RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

            "Research, knowledge production, knowledge sharing and knowledge use are essential if the global community is to build better future for human kind. Every country should have a minimum scientific research capacity to face today's development challenges. This capacity in needed to enable countries to innovate and grow but also to be able to absorb and benefit from the existing technologies."

                                                                                                     - The Inter Academy Council

            There is an urgent need to make all-out efforts to ensure that appropriate research outputs, which can be put to use for the benefit of society, are generated and reach the people. It is, therefore, essential to evolve a mechanism and identify programmes for application of science and technology (S&T) for improving the quality of life of the people, particularly the weaker sections and women, for development of rural areas and for inculcating scientific awareness among the masses.

            The development challenges facing the country are complex and inter-linked. For example, soil erosion is not just an issue for soil scientist and hydrologists, though they have an important role. It is also an economic question, a social question, a gender related question, and a governance question. The complexities of the challenges demand that research must also be complex. Purely disciplinary solutions will only resolve the partial problem. More often an interdisciplinary approach will be needed, which employs the participation of teams of researchers, each well grounded in their own discipline but also open for the collaboration with traditional researchers.  

            The people of the country must be able to control their own knowledge-based development. Therefore, strengthening capacity for research, independent policy analysis and accessing knowledge are critical. Analytical capacity must allow the people to contribute as informed participation to major international debates such as those on international trade, climate change, reforms of the global financial architecture and change to the global intellectual property rights regime. They must be able to deal directly with issue of direct domestic concerns such as governance, economic policy, natural resource management and social equity.

            A second green revolution is urgently needed to raise the growth rate of agriculture GDP around 4%. New generation technologies based on rapidly evolving scientific developments will play a pivotal role in achieving new levels of productivity in agriculture. In the longer run, growth in agricultural productivity can be sustained only through technological progress.

            Forestry is the second largest land use in the country after agriculture, and an estimated 275 million people depend on forests for their livelihood. Researchers need to promote Community Forestry enhancing productivity, processing of non-timber forest produce (NTFP), marketing etc. for employment generation and poverty eradication. We have to conserve biodiversity for our survival.

            Water is an essential requirement for drinking, irrigation, industry and sanitation. Researches are needed to improve water conservation, water use efficiently and protecting it from getting polluted. Cheaper technology has to be developed for cleaning the polluted water.

            Utthan has a competent group of researchers and has carried out research in following fields:-

Agriculture:

·     Reclamation/development of problem soils/lands;

·     Increasing cropping intensity;

·     Diversification in agriculture through high value crops/activities;

·     Promotion of organic farming, with the use of organic waste; and

·     Development of agro-technique for cultivation of medicinal plants.

Animal Husbandry:

·     Conservation of native livestock (cow, goat, poultry) to maintain diversity of breeds;

·     Sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture; and

·     Increasing production of fodder and improvement of pasture lands.

Water Conservation:

·     Micro-watershed development programme;

·     Rain water harvesting and conservation;

·     Technology for ground water recharging;

·     Protecting the water from getting polluted;  

·     Technology for cleaning polluted water ; and  

·     Greening of wastelands for rehabilitation of ecosystem.

Forest Resource Management:

·     Development of agroforestry;

·     Technology for planting, harvesting and processing of bamboo products;

·     Selection of Jatropha  curcas clones, developing agro-techniques for seed and biodiesel production;

·     Selection of super clones of medicinal and aromatic plants and their cultivation;

·     Developing technologies for production of quality planting material of bamboo, its plantation and utilization; and

·     Development of Joint Forest Management approaches.

Healthcare and Nutrition:

·     Consumption of medicinal plants for removing micro nutrient deficiency;

·     Standardization of de-toxification and de-stress packages;

·     Medicinal plants and herbal drugs production;

·     Developing cheaper sanitary practices; and