There is no doubt that the issue in hand is all about maintaining a state of harmony between humans and nature and remembering Mahatma Gandhi's saying "There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."

Green and sustainable chemistry is an important interdisciplinary area of innovation aimed at conservation of natural resources and the protection of environment. Sustainable development has become the accepted goal of governments, industry, and the public.

The conference was organized by the Chemistry Group of Birla Institute of Technology and Science - BITS Pilani with Prof G Sundar Dean Practice School Division BITS Pilani as the Chairman, Dr Dalip Kumar as the Convener and Dr Anil Kumar as the Co-Convener. Experts from academia and industry working at the forefront of green chemistry from various parts of the country had converged at Pilani to present their research findings. The conference was inaugurated on 20 February 2010 in the Lecture Theatre complex of BITS Pilani.

The Chief Guest for the function was Dr Sudershan K Arora President R&D Ranbaxy Research Laboratories. The key note address for the conference was delivered by Prof Asit K Chakraborti from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali Punjab. The keynote address unlocked new concepts, reaction mechanisms and synthetic methodologies in the pursuit of sustainable and green chemistry. Prof LK Maheshwari Vice Chancellor BITS Pilani gave the welcome address and Prof SC Sivasubramanian Chief of Computer Assisted Housekeeping Unit proposed the vote of thanks.

This conference aimed to provide an avenue for researchers to develop cross-disciplinary collaborations, and update the delegates with the latest advances in research on environmentally sustainable chemical processes. The broad areas of the conference included catalysis, alternate reaction media, novel reactor technology, eco-friendly materials, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, industrial chemistry and environmentally benign synthesis.

Apart from the Ministry of Earth Sciences Government of India; UGC and CSIR, several industries had come forward to sponsor the conference. The significance of this conference will be evident if one recalls the well known quote - It is not important if you can predict the future or not, it is important that you are prepared for the future. The deliberations of this conference is bound to be a milestone in the field of Green and Sustainable Chemistry.

About BITS Pilani: The Birla Institute of Technology and Science - BITS Pilani is a Deemed to be University established vide Sec.3 of the UGC Act, 1956 under notification No. F.12-23/63.U-2 of June 18, 1964. NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council reaccredited BITS with 3.71 CGPA out of 4 and awarded "A" grade "Very Good" status. It is indeed a matter of pride that for the year 2009, BITS Pilani has been ranked among the top ranking universities along with IITs in various Magazine surveys such as India Today, Outlook, LiveMint DataQuest etc. BITS offers degrees in various disciplines presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad campuses. BITS Pilani has done pioneering work in industry university collaborations in terms of Practice School and Work Integrated Learning Programmes. Alumni of the Institute who are Proud to be BITSians and ambassadors for Brand BITS Pilani are spread across all continents from Australia to America.

Dr BR Natarajan
Professor & Vice President BITS Alumni Association
BITS Pilani Rajasthan 333031 India
Phone 91-1586-242210
Fax 91-1596-244183
Email brnt@bits-pilani.ac.in
Website www.bits-pilani.ac.in

This release was published on openPR.