Dr Debal Deb is the Founder-Chair, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies. Founder of the rice seed banks Vrihi and Basudha, he has a PhD from the Calcutta University, West Bengal and post doctorates from the University of California, Berkeley (USA) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Dr Debal Deb is a pioneering ecologist committed to working with traditional farmers in eastern India to conserve indigenous seed diversity. Over almost two decades, Debal has managed to save many native varieties of rice, all of which he stores in community based seed banks in West Bengal and Odisha for farmers. Over the past 25 years, this rice warrior has collected more than 1,420 native rice varieties from 12 states across India. He also collected a few varieties from countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines and Italy.

Author: Debal Deb