BJP backs Biplab Deb says there is scientific evidence

A day after Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said ducks help increase oxygen levels in water bodies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the state government backed his comments.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, BJP spokesperson Dr Ashok Sinha said the chief minister’s comments were 100 per cent correct and claimed there is scientific evidence to support the statements.

“Ducks were used along with fish cultivation in India since ages, and is a traditional Indian knowledge, which was also confirmed by Western scientists later,” he said.

Reacting to Deb’s comments at Rudrasagar in Sipahijala district yesterday, Dr. Mihir Lal Roy, retired principal scientific officer of the Tripura State Council for Science and Technology and joint convener of Tripura Vigyan Mancha – a science awareness organization, said Deb’s comments on rising oxygen levels due to ducks were “loose talk” and didn’t have any scientific basis.

Sinha said Roy was politically biased in his comments and that the former official had tried to criticise chief minister without scientific proof.

“The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has stated in their research that ducks aerate the water while swimming, which is why they are also called biological aerators. There are other prominent researches available which have claimed the same thing”, Sinha, who is a medical practitioner himself, said.

The state government has also come to the rescue of Biplab Deb, whose suggestions on duck rearing on Monday drew criticism from different quarters over his scientific knowledge.

“Rearing ducks and fish together is called integrated fish farming. We can grow fish with ducks or other combination of livestock in this process. We shall prefer to pursue this technique in the state”, Fisheries Secretary Rameshwar Das told mediapersons.

Associate Professor at the Tripura College of Fisheries, Dr Mrinal Kanti Dutta, said that the chief minister’s proposal to rear 50,000 ducks could be considered ‘rational’ and is likely to benefit farmers and fish cultivators. Similar practices are followed in China, Taiwan and other countries, he said.