Resume of work experience

Resume of Experience

Broadly my nature of experience can be divided into two parts, viz. (i) Research, (ii) Research Management and Administration. I was exclusively devoted to research in various capacities especially in the field of Water Management and Soil Salinity related to coastal ecosystem during 1971 - 1976 and 1982 - 2002 at Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Regional Station, Canning Town, W.B. and in the field of water management under rice oriented cropping system at Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Orissa during 1976 to 1982, both under Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Government of India, New Delhi, India. In 1987 I took over as Officer-in-Charge of Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Canning Town, West Bengal. As OIC of CSSRI, I was engaged in Research Management along with other research activities in the same field. I continued in this capacity up to July, 2002.

I took over as Director, Central Research Institute for Jute & Allied Fibres in July, 2002 and retired on superannuation on 31.1.2008. As Director of CRIJAF, Barrackpore, I was exclusively devoted to Research Management and Administration. Institute has a total staff strength of 525 with its Headquarter at Barrackpore, Kolkata, West Bengal and four Regional Stations in different States in India to work on jute and allied fibre crops, i.e. sunnhemp, sisal, ramie, kenaf and flax.

WATER & COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

I. Resume of research works undertaken during the period 1971 - 1976 and 1982 -

2002

1. Hydrology of excess rain water harvest in farm pond for irrigation

In humid rainfed regions, the diverse nature of problems related with rainwater are often encountered when intensive cropping system is to be achieved. Sundarbans delta in West Bengal is a region where agriculture is primarily dependent on rainfall which is stochastic in nature. The rainfall distribution, onset of monsoon and the nature of intra-seasonal surface water-logging or moisture stress greatly influence the agricultural production system in this region. Rice during kharif is the principal crop, faces problems of surface water-logging in the early period and drought at later stage of crop growth during ripening. It confines the farmers to resort to a more certain and low cost input technologies resulting in very low or fluctuating crop yields. Further, there is no water for second crop cultivation during rabi season. The study pertains to the solution of these problems by weather based crop planning through rainwater management in the region, and develop a user-friendly software for use.

Other areas of expertise and interest having my direct participation either as PI or Co-PI were :

2. Characterization and inventorization of coastal saline soils of West Bengal and Orissa using satellite imageries
3. Irrigation technology and use of poor quality water
4. Conjunctive use of poor quality irrigation water
5. Modelling for two-dimensional water and solute transport in soil

6. Nitrogen and other gaseous losses from saline and waterlogged soil

7. Coastal acid saline soils and their management

8. Environmental concern on arsenic contamination in groundwater in parts of

West Bengal vis-à-vis management of agricultural systems

9. Rice-cum-fish culture in coastal saline areas

II. As Hony. Secretary of Indian Society of Coastal Agricultural Research since 1988 till 31.12.2007 I was the main executive functionary to conduct all activities of the Society. This included publication of journals encompassing different disciplines relevant to coastal agriculture, viz. crop husbandry, crop improvement, soil & water management, drainage & hydrology, transfer of technology, fisheries and aquaculture, animal husbandry & dairying, forestry, ecology & environmental sciences,etc. The main activities included publication of six-monthly International journal, holding of National & International Seminars, publication of books and monograms, etc. So far there were eight National and one International Seminar, the last International programme held during October, 2007.

JUTE & ALLIED FIBRES

Resume of work since July, 2002 as Director, CRIJAF

I. A. Research work at the institute (through planning, guiding & research management) through 35-40 Inhouse and collaborative research programmes each year through core funding as well as through funding from other sources [crops: jute (Corchorus olitorius,C.capsularis); kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus, H. sabdariffa); sunnhemp (Cotaralia juncea); sisal (Agave sisalana & other spp.); ramie (Boehmeria nivea); flax (Linum usitatissimum)] on the following areas:

¨ Germplasm Conservation

¨ Crop Improvement & Introduction

¨ Sustainable Eco-friendly Agricultural Development

¨ Environmental Issues

¨ Natural Resource Management

¨ Energy Efficient Product Development

Interventions and salient contributions were mainly in the following areas:

1) Contributions were made in the fields of crop improvement for jute & allied fibres with a view to improvement in fibre productivity, improvement in fibre quality, building up of genetic stock, characterizing jute as per DUS guidelines and activating other seed sector programmes, developing protocol for micropropagation in sisal, sunnhemp and mesta, and molecular characterization of the released jute varieties.

