Delivering the guest lecture at Patna Women's College on 'Retrospect and prospect of biodiversity conservation in India and its relevance to the country's development', Prof Yahya from the department of wildlife sciences at AMU appealed to the students to promote the same feeling among the younger generation.

He said the country has 124 types of forests and 10 bio-geographical zones, each having its peculiar habitat, flora and fauna, while Kerala is the richest among states in biodiversity. The guest lecture was organized by department of zoology whose head Shahla Yasmin introduced the subject. Overall, out of 1.8 million species, 500 of mammals, 1260 of birds (350 migratory), 2000 of reptiles and 300 amphibians are found in India. The country has 600 national parks and sanctuaries, but there is persistent threat to biodiversity, he said.

Prof Yahya said the types of threat to biodiversity include habitat loss/alternation, industrialization, urbanization, poaching/hunting, climate change, global warming and pollution, invasive species, disease, lack of awareness, illiteracy/poverty, inadequate implementation of protection laws, changing pattern of resource use, consumerism and unsustainable planning.

Abhivyakti function at BIT, Patna: The three-day 'abhivyakti' technical function of BIT Patna students concluded on Monday with the distribution of prizes by institute's director S P Lal. Earlier, inaugurating the function on October 10, Atul Sinha, director, state science and technology department, asked the students and teachers of the institute to help in addressing the socioeconomic issues of the state by using information and communication technology (ICT) and e-governance in its remotest parts. Sinha assured the institute to provide an 'incubation centre' for the development of e-governance by involving its students and teachers. He also assured the department's support to all their innovative endeavours. The students and faculties appreciated his gesture. WIPRO HR global head Rajiv Kumar, who was the guest of honour on the occasion, assured technical support from his organization and also announced prizes and internship for the winners of various events, including technical quiz, multisim and 'WriteACode (coding).

UGC programme: Under UGC programme of 'College with Potential for Excellence', the four-day college level presentation of research projects began at Patna Women's College on Monday. On the first day, the students of botany, zoology, IMB, physics and chemistry made their presentations on various themes. The programme was conducted under the guidance and supervision of a research committee comprising Stuti Prasad, M Rashmi, Meena Kishore, Shahla Yasmin, Shefali Roy, Vinita Kochgaway, Soofina Fatima and Bhawna Sinha.