Rural Science Congress-2026 inaugurated at BBAU

The national conference “Rural Science Congress-2026” was inaugurated on Monday at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Auditorium of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), Lucknow. The conference, organized on the theme “Sustainable Rural Transformation through Science, Technology and Management,” was jointly organized by the Department of Management Studies, BBAU, and the Prof. H.S. Srivastava Foundation for Science and Society.

The convener of the programme, Prof. Amit Kumar Singh, in his welcome address emphasized the need for coordination of science, technology and management for rural development. On this occasion, Prof. Rana Pratap Singh provided information about the conference, the foundation and the keynote speaker. The award session was conducted by co-convener Dr. Ramesh Kumar Chaturvedi. The chief guest, Padma Shri Prof. Pramod Tandon, in his address highlighted the need to take science-based innovations to society for the development of rural areas. Prof. Sunita Mishra also expressed her views on behalf of the university and emphasized the important role of scientific research in sustainable development.

During the programme, Prof. Ajit Kumar Shasany, Director, CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow, delivered the Prof. H.S. Srivastava Oration Lecture on the topic “Internal Immunity of Plants,” while Prof. Surya Kant shared his experiences regarding the “Vayu Mitra Campaign” related to air pollution. At the end of the inaugural session, Prof. Raj Sharan Shahi presented the vote of thanks, following which a cultural programme was presented by Bhatkhande Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya.

The technical session held later in the day was chaired by Prof. Ram Lakhan Singh and co-chaired by Prof. Umesh Vashishth. The award lecture session that followed was chaired by Dr. R.D. Tripathi. In this session, Prof. Nandula Raghuram, Prof. Venkatesh Datta, Dr. Mamta Tripathi, Mrs. Jyoti Kiran Sinha, Dr. Meenu Khare, Dr. Syed G. Dastager and Dr. Pooja Sharma expressed their views on topics related to sustainable development, biotechnology, science communication and environmental management.

At the end of the programme, a cultural presentation by university students created an enthusiastic atmosphere. Scientists, teachers, research scholars and students from various universities and research institutions across the country participated enthusiastically in the conference.