ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science Celebrated its Foundation Day

NEW DELHI: The 28th Foundation Day of ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science was celebrated on at the institute campus. The Institute was established in 1988 at Bhopal, under the aegis of ICAR, with a vision of “Sustaining Higher Crop Productivity and Better Soil Health through Basic Research and Technological Interventions” and mandate of “Enhancing Soil Productivity with Minimum Environmental Degradation”.

Dr. P. K. Verma, Director General, Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology (MPCOST), Bhopal,  Chief Guest of the event, emphasized the importance of soil in the service of mankind. He felt the need of having more educational and awareness programmes on the role of soils for the benefit of society and also highlighted the need for collaboration among premier research and academic institutions for improving quality of research with wider dimension.

Dr. R. K. Gupta, , Team Leader, Research Station Developments, Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), CIMMYT, New Delhi was the Guest of Honour. Dr Gupta delivered the Foundation Day lecture on conservation agriculture. He emphasized the importance of soil organic carbon for the sustainability of soil health. He also stressed on the need of interdisciplinary research for solving the complex future research problems.

Earlier, Dr. Ashok K. Patra, Director, welcomed the dignitaries and participants and appraised them about the progress made by the institute.

Several progressive farmers were felicitated for their achievements in pursuing innovative agricultural practices. A new mini lab (Mridaparikshak) for soil testing for the generation of soil health card was also demonstrated.

The institute staffs who had completed twenty years of service in ICAR-IISS were felicitated during the event.