ICAR-CPCRI, Regional Station, Kayamkulam convened a one-day seminar on the theme “Mentoring Leaders and Innovators in Science for “Vikasit Bharat” as part of the National Science Day (NSD) 2025 programme. More than 100 students including faculty from colleges and research institutes participated in the programme.

In his presidential address, Dr Regi Jabob Thomas, Head highlighted the origin and importance of NSD for grooming the next generation youth as leaders and innovators of science for “Vikasit Bharat”. Shri K Sethuraman, IPS and Director, Kerala Police Academy, Thrissur, inaugurated the programme and emphasized that science alone can transform India in to a developed nation citing science advancements in other countries through state of art infrastructure. Dr Santhosh J. Eapen, former Acting Director, ICAR-IISR, Kozhikode handled a technical session on ‘Science in the era of Artificial Intelligence’, elaborating the applications of different AI tools and recommending rational use of AI tool in the present-day context of information explosion and in the future mode of leaning.

The Proceedings of the Workshop on ‘Media in the context of changing agriculture’ was released and a short video on the Kalpa Tech Snippets which highlighted the important technologies developed at the station was unveiled. Dr P Muralidharan, Head, ICAR-KVK, Alappuzha offered felicitations and narrated how superstitions still outsmart the society for which evidence-based science outcome are very crucial. The students were also taken to the laboratory and field experiments for an orientation on the glimpse of research programme. A speech contest on the theme area was conducted and winners were awarded with prizes during the valedictory session.