RAC Meeting held at CIFT

The Research Advisory Committee of the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin met on 22 August, 2013. The following were present in the meeting: Dr. V. Prakash FRSC, Distinguished Scientist of CSIR, Ex. Director, CIFTRI, Hon. Director of Research, Innovation and Development, AT JSSS-MVP, JSS, Technical Institution Campus, Mysore, Dr. (Mrs.) Rintu Banerjee, Professor, Dept. of Agriculture & Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Dr. D.S. Shesappa, Former Dean, College of Fisheries, Mangalore, Dr. K.C. Dora, Dean, College of Fisheries, West Bengal University of Animal & Fisheries Science, Chakagaria, Kolkata, Dr. S. Jeevan, Chief Executive Officer, Sumda Shipyard (P) Ltd. Aroor, Dr. Madan Mohan, Asst. Director General, ICAR, KAB- II, PUSA, New Delhi, T. K. Srinivasa Gopal, Director, CIFT and Dr. Leela Edwin, Member Secretary, RAC. The following were present as special invitees to explain points of doubt to the members: Dr. P. T. Lakshmanan, HOD, B&N, CIFT, Dr. Leela Edwin, HOD, FT, CIFT, Dr. K.V. Lalitha, HOD, MFB, Dr. T. V. Sankar, HOD, QAM, Dr. S. Balasubramaniam, HOD, EIS, Dr.George Ninan,  Senior Scientist, FP, and Dr. Nikita Gopal, Senior Scientist, EIS.  

Dr. T. K. Srinivasa Gopal, Director, CIFT welcomed the Chairman and Members of the newly constituted RAC.  In his welcome address he outlined the major activities of the Institute and requested the Chairman and Members of RAC to critically examine the research activities of this Institute and suggested to give their valuable comments on them. 

Dr. V. Prakash, Chairman, RAC, in his opening remarks congratulated the Director and Scientists of CIFT for setting up a world class Research Institute. He observed that the facilities are adequate and there is a need to give “more out of less”. Dr. Madan Mohan, Member, RAC said that we are now moving from primary agriculture to secondary agriculture and the Institute needs to strengthen work in processing and value addition. Dr. D.S. Shesappa, Member, RAC remarked that the Institute should have an open mind and have close association with the sector and set standards for the whole country to follow. Dr.K.C. Dora,Member, RAC remarked that he was happy to see the growth of the Institute and wanted more work concentrated on the eastern part of the country. Dr. Rintu Banerjee, Member, RAC commented on the excellent facilities of the Institute with renovated labs, pilot plant and incubation facilities. Dr. Jeevan, Member, RAC, said that there is need for a National Fishing Vessel building standard as at present the country does not have one. After the highlights of the Institute by the Director, the Heads of Divisions of the Institute made brief presentations highlighting the major achievements of the Divisions.

The Chair appreciated the excellent work and the good presentations made by the Heads of Divisions.  Suggestions were given on fine tuning of project programmes and protecting the Intellectual Property generated from the project.  He emphasized the need to orient the research to benefit the industry and other stake holders.The other RAC members were given valuable inputs in all projects especially those operating in their fields of specializations.

A meeting was also held on 23 August, 2013 with all Research Fellows of the Institute.   The Committee has given valuable guidance to the SRFs for their future research work. 

 RAC meeting is in progress

RAC Members visited various Divisions of CIFT

RAC members meeting Research Scholars