Jammu: A seminar-cum-awareness programme on medicinal plants was organised on Tuesday at Padma Shri Padma Sachdev Govt PG College for Women Gandhi Nagar Jammu under the SKUAST-K’s RCFC.
The daylong seminar on ‘Diversity, Conservation and Livelihood Security through Himalayan Medicinal Plants’ was organised by SKUAST-K’s Regional- cum- Facilitation Centre (RCFC) in collaboration with the Department of Botany Padma Shri Padma Sachdev Govt PG College for Women Gandhi Nagar Jammu under Northern Region-ll, National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Ayush, Govt of India.
About 80 participants including students and faculty members from Botany, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Home Science and Food Science participated in the seminar.
Dr Mohan Singh, Director ISM and CEO SMPB, J&K, was the Chief Guest on the occasion whereas Prof Minu Mahajan, Principal, PSPS GPG College for Women Gandhinagar and OP Sharma IFS, Former Director Ecology, Environment and remote sensing, were the guests of honour at the inaugural function.
Dr Sheikh Bilal Ahmed, Regional Director, RCFC, Northen Region II, welcomed the august gathering and apprised them about the aim of the programme. Dr BD Sehgal, Head Department of Physics, PSPS Govt PG College for Women Gandhi Nagar Jammu also presented his views during the Inaugural session. The session culminated with the presentation of mementoes to the guests.
The technical session started with an informative presentation by Dr LM Gupta, Head, Division of Forestry, SKUAST Jammu. The other speakers were Dr Sheikh Bilal Ahmed ( Regional Director RCFC, SKUAST-K), OP Sharma (Former Director Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing), Dr Waheed-ul-Hassan (Nodal Officer, ISM), Dr Anju Koul ( Senior Asstt. Professor in Botany) and Dr Renu Sharma (Asstt Professor in Botany). The speakers gave in-depth deliberations on the utilization and cultivation of medicinal, aromatic and edible plants for the livelihood security of local people. Prof Mala Bhasin, Head, Department of Botany, PSPS Govt PG College for Women Gandhinagar presented a vote of thanks and appreciated the participants’ efforts. The programme was coordinated by Er Falak Jan and Prof Sugandha Mahajan.

KR Desk