Speaking about SKOCH, the minister said it is an independent and renowned organisation that evaluates government initiatives of different states.
The Tripura Biotechnology Department has bagged the SKOCH award for its college biotech club project, Science, Technology and Environment Minister Animesh Debbarma said in Agartala on Thursday.
“Nearly 400 projects from 27 different states were submitted for the award. The final results were announced after the evaluation of these projects at different levels. The award will be given at Habitat Centre in New Delhi on March 29,” Debbarma told reporters.
Speaking about SKOCH, the minister said it is an independent and renowned organisation that evaluates government initiatives of different states.
In 2022, the Biotechnology Department bagged the SKOCH silver award for its bio-village 2.0 project.
While highlighting different initiatives undertaken by the department, the minister stated they have fixed a target of implementing the bio-village 2.0 project in six additional villages in the 2025-26 financial year.
Likewise, the department has set up biotech clubs in 17 government degree colleges and will start them in another four colleges in the upcoming financial year.
“The biotech clubs were limited to government degree colleges till this year but have been expanded to professional and technical colleges, like medical, veterinary, agriculture and fishery colleges. The financial grant has been increased to Rs 2.5 lakh for this,” he said.
He further informed that 172 higher secondary schools in the state have DNA clubs that enable students to learn about 80 different science-related tasks including identification of blood groups, production of herbal colours, cultivation of mushrooms, extraction of DNA from fruits, recycling of waste papers, etc.
“Another 50 new schools have been targeted to be brought under the DNA club project in the 2025-26 financial year,” he said.
Besides, the Tripura Biotechnology Council is also working to upgrade Barabhaiya Orchard into a Plant Bank Orchard to pave the way for the germplasm of valuable plants.
Germplasm refers to genetic resources such as seeds, DNA sequences, and tissues, needed for plant and animal breeding and conservation
source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)