Amritsar, June 11 The Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences of Guru Nanak Dev University in collaboration with Punjab Biodiversity Board celebrated the International Biodiversity Day on Tuesday. The programme included ‘Poster making’ and ‘Best out of waste’ competitions on the theme “Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health”. This year’s celebrations focus on biodiversity as the foundation for our food and a key catalyst in transforming food system. The event was sponsored by National Biodiversity Authority, Government of India. Prof. Adarsh Pal Vig, co-ordinator of programme, highlighted the need of conservation of biodiversity and its effects on food and health. He discussed the role of students’ participation in such programmes. The students from various departments of the university participated and were given cash prizes, trophies and certificates of participation. Manharjot Kaur (MSc Bot Sem-IV) won the first prize in poster making whereas Tamanna Bhardwaj (MSc Bot Sem-IV) and Hridoy Ranjan Saikia (research fellow) bagged the second positions. In best out of waste competition, Jahangeer Quadar, Tamanna Bhardwaj and Khushneet Kaur secured the first, second and third positions respectively. Dr AS Soodan of the department shared his ideas on biodiversity. He threw light on the role of plants in culture and literature. He commented that it has been forewarned in our religious scriptures that human activities can damage the ecosystem. He argued that man’s dependence and association on biodiversity is as old as his own existence but in the pursuit of material development we have caused damage to the nature balance development. Prof Avinash Kaur Nagpal discussed the damage, which has already been done to the ecosystem and emphasised on ecologically safe development. Dr Jatinder Kaur, faculty advisor of society of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, addressed the audience with the importance of biodiversity.

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