ONE-DAY NATIONAL SEMINAR

“Chemistry behind Phytochemicals and their Medicinal Importance in Curing Various Diseases of Human Being”

The Department of Chemistry of The Bhawanipur Education Society College has taken an initiative to organize a National Seminar on “Chemistry Behind Phytochemicals and their Medicinal Importance in Curing Various Diseases of Human Being”. This seminar was sponsored by the Inclusion and Diversity Fund, Royal Society of Chemistry, London, The Bhawanipur Education Society College and some chemical/instrument companies and in collaboration with Indian Chemical Society, Kolkata, India held on March 30, 2023. The seminar started at 10.40 am with the lighting of the lamp by Dr.Subhabrata Ganguly (Teacher-in-Charge of The BESC), Dr. Suman Mukherjee (Director General of The BESC), Prof. Dilip Shah (Dean of Student Affairs of The BESC), Dr. Samir Kanti Datta (Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, London and Dean of Science, The BESC), Dr. Pinki Saha Sardar (Vice Principal of Science, The BESC), Dr. Deepa Khushalani (Professor, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai), Dr. Dilip Kumar Maiti (Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta) and Prof. Sudip Kr. Das (Honorary Secretary, Indian Chemical Society). In the inaugural session a welcome address was given by one of the convenors of the seminar, Dr. Saugata Konar, Department of Chemistry followed by the welcome address by Dr.Subhabrata Ganguly, Teacher-in-Charge of the college. The theme of the seminar was explained by Dr. Samir Kanti Dutta, RSC Coordinator. Dr. Suman Mukherjee, Director General of BESC, enlightened the audience about the future prospect of Science. Prof. Dilip Shah, Dean of Student Affairs of BESC, explained in lucid language how chemistry exists in all walks of life. Dr. Pinki Saha Sardar, Vice Principal of Science; BESC, conveyed an introduction about the seminar and chemistry regarding the versatility of the subject.

The Technical sessions comprised of the invited talk by three resource persons: 1. Prof. (Dr.) Deepa Khushalani, Professor, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, 2. Prof. (Dr.) Dilip Kumar Maiti, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta and 3. Prof. Sudip Kr. Das, Honorary Secretary, Indian Chemical Society, Professor of Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Calcutta.

Prof. (Dr.) Deepa Khushalani explained in a lucid way about environmentally clean, renewable energysources. She explored several alternate sources of energy such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass and specifically discussed how chemists can contribute by synthesizing unique structures that allow for pollution remediation.

Prof. (Dr.) Dilip Kumar Maiti delivered his lecture about Moringa oleifera which is one such tree having tremendous nutritional and medicinal benefits. He focused on the nutritionally significant bioactives and medicinal and biological properties, to explore the potential applications of it in nutritionally rich food preparations.
Prof. Sudip Kr. Das described “Fundamentals of Process Safety”. He emphasized on the following points: a) importance of process safety, b) a model for process safety, c) hazard and risk, d) hazard identification and evaluation e) consequences – toxicity and fires f) risk assessment g) process safety performance .

All the technical sessions of the seminar were very informative and attractive to the auidence.

The seminar also continued with poster session and in accordance with the theme of the seminar, posters were invited for display and demonstration. The students, research scholars and the faculty members from different departments of the college and the other nearby institutions presented their posters in the seminar. The posters were judged by the experts and three posters of Student and Faculty category were awarded as “Best Poster Award”.

Vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Sugata Samanta, Joint Convenor of seminar. The seminar was successfully completed at around 4.30 p.m.

The organizers published proceedings which contained the abstract of the posters. There were 38 Teachers, 79 Students, 3 Research scholars and 14 Support Staff of The BES College and other institutions. The national seminar was a huge success from the academic viewpoint of the society.