplaces.
On this occasion, CSIR-IITR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with RML Avadh University, Ayodhya. The Chief Guest Prof. Pratibha Goyal inaugurated the “Research Scholars Poster Showcase Event” that was put up by the AcSIR PhD scholars of the institute. She interacted with the youngsters and hoped that each one of them would become a brand ambassador of the CSIR.
The National Science Day-2023 coincided with the second day of the CSIR-IITR “One Week, One Lab” campaign. Reverberating the theme of this year’s National Science Day “Global Science for Global Wellbeing”, Shri ASKVS Sharma, former Chief Scientist, CSIR-CFTRI & Guest of Honour at the function talked about India's emerging global role and rising visibility in the international arena. Addressing a large gathering of school students, he aptly talked about how curiosity in science should be channelled into a driving force towards making good things better.
Delivering the keynote address, Shri Tarun Sridhar, IAS, Former Secretary to Govt of India & Chief Guest of the function shared his thoughts on how science may be used to ensure effective policymaking. He opined that the S&T ecosystem in the country has made rapid strides in recent years and several new landmark reforms in science administration with far-reaching implications have been initiated. Delivering the presidential address, Dr Bhaskar Narayan opined that the true potential of any scientific outcome is only realised when it traverses the distance from the lab to the land.
During this programme, awards were given to the winners of the CSIR-IITR Jigyasa programme in which a total of 80 entries were received, out of which 20 were shortlisted for final pitching. The best five entries were awarded.
Day three of the week-long campaign at CSIR-IITR marked the start of a three-day CSIR–IITR and NABL joint training programme on ‘Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables’ which was inaugurated by Shri N Venkateswaran, CEO, NABL. Speaking at the inaugural event Shri Venkateswaran expressed confidence that this was just the beginning of a series of such training programmes to be organised jointly towards the mission of skilling the youth and making them employable. He urged the participants of the training programme to use their time at the institute judiciously and make the maximum of the exposure that they will get.
The other highlight of the day was the finale of the CSIR-IITR Hackathon 2023. Out of a total of 32 entries received in different areas of ‘Digital Intervention for Food Safety and Environmental Sustainability Solutions’, seven finalists were shortlisted for the final round of evaluations. They presented their innovative proposals and business models on ideas including ‘anti-nicotine chocolate and digital de-addiction tracking’; ‘IoT based technology to fight air pollution’; ‘carbon trade in cars using blockchain’; ‘early diagnosis of lifestyle diseases’, ‘nontoxic plastic alternatives in packaging’, etc.
Inaugurating the event, Shri Hemang Jani, Secretary, Capacity Building Commission, Govt of India exhorted the participants and the scientific community to desist from working in silos, and instead work towards larger collaborative and multi-disciplinary projects. He stated that though the Nation has made tremendous progress in recent times, there is a lot of ground to be covered towards achieving our goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat.'
Delivering the presidential address, Dr Bhaskar Narayan, reiterated the institute’s commitment to being a true value addition proposition to all its collaborators and stakeholders. He said that CSIR-IITR believes in the principle of working together for everyone to be successful.
On day four, CSIR-IITR launched a trinity system for ease of serving industry and society. CSIR-IITR intends to boost, facilitate and expedite ‘industrially relevant’ R&D by understanding requirements, clearing the bottlenecks, accelerating research and charting out an implementable action plan that would meet the demands of the stakeholders. Towards this end, the Institute launched an ambitious platform named CAiRES (Consultative Arrangement for Innovation in Research by Engaging Stakeholders). CAiRES intends to bridge the gaps between ‘research production’ and ‘research use’ by better carving of the problem statements, efficient resource utilisation, manpower deployment and effective harnessing of ‘market acceptable’ outputs — with the consensus of all stakeholders.
Another endeavour that CSIR-IITR embarked upon was the launch of the Government Academia & Industry Network (GAIN) platform which intends to demonstrate sharing of purpose, synergy, collaboration and cooperation amongst academia, industry and Government organisations. GAIN would be a forum to strengthen the collaboration and accountability between these pillars of scientific innovation — each having its own unique strengths and functional models.
On this occasion, CSIR-IITR brought several industries & start-ups to showcase their technologies and innovative products. The exhibition was inaugurated by Shri Pawan Agarwal, IAS, CEO & Founder, Food Future Foundation. The highlight of the day’s events was the award ceremony of the CSIR-IITR Hackathon 2023. Shri Agarwal congratulated the participants and appreciated the efforts of the institute to bring a collaborative system to enable the most demanding task of the country to engage diverse stockholders and sustain their businesses. He said, in the current data-centric world, industries should work on utilising the expertise of the research institutions, particularly regulatory decision-making.
In his address, the Guest of Honour Dr G Narahary Sastry, the then Director, CSIR-NEIST, lauded the efforts of CSIR-IITR towards tackling air, water, and soil pollution.
In the afternoon, a roundtable discussion involving representatives from the Government, Academia, and Industry, was organised. The discussions were spearheaded by Dr KC Khulbe, Chief Scientist, CSIR-IITR with about 24 industry representatives participating. An academic collaboration MoU was signed between CSIR-IITR and ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai. CSIR-IITR also signed MoUs with Marico Limited, Mumbai; Community Empowerment Lab, Lucknow; Centre for BioMedical Research, Lucknow; Farelabs, New Delhi; EFRAC, Kolkata; Blessings Advertising; and, Philtons Bioengineering Pvt. Ltd.
The institute is celebrating the Centenary Year of Dr CR Krishnamurti, an eminent environmental scientist and a pioneer in the field of occupational health and the second Director of CSIR-IITR (from 1978 to 1983) who was instrumental in establishing the Gheru Campus of the institute as a Centre for Ecotoxicology testing. Shri Brajesh Pathak, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh was the Chief Guest for the Centenary celebrations during which he unveiled a bust of Dr Krishnamurti and a Memory Wall as a token of remembrance and appreciation for his over five decades of contribution to the institute. The Gheru Campus of the institute was renamed as CRK Campus in honour of Dr CR Krishnamurti.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Brajesh Pathak lauded the services of the institute in the niche area of environmental monitoring and in developing technologies to tackle air, water and soil pollution. Several former colleagues and students of Dr CR Krishnamurti shared their experiences of working with him. His long-sighted vision towards converting laboratory findings into actual field settings in environmental toxicology, bioremediation, and occupational health is visibly demonstrated by the laboratories at the Gheru Campus, they opined.
In the concluding programme, Shri Indrajeet Singh, IAS, Municipal Commissioner, Lucknow Municipal Corporation was the Chief Guest and Dr Ajit Kumar Shasany, Director, CSIR-NBRI, was the Guest of Honour. Awards were given to the prize winners of the research scholars poster presentation competition that was held as a part of the celebrations on 27 February 2023. Also, participants of the three-day CSIR-IITR and NABL joint training programme on Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables were felicitated.
