By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 24 Jul: A Webinar on “Natural Dye from Forest Biomass” was organised, today, by the Chemistry and Bioprospecting Division of Forest Research Institute (FRI), here, in the Board Room of Indian Council of Forestry Research Education (ICFRE). The webinar was attended by representatives from academia, research, NGOs, Industries, KVICs, Central Silk Boards, State Silk Board and other stakeholder groups.
Inaugurating the Webinar, Dr AS Rawat, Director General, ICFRE, and Chief Guest, underlined the importance of commercial utilisation of plentifully available forest biomass in the era of bioeconomy. He highlighted that this Webinar was in tune with the initiatives of ICFRE aiming to identify the gaps and develop usable approaches /strategies for advantageous utilisation of forest biomass in general and as natural dye in particular.
Dr Vineet Kumar, Scientist-G, Chemistry and Bioprospecting Divison, FRI, welcomed the Chief Guest and delegates and presented a brief account of the intent and focus of the webinar. Afterwards, a glimpse of the research and accomplishments of Chemistry and Bioprospecting Divison, FRI, in the area of natural dye was presented by Dr PK Onial. Thereafter, Dr Bessie Cecil, Consultant, CERC, Chennai, delivered his talk on “Oldenlandia umbellate: Red-dye of the Old World” and Ashok Thori, a natural dye consultant, talked about “Utilisation of forest biomass in natural dyes production”. Rachit Jain from SAM Vegetables Colours Ltd, Moradabad, spoke about industrial perspective of natural dyes and Rashmi Bharti from Avni, Pithoragarh, about creating sustainable livelihood and a circular economy for rural women through collection and cultivation of natural dyes in Uttarakhand.
Dr N Senthil Kumar, IFGTB, Coimbatore, underlined the use of Red Tamarind as a source of natural dyes and Dr SN Chattopadhyaya from NINFET, Kolkata, talked about colouration of lignocelluloses fibre and improvement of functional properties using natural dyes. Yavar Ali Shah from AMA Herbals, Lucknow, spoke on sustainable approach for textile dyeing and Anil Chandola from Bhartiya Gramothan Sanstha, Rishikesh, talked about blending of natural dyes with natural fibres.
After the presentations, a panel discussion was held in which Dr YC Tripathi, Dr VK Varshney, Dr AK Pandey, Dr Pradeep Sharma, Senior Scientists of Chemistry and Bioprospecting Divison, FRI, Dr Rakesh Kumar, IWST, Bengaluru, Dr D Thangamani, IFGTB, Coimbatore, Molfa, KVIB, Uttarakhand, Dr Kartick Samanta, NINFET, Kolkata, Prof K Kumaran, TNAU, Coimbatore, and all delegates virtually present at the web platform deliberated on opportunity, challenges, research needs and various other relevant aspects concerning utilisation forest biomass as a source of natural dye so as to capitalise on their true economic potential in rural livelihood and entrepreneurial development.
The Webinar ended with vote of thanks proposed by Dr YC Tripathi.
