Deb was honoured with the Kirloskar Vasundhara Sanman for his contribution to the fields of ecology, agriculture and preservation of a large number of traditional crop varieties.

VETERAN ECOLOGIST and this year’s Kirloskar Vasundhara Sanman awardee Dr Debal Deb on Tuesday expressed his concern over the apathy of agriculture scientists and policymakers towards preservation of traditional crop varieties.

He was speaking on the valedictory function of the 14th edition of Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival in Pune. The festival is organised by Kirloskar Group and Vasundhara Club along with several organisations working for environmental education and preservation.

Deb was honoured with the Kirloskar Vasundhara Sanman for his contribution to the fields of ecology, agriculture and preservation of a large number of traditional crop varieties.

In his speech, he said along with wildlife, concrete efforts were needed for the preservation of biodiversity in plant-special crops. He also urged decision-makers to encourage and support organic farming and traditional methods of multiple cropping.

He spoke on efforts to preserve and develop varieties of rice and other crops through his initiatives like Basudha farms and Vrihi seed bank. The festival conducted 65 activities over five days, including symposiums on various subjects, film screenings, lectures, quizzes, street plays, eco workshops, Ramnadi Parikrama, plastic waste collection drives, photo walk, photo exhibition, live painting session, children’s festival and various competitions. The festival concluded with the screening of the film The Python Code by Andreas Ewels.

The valedictory function was attended by Atul Kirloskar, chairperson of Kirloskar Group of Companies; Aditya Kowshik, managing director, Kirloskar Pneumatic; along with Arti Kirloskar, Gauri Kirloskar, Madhav Chandrachud and Virendra Chitrav.