The Department of Elementary Education, LSR, in collaboration with IQAC, organised a webinar on Behind the screen warriors: Indian scientists and the COVID 19 pandemic for the students and faculty of the college on Saturday, 23rd May 2020. About 55 participants comprising faculty and students from different departments of the college attended the webinar. The speaker was Dr. T V Venkateshwaran, Senior Scientist, Vigyan Prasar, National Institute for Science Communication of Department of Science and Technology, Govt. Of India. Dr. Venkateshwaran is the chief editor of India Science Wire an online science and technology news feature service published by the Department of Science and Technology. He is a regular contributor to various journals and magazines on popular science such as Frontline, Down to Earth, Science Reporter, Indradanush, Chakmak and Sandarp. He has also published several books on popular science.
The talk focused on the the contribution of Indian scientists to combatting the COVID 19 pandemic. The speaker began with the genetic and biological aspect of the novel coronavirus and went on to discuss the nature of its origin and spread across the world. He explained how Indian scientists from organisations such as Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Indian Institute of Cemical Technology (IICT) and National Institute of Virology have been working towards finding a vaccine. He highlighted the unprecedented challenges presented by the virus in terms of its testing and treatment and elaborated on treatment measures such as plasma therapy. He further shared that about 500 Indian scientists form leading institutes of the country such as Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, Institute of Mathematical sciences, Chennai and the IITs have set up a group called the Indian Scientists Response to Covid 19 (ISRC) and a website indscicov.in which provides authentic information related to various aspects the covid 19 pandemic. This includes analysis of data, updates related to scientific advancements, access to webinars on different topics by experts in the field and also addresses frequently asked questions for the benefit of the public. At the end of the session, Dr. Venkateshwaran addressed questions from the participants which dealt with issues such as herd immunity, sanitisation practices and precautionary measures to be taken in daily life. Overall the session was very informative and was well received by the participants.