The Jorhat Environment Forum observed National Technology Day at the Government Girl’ Higher Secondary School in Jorhat.
Resource person Mantu Bhuyan, senior scientist, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, stressed on the proper and judicious use of technology.
“Technology has its advantages but it also has disadvantages. This is evident from the increase in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide which has increased from 0 .03 per cent about 20 years ago to 0.04 per cent at present so that science text books have had to be corrected, ” he said.
He further pointed out the immense pollution in Delhi and recently in 15 other cities of India which now rank in the top level of polluted cities worldwide.
Technology is now targeting the removal of such gases with the production of machines but it is not known how economical this would be, he said.
Bhuyan said that the belief that big industries were more polluting than cottage industries was also incorrect.
Study he had conducted in a village where small groups of blacksmiths burnt fires throughout the day produced a huge amount of sulphur dioxide.
All these were measured as well as temperatures in different hours till nightfall and the pollution level was found to be much more than a village located 10 kilometre away.
He asked the students to be responsible while producing technology so that they did not leave any carbon footprint.
Bhuyan spoke about the discovery of a bacteria in Japan which was found to be decomposing plastic.
Another resource person, Bipin Khongia, scientist, Horticulture department, Assam Agricultural University spoke on organic farming and the technologies being used to propagate plants like tissue culture and dwarfing fruit trees so that they took up less space.
Paran Baruah, president of Jorhat Environment Forum said that necessity was the mother of all inventions and quoting Einstein he said that imagination was more important than knowledge.
Anil Gogoi, former professor of Botany, JB College regaled the audience with a series of jokes.
Prabhat Sabhapandit, former scientist RRL Anjan Kumar Baruah, Principal of the School Aradhana Baruah also addressed the students.