Invitation

Gene is the core of biological evolution. Much before understanding the gene and intricacies associated with it, the hunter-gatherer people used intuitive methods to domesticate plants of their choice once they began a settled life. With domesticated crops and animals in their neighborhood, they chose the best among the lot to begin the primitive agriculture. The history of early civilization testifies the intelligent application of selection in developing the future rulers of the society and improving the human population through marriage between selective couples. System of marriage in ancient India is a vivacious example of our ancestors’ awareness about the inheritable disorders. However, genetics as a branch of biological science took birth with the rediscovery of Gregor Johann Mendel’s work in 1900, although it was published much earlier in 1866 and remained unnoticed! Since then, this science could agglomerate the selection principles through laws of inheritance while evolving substantially and has got entangled with our life in such a way that every discernible functions in plants, animals, fishes and human beings could be looked at through the prism of genetics. The successful journey of genetics from ‘factor’ to ‘gene’, which is later defiend through ‘cistrons’ and ‘functional SNPs’, has established its scientific prudence and relevance then and now. However, under the changing global scenarios of climate change, resistance breakdown, diversity loss, land degradation, population explosion, etc. genetics has to evolve further to ensure food, health and nutrition security for all.

The biologists of our country have made exemplary contributions toward the growth and development of genetics. We have witnessed the eradication of recurrent famines through green revolution that has happened in the mid twentieth century. Several vaccines have now been developed to stop diseases that were once believed incurable. A lot has happened in the modern medicine in understanding the etiology of diseases through genetics. The wingless (wg) gene in Drosophila melanogaster, for example, which was reported first by the Genetics Division of IARI, New Delhi has now become a focal point of research for understanding cancer in the human system. Similar signs of progress have been recorded in animals, fish and microbes. We need to continue to celebrate such successes to remind the young generation on the potential of this science to take up challenges to address failed or unresolved issues.

The 1st National Genetics Congress organized by the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (ISGPB) in 2018 had been successful in bringing together the stakeholders of genetics research and education to a common platform for sharing their experiences and learning from each other’s hits and misses. During the past four years (2018-2022), significant advancements have been made in genetics globally, which deserve celebration and analysis. Therefore, the ISGPB is organizing the 2nd National Genetics Congress (SNGC) with the theme “Genetics and Genomics for Better Future” during Dec 15-17, 2022 at the historic Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The SNGC would offer a common platform for the Indian geneticists to share their achievements, deliberate upon it and prepare a roadmap of strategic research for meeting the challenges ahead. Further, the Congress will provide an opportunity for young scientists, teachers, research scholars and students to participate and interact with the luminaries in the field. The Congress will also discuss the impact of modem genetic technologies in sharing and use of plant genetic resources, genetic profiling, data sharing etc. to streamline the national priorities paving the way for the formulation of relevant policies.

The Organizing Committee of the SNGC cordially invites all the researchers, scholars and stakeholders to participate in this Congress and contribute to furthering the science of Genetics and help formulate policies and prioritizing programs toward the application of genetic technologies for ensuring sustainable food production and secure environmental and human health in India.