Science Week interaction with an expert for classes 11 and 12 on Genetic Engineering for Sustainable Agriculture

The Science Week celebrations at The Indian School commenced on 7 August 2023 with an interactive session for the Science students of classes XI and XII, with Dr Archana Singh, Associate Professor, Hansraj College Delhi University, which set the tone for the exciting week to follow.

The topic for the session Genetic Engineering in Sustainable Agriculture, was much in sync with the theme of our School- Reclaiming Our Planet and made for a very pertinent discussion.

Dr Singh began by explaining the impact of Global Climate Change (GCC) on agriculture. She explained the loss of soil nutrients, change in the lifecycle of crops, unavailability of pollinators, abiotic stress, pest attacks, drought and change in the rate of photosynthesis, as some examples of the adverse impact of GCC on agriculture, which has lead to reduced production and crop failure. She opined that since GCC is a real and present danger, steps to mitigate its effects must be taken immediately to avert severe food crisises in the future.

Dr Singh spoke about various approaches like molecular breeding, RNAI, genetically modified crops and CRISPR- Cas 9, used all over the world in order to reduce the impact of GCC. She mentioned that amongst conventional and newer approaches to develop crop variety that can continue to give good produce even in unfavourable conditions, genetic engineering has the widest scope as far as producing new varieties quickly and with ease is concerned. She described the fundamentals of this method and encouraged students to come up with ideas to solve this global issue.

The alacrity of the students was evident as they raised questions at the end of the session. The queries ranged from enquiring about the different ways of measuring the GCC, the implications of genetic manipulation, the methodology of producing genetically modified crops, to the potential risks involved.

The students left the venue more informed as they were exposed to the vast field of genetic engineering, through this interactive and informative session.