IIM Sirmaur Organized National Conclave of UBA institutes of Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand: Discussing the Rural issues and Roadmap on Soil Day
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) cell in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainability & Environmental Management (CSEM) at Indian Institute of Management Sirmaur conducted a “National Conclave of UBA institutes of Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand: Discussing the Rural issues and Roadmap” on 6th December 2021 to celebrate the Soil Day (i.e. on 5th December, 2021) under the able guidance of Professor Neelu Rohmetra, Director IIM Sirmaur. Conducting the brainstorming session was the initial idea of Prof. Rajen Gupta in a meeting at CSEM. The national conclave was registered by 82 participants from different UBA registered institutions across India. The welcome address was delivered by the convener, Dr. Devika Vashisht and co-convener, Dr. Arpita Ghosh. They introduced the panellists of the conclave and briefed about the work done under UBA in the adopted villages by IIM Sirmaur. UBA team members, Dr.Rinki Dhaiya and Dr. Amrinder also attended the program.
The keynote speaker was Prof. Virendra Kumar Vijay, CRDT IIT Delhi and National Coordinator of UBA. He discussed the inception of UBA including its prime objectives and also stressed an inclusive academic system integrated with holistic rural development. And also shared success stories of various participating institutes.
The first speaker was Dr. Chander Prakash UBA Coordinator, NIT Hamirpur. He highlighted the formation of the student’s chapter committee in all the UBA institutes. He also focused on the importance of an integrated approach for carrying out UBA activities with the collaboration of other UBA participating institutes for holistic rural development.
Dr. Shyam Kumar Masakapalli, UBA Coordinator IIT Mandi, discussed the introduction of smart agriculture practice with special focus on soil analytics. He highlighted the importance of soil conservation and nutrient management for smart farming technologies. Dr. Masakapalli also emphasized on inter institute collaboration for the smart irrigation implementation Programme