26th Dr. B.P. Pal Memorial Lecture on Flocking Nature in Human and Plants Genetics delivered

27^th May, 2019, New Delhi

Padma Shri, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Honorary Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru delivered the 26^th Dr. B.P. Pal Memorial Lecture on “Why do we Flock Together: A Physicist’s View” at Dr. B.P. Pal Auditorium, PUSA Campus, New Delhi today. The lecture was organized by the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute in association with the Genetics Club and Post Graduate School, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi.

In his lecture, Prof. Sood regarded Dr. B.P. Pal as one of the iconic in the field of plants genetics. He stated about the various traits like flocking that binds not only the human beings, but the animals and plants and crops genetics too. With his expertise in the designated field, Prof. Sood provided an insight into the collective behaviors of both the physical particles and biological entities and also the scientific basis of their behaviors.

Prof. Sood stated that the living beings like locusts, E.coli, ants and birds all perform their works in a coordinated movement as found in the human beings too at a certain level. With the help of several slides and presentations, Prof. Sood highlighted the coordinated movement and orderliness in the biological entities based on the principles of physics. 

The Lecture was chaired by Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR). Providing a brief about the speaker, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Dr. Mohapatra shared some of the invincible moments he shared with Prof. Sood. The Director General outlined Prof. Sood’s researches that they are focused on two areas of condensed matter physics - Raman spectroscopy of novel solids to unravel interesting phenomena and soft condensed matter physics. He underlined some of the major achievements of Prof. Sood namely - Sir C.V. Raman Award by UGC, Homi Bhabha Medal by INSA, DAE Raja Ramanna Award by JNCASR and National Award in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology by the Government of India, etc., to name a few.

Dr. Mohapatra applauded the great contributions made by the physicists in the fields of plantology and agriculture. He appreciated the method used by Prof. Sood in order to teach about the necessity of coordinated movements in one’s life. He stated that bringing the orderliness in the styles and ways working, be it the molecules, bacteria, particles or even the human beings, animals, etc., is very important in order to meet the desired goals in the life.

The Director General also opined for building the auditorium halls in such a coordinated way that can help to prevent the major accidents and casualties arising out of any worse situations or circumstances. Dr. Mohapatra also urged the audience to adopt the habit of working in a coordinated and disciplined way in life as it is the best way to achieve the goals more efficiently and effectively.

Dr. A.K. Singh, DDG (Agricultural Extension) & Director, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi applauded the various initiatives being taken-up by Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) for the betterment of the organization’s employees and the people involved in the field of agriculture and other allied sciences.

Dr. Rashmi Agarwal, Dean & Joint Director (Education) and Dr. Vinod, Professor, Division of Genetics & President, Genetics Club also marked their presence during the programme.

The several distinguished scientists from the field of agricultural and allied sciences, faculties and students from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi attended the lecture.

(Source: ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi)