On 25 th January 2017, Kalindi College signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable development (IBSD), Imphal and set up Centre for Women Entrepreneurship in North-East. On 17 th February, 2017 inaugural Function of Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable development (IBSD) Kalindi College Centre for Women Entrepreneurship in North East was held. Honorable Governor of Manipur, Dr. Najma A. Haptulla as the Chief Guest and Professor Dinabandhu Sahoo, Director of IBSD, Imphal as the Guest of Honour were invited. Professor Bhairabi Prasad Sahu, Chairman Governing Body was also there to grace the chair. The objective of the IBSD center is to develop and utilize the Bio- Resources of the North-East through the application of modern tools of Biology & Biotechnology. The major objectives of the Centre are: Exchange of students for training program to explore biodiversity of North Eastern states. Entrepreneurship and value-added production of bio resource. Awareness to ethno biological studies. Research on both animal/plant bio resource. In the month of September 2017, an IBSD Committee was constituted by the Principal of the College. The Committee after discussion with Prof. Sahoo and Principal Madam is working towards organization of a workshop cum training for good packaging of products of small scale entrepreneurs of North-Eastern states to enhance their appearance, longevity and sale value in end of March or first week of April.
1. The IBSD centre in Kalindi College conducted its annual event on the 6 th March, 2019 with a workshop on “An Exposition of Perishable Products of the North East and its Challenges”. The Programme witnessed huge participation from students and teachers from other Colleges like Miranda House, Ramjas, Sri Aurobindo, Shivaji, Maitreyi, Rajdhani, Delhi School of Social Work, Hansraj and many more. 5 teachers, 26 students of other Colleges and 18 teachers, 49 students of Kalindi College participated in the workshop. The Programme was inaugurated by Prof V.P. Chahal, Assistant Director General, ICAR, Pusa Institute. The event opened with a welcome address by the Principal who reiterated the commitment of the college to education and entrepreneurship. The Chief Guest took the audience through the history of agricultural and horticultural research and traced India's journey from the time it attained independence to becoming the largest food grain and milk producing country in the world. The next speaker was Dr. S.D. Tripathi who made a presentation on “Marker Assisted Genetic Improvement in Bhut Jolokia” where he pointed out how the process of genetic improvement was undertaken in the famous eponymous chilli variety in the North East. Dr L.K. Pandey of Global Food and Agribusiness Advisory, New Delhi spoke on the topic “Market Linkages: North East Value‐ Added Products” focusing on Food Production, marketing, and delivery. He underlined the changes from National Food Security to Nutritional Food. Outlining opportunities ranging from bamboo to seed production were the highlights of his lecture which reminded the audience of the deep potentialities for entrepreneurship in the north east. The final talk was delivered by Mr Saumyadipta Roy, an entrepreneur himself, who provided an idea about the bottlenecks of storage and transportation. He also shared modes of packaging employed and encouraged the youth to not only try to develop their own brands but also supply to already establish chains.
2. A National Webinar on “Entrepreneurship aspects on Biodiversity Conservation and Indigenous Healing Practices of Northeast India” was organized by IBSD-Kalindi College on Tuesday, 2 nd June 2020 at 3-5 p.m. using Google Meet platform. The webinar was a great success with a total participation of around 153 candidates (including 69 students and 84 teaching faculties) along with the organizers who actually participated in the webinar even though more than 240 candidates have registered themselves for the webinar. The candidates of 38 Colleges from 16 different Universities have participated in this webinar. The webinar started with the opening address given by Principal Dr. Anjula Bansal followed by a very interesting and informative talk given by Dr. Nemthianngai Guite, Associate Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Dr. Guite has given her talk on “Health and Livelihood Opportunities based on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Northeast India: A Swot Analysis”. She initiated the lecture by giving a brief background on the potential resources found in Northeast India in terms of natural resources, flora, fauna, etc. and also added on the need of promoting entrepreneurship which give livelihood to local people and will also reduce the dependence on government. She further talked about different livelihood opportunities on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants which is her actual area of research taking various different subsectors utilizing medicinal plants into account. She then elaborately analyzed and discussed about the current issues concerning Medicinal Plant Trade, weakness faced by the local growers, opportunities towards alternative and self-reliant medicine and threats like bio-piracy in this sector. She ended the first session by saying “Business with ethics is very important”. The second session was graced by Dr. Sunita Reddy, Associate Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Dr. Reddy delivered her talk on “Indigenous Healing Practices of Northeast India” which is also the area of her research. She clarified our concepts on Codified and Non-codified systems of healing. Codified healing system include Ayurveda, Yoga, Yunani, Siddha, Homeopathy which is known as AYUSH, which has proper medical training and followed proper standardized protocols in preparation of medicines and healing techniques. While her talk was mainly focus on the non-codified healers such as tribal healers, bone setters, nerve healers, dream tellers, etc. do not have any medical training but is considered by local community as a competent health care provider using animal, plant and mineral substances and various other techniques. Dr. Reddy also elaborately discussed about the scope of Medical Tourism, the Efficacies of indigenous healing practices, the challenges faced by traditional healers, the problem of bio-piracy, etc. in this session. Each session was followed by an interactive session. Overall, the webinar was very useful, interactive and informative.