Shambu Prasad

It gives me great pleasure to share with you the news of the recognition by the State of the work done by Dr Baharul Mazumder by bestowing the Acharya PC Ray award to Dr Baharul Majumder. One of the greatest learnings that I have had in understanding SRI is the recognition that despite having some of the most uncreative structures such as the ICAR in science research in India, people like Baharul are able to show what could and should be the real relation between science and democracy. When we had the 2nd national symposium in Tripura in Oct 2007 we coined this phrase 'Small state: Big results'. It is quite possible that many such small initiatives exist in other parts of the country too. I think the award is not only a recognition for SRI but also for new roles for agricultural scientists such as Baharul. It is not often that the Department of Science and Technology feels called upon to recognise the work of agricultural scientists. That the award is named after PC Ray, the scientist who was active in the freedom movement, makes it even more special.