2) A significant contribution was made to initiate research programme on biotechnological aspects, and blending the same with traditional approaches of breeding (marker assisted selection in jute), to develop QTLs in jute for improved fibre quality and resistance to macrophomina diseases. Work was also conducted on gene sequencing of important disease in kenaf.

3) Work was conducted in the field of biofertilizers and antagonistics to develop eco-friendly approach for higher productivity and resistance to biotic stress in jute. Rice Necrosis Mosaic Virus inoculation was found to be a novel approach to improve productivity in jute and pulses like pigeon pea, tomato, cotton, rice bean, etc.

4) Developed improved crop production module through integrating various recommendations generated under different disciplines, noteworthy of which were reduction in the cost of production and improvement of fibre quality in field through introduction of mechanization during retting and its environmental impact. Adoption of other eco-friendly practices like INM and IPM after rigorous testing of the same in the farmers’ fields.

5) Studied eco-friendly cultivation practices of natural fibres like jute and their impact on environment vis-à-vis use of synthetics. Soil health and climate and impact of climatic change on cultivation of jute are of significant interest.

6) Improvement has also taken place in terms of extending the activities through collaboration with private and public agencies. Significant activities were taken up over large areas in farmers fields with follow-up studies on their impact on socio-economic factors. Most importantly, a close linkage has been developed with the jute industries with an aim to develop a holistic approach for augmenting jute production with specific objectives to address diversified uses of the fibres and thereby benefiting the farmers for improved jute farming as well. Hopefully, this will be a landmark in future for effective transfer of knowledge in mutual interest of all stakeholders. A similar approach has also been initiated with the textile industries for use of ramie fibre for value-added goods. Initiatives in this respect have also been taken to spread ramie cultivation in non-conventional areas in the Southern and Western parts of India since this crop was so far grown traditionally in the NE only.

B. All India Network Project on Jute & Allied Fibres

The All India Network Project on Jute & Allied Fibres with its headquarters at CRIJAF has four ICAR based and nine State Agriculture Universities (SAU) based centers throughout the country where 136 trials were conducted on tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius), white jute (C. capsularis), roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), kenaf (H. cannabinus), sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea), ramie (Boehmeria nivea), flax (Linum usitatissimum) and sisal (Agave sp.) under 35 major project heads out of which 17 were on crop improvement, 11 on crop production and 7 on crop protection aspects. A number of improved varieties in jute and allied fibres have been developed and recommended during this tenure. Research recommendations out of 30 years activity of AINPJAF have been compiled and suggested for different agro-climatic conditions of the country.

C. Technology Mission in Jute

Technology Mission in Jute was launched by Govt. of India during 2006 at the institute with objective to meet the targets of jute production and its technological development as well as production of raw goods and marketing of the same through mission oriented approach. I was the Nodal Officer for MM-1 (there are four components, MM 1 – MM 4) related to research part where CRIJAF was the nodal unit. I was also involved in the programmes related to MM 2, 3 & 4 for formulating and monitoring the progress in all other sectors as a member of project monitoring committee in each. Under MM 1 of which I was the Nodal Officer there were eight research programmes of development of inter-specific hybrid in jute, development of improved quality jute fibre, developing production technologies for higher production in jute under a biotic stress condition, developing technologies for higher productivity and improved quality jute seed, developing protocol of improved retting of jute and degumming of ramie fibre, developing technologies for disease resistance for kenaf, and preparing database on jute informatics. These research programmes were essentially on consortia mode involving 15 research units of ICAR and SAUs in different parts of the country.

