One-day Workshop in 2010
A One-day Workshop in 2010 was held on 26 June 2010 under the banner "Fertilizers and Environment" in collaboration with the University of Calcutta and Fertilizer Association of India in memory of Late Professor N.P. Datta, the eminent Soil Scientist, as a prelude to the formation of the present registered society. Dr.Sanjeev Chopra, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Govt of WB took active interest in organizing the workshop. The workshop was attended by eminent scientists, technologists, management specialists, administrators & students from all over the country. The proceedings of the workshop is reproduced below.
This association of professionals assembled during 2010 was later registered as "Society for Fertilizers and Environment" on 20 March 2013 under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961. The proceedings of the workshop held in 2010 is reproduced below.
Proceedings
The DG, FAI, New Delhi as the Chief Guest, while addressing ‘Fertilizer Policy in India’, showed that it triggered unprecedented and concomitant increase in food grain production from 12. 1 Mt in ’75-‘76 to 176 Mt in ’90-’91, and further pointed out the changes in fertilizer policy in the post economic reform period (early 90s) during when P and K fertilizers were decontrolled. At the same time, import of fertilizers other than urea and ingredients for fertilizers like ammonia, phosphoric acid, rock phosphate, sulphur were decanalized, while urea was decanalized through designated agencies. It was also mentioned that the nutrient based subsidy scheme, which was introduced from April, 2010 and regarded as the first step in the reforms process in Indian fertilizer sector, enumerates fertilizer subsidy to be based on per unit nutrient (N, P2O5 and K2O) basis, subsidy for micronutrients (Zn and B) in fortified fertilizers, and floating MRP with aim to completely decontrol the fertilizer sector in the medium term. This set the tone for further discussion. Dr. Sanjeev Chopra in his address as Guest-in-Chief, spoke at length on fertilizer and its impact on environment. He mentioned how the ‘process driven approach’ was replaced by mechanistic ‘input driven approach’ to suit diverse farmers’ interest over the country. He pointed out that despite Green Revolution induced proficiency in food production in areas like Punjab, the productivity level and the environmental priorities could not be maintained in the long run which necessitates better understanding soil-crop-fertilizer interaction and promotion of water efficient crop sequences in the country. Prof. D.K. Das, Former Head of Division, IARI, New Delhi and one of the oldest students of Prof. N.P.Datta presented a detailed account in reminiscence of Prof. Datta. Prof. D.J. Chattopadhyay, Pro-VC, University of Calcutta and Prof. Sukumar Aditya, Past Vice-President of the Indian Chemical Society and a close associate of Prof. Datta, both Guests-in-Chief of the present seminar, also spoke few words in reminiscence of Prof. N.P.Dutta and his work. Prof. Kunal Ghosh, Chairman of the session while presenting the presidential address gave a detailed account of the background and efforts made in the preparation of the seminar. He also acknowledged and appreciated the role of FAI, University of Calcutta and Indian Chemical Society as co-organizers for the seminar.
