Leads Connect Services & BIT Mesra Conducted National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Climate Resilient Agriculture
Noida: Leads Connect Services, Noida based Agri-tech company in collaboration with one of the most reputed institutes of India, Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra organized National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Application Of Space Technology and Artificial Intelligence for Climate Resilient Agriculture & Disaster Management. The seminar-cum-workshop which was scheduled to be held at BIT Mesra, Ranchi campus, had to be conducted virtually due to pandemic. The event was conducted on October 29 & 30 over Zoom with the objective of exchanging healthy and insightful conversations on environmental issues, management strategies, sustainable practices and technologies for climate resilient agriculture and disaster management, using Artificial Intelligence, Space Technology and GIS among others, for the future.
The national seminar started with inauguration session by Mr. Navneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director, Leads Connect Services, Mr. Yogesh Singh, Vice-President Agri-Research, Leads Connect Services and Dr. (Prof.) A. P. Krishna, Professor & Head, Department of Remote Sensing, BIT Mesra. In the inaugural session, book flyer of the book titled ‘Space Technology & Artificial Intelligence for Climate Resilient Agriculture and Disaster Management’ was also launched by Mr. Navneet Ravikar, Mr. Yogesh Singh and Dr. (Prof.) A. P. Krishna.
The virtual event was graced by eminent speakers from academia, research organizations, industries and also saw the presence of 250 students from various colleges and institutes. The national seminar was comprised of activities spanning from expert talks, keynote addresses, and technical sessions.
Speaking about the Seminar, Mr. Navneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director, Leads Connect Services highlighted the need of bringing together experts of different fraternities and domains to convey a people centric solution for Climate resilient agriculture and climate change induced disasters. He also discussed on the need of using proven technologies for climate resilient agriculture and disaster management, and timely implementing of apt, feasible and cost-effective solutions for all stake holders in the agri-value chain.
As part of the Seminar-cum-Workshop, Leads Research Lab, the R&D Unit of Leads Connect Services, also conducted a workshop pertaining to Climate Resilient Agriculture & Disaster Management.
While sharing his thoughts on the efforts by Leads Connect Services and Leads Research Lab, Dr. (Prof.) A. P. Krishna, Professor & Head, Department of Remote Sensing, BIT Mesra said “Leads Connect Services and team can play a good role particularly in agricultural productivity and changing crop patterns, for people opting for cash crops and future food security systems. This can work particularly well in North Eastern states, considering the Disaster Management risk is higher there.”
The 2-day virtual event had names such as Mr. Rajeev Sharma, CTO Grid Dynamics, Dr. Subimal Ghosh, Institute Chair Prof. & Convener – Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies, , Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Dr. Gulab Singh, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, Dr. K. K Sarma, Scientist/Engineer – SG at North Eastern Space Applications Centre, and Dr. (Prof.) Bijay Singh Mipun, Professor & Head, Department of Geography, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, North-Eastern Hill University, among others attending the event. The event was culminated with a panel discussion by experts on an important note that there is an urgent need of collaborative efforts and discussions for tackling challenges of agriculture and climate change. In addition, the need of technological interventions for addressing such pressing issues. The Panel had Academia, Research & Industry experts along with Young Research Panel sessions which had names like Dr. Fayma Mushtaq, Ms. Bijoylakshmi Gogoi, Dr. Trideba Padhi, and Dr. Madhurananda Pahar.
Padmashree Simon Oraon Minj, popularly known as Waterman of Jharkhand, also gave a special mention as part of the event.
Leads Connect Services has been working in collaboration with Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra for last two years, for investigating the environmental and livelihood dynamics of Santhal Pargana region of Jharkhand using space technology and machine learning algorithms. They are involved in developing people centric products, research Lab of the organization has been active in different scientific platforms, like chairing sessions on artificial intelligence, agriculture and disaster management in prestigious scientific conferences and organizing scientific seminars at national level.