II. Strengthening research activities through other than the core source of funding (ICAR)

1.	DBT-1		:		Genotyping of cultivated jute and their wild relatives available at CRIJAF for cataloging.
2.	DBT-2		:		Development of molecular markers and a molecular map for QTL analysis in jute
3.	DBT-3		:		Molecular analysis of jute genes involved in genotype specific compatible and incompatible response to Macrophomina phaseolina and Elicitor (Beta Amino Butyric Acid)
4.	DAC/ICAR		:		Protection of jute varieties and DUS testing
5.	DAC/ICAR		:		Mega Seed Project
6.	MM-1.1		:		Identification and development of promising genotypes through interspecific hybridization in jute
7.	MM-1.2		:		Evaluation and selection of improved jute variety for finer quality fibre
8.	MM- 1.3		:		Improvement management and technology for degumming of ramie fibre for higher productivity and better quality under different agro-climatic regions.
9.	MM-1.4		:		Maximization of quality olitorius jute seed production
10.	MM-1.5		:		Drought Management of jute and mesta crop under deficit rainfall
11.	MM-1.6		:		Control of yellow vein mosaic disease of Hibiscus cannabinus
12.	MM-1.7		:		Improvement of fibre quality through microbial, enzymatic and chemical treatment in jute.
13.	MM-1.8		:		Jute Informatics and Co-ordination Cell
14.	AP CESS -1		:		Characterization and exploitation of RNMV induced host metabolic activity for sustainable production in fibre crops.
15.	AP CESS -2		:		Characterisation of etiological agents of yellow vein mosaic disease of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) and roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and development of strategy for the management of the disease.
16.	ICAR Network Project (Formerly AP Cess-3)		:		Development of improved cultivation of ramie (Boehmeria nivea L. Gaud) for different agro-climatic conditions and technological improvement of the fibre for textiles.
CENTRAL SEED RESEARCH STATION FOR JUTE & ALLIED FIBRES, BUD BUD, PANAGARH
17.		BSP 1.0		:		Breeder seed production of jute, mesta and sunnhemp.

DAC: Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, MM: Mini Mission, DBT: Department of Biotechnology, AP: Agriculture Production, BSP: Breeder Seed Project

III. Strengthening research activities by creating a number of centralized laboratory and other infrastructural facilities

(i) Establishment of Biotechnology Laboratory

(ii) Creation of Soil/Water/Plant/Consultancy Laboratory

(iii) Creation of Water Management Laboratory

(iv) Creation of Fibre Quality Laboratory

(v) Establishment Laboratory-cum-farm for DUS Testing of Seeds

(vi) Creation of Soil Microbiology Laboratory

(vii) Construction of Committee Room/Conference Room/Lecture Hall

(viii) Construction of Auditorium (about 250 seats)

(ix) Modernization/ renovation of existing laboratories and office infrastructure

(x) Modernization/ Renovation/ Extension of Guest House Facilities, Roads, Road Lights, Farm Infrastructures, and Uninterrupted Power Supply through Generator.

IV. Meetings, conferences, seminars, symposia & trainings held

A large number of in-house meetings, trainings, and conferences with experts invited from different relevant institutes all over the country were held during each year, with focused outlook to enrich our knowledge on the present status and prepare future road map in terms of both research and application.

Besides, one National Seminar and one International Symposium were also held jointly with the Indian fibre Society. The National Seminar was on “Diversified uses of Jute & Allied Fibre Crops” held at Kolkata in 2004 and the International Symposium one was on “Jute & Allied Fibres: Production, Utilization and Marketing”, held at Kolkata in January, 2008. Both these programmes were conceptualised for discussion in holistic mode encompassing different fields, viz. production, utilization and marketing. Past activities were discussed and future road map, both in strategic and application mode, were drawn for overall improvement of these family of vegetable fibre crops with short and long term perspectives.

[ H. S. SEN ]