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In a move to contribute to the society through integrated and synergistic approach by leveraging the digital platform,the Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) and Society for Ethnopharmacology (SFE)-India have started to launch a weekly webinar, IBSD sources said on Sunday.

IBSD and SFE-India have come together to launch a weekly webinar series with the leadership of director Prof Pulok K Mukherjee of the IBSD, an autonomous institute under Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, headquarters at Takyelpat in Imphal. IBSD also have its offices at Mizoram, Sikkim, Meghalaya.

The first webinar was held on May 9, from 6 pm to 7:30 pm wherein a stellar line-up of speakers presented wide ranging perspectives on the pandemic.

While Dr JLN Sastry, CEO, National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India spoke on the ‘Role of AYUSH in Covid-19’, Dr Marco Leonti, Professor, Università di Cagliari, Cagliari (CA), Italy talked about ‘the Social Impact of COVID-19: A European perspective, stated a press release.

The second webinar, on May 16, Dr R K Ranjan, member of Parliament representing the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency spoke on the ‘Intervention of science and technology to enhance the bio economy of North East India’, while Dr Debprasad Chattopadhyay, director, Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Traditional Medicine (ICMR-NITM) spoke on the ‘COVID-19 pandemic: battle between primitive virus Vs most evolved Homo sapiens’, the release said.

Stating that eminent personalities around the world will highlights on several aspects on the use of traditional medicine, ethno medicines, medicinal plants and modern medicine in all aspects, the release said, these webinars are being hosted Prof Pulok K Mukherjee, director, DBT-IBSD, who in turn has emphasized on the importance to reimagine ethnopharmacology (Ethnopharmacology is a related study of ethnic groups and their use of plant compounds).

This weekly webinar series on ‘Reimagine Ethnopharmacology’ will bring together leaders, policymakers in the common forum, every Saturday, starting at 6-8 pm to adjust with the time zone of maximum numbers of countries of the world,it felt.

There is no registration fee and it is complementary for all who need to join through the specific link,it added.

Further details on the webinar schedule and speakers for the upcoming webinars can be found at ww.ibsd.gov.in.