RONO HILLS, 15 Jun: Altogether 180 alumni participated in the celebration of the silver jubilee year of Rajiv Gandhi University’s (RGU) botany department, which featured a workshop on ‘Recent advances in botanical research’, on 13 and 14 June.
Besides RGU Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Saket Kushwaha, Bhopal (MP)-based Mansarovar Global University VC Prof Arun Kumar Pandey and other dignitaries attended the programme.
During the inaugural session, RGU Life Sciences Dean Prof Sumpam Tangjang stressed on “the role and importance of such alumni meeting” and appealed to the participants to “contribute to the growth and development of the department in particular and their alma mater in general.”
RGU Botany HoD Prof RK Singh said that the department “began at Jawaharalal Nehru College, Pasighat, in 1997, before being shifted to the present RGU in 1999.”
RGU Registrar Dr NT Rikam, Prof Kushwaha and Prof Pandey congratulated the botany department on completing 25 years of service to RGU, and encouraged the alumni to be proactive in contributing towards the growth of the university.
In the technical session, Prof Pandey presented a special talk on ‘Taxonomy and biodiversity: The need for realigning priorities’, and stressed on “the need to study the modern techniques of taxonomy and its role in conservation of biodiversity.”
This was followed by a lecture by alumnus and Tippi Wildlife Range Forest Officer Kime Rambia on the various strategies adopted by the forest department for the conservation of tigers in the Pakke Tiger Reserve.
On the second day, retired SFRI scientist Dr LR Bhuyan presented a brief on ‘Taxonomic diversity of bamboo in Arunachal Pradesh’, and spoke on the 73 bamboo species commonly found in the state.
The second lecture was delivered by Itanagar-based BSI Scientist-D Dr Krishna Chowlu on ‘The orchids of Northeast India’, during which she described the rare and endemic orchids of Arunachal and their distribution in the state. She also emphasised on the conservation of these orchids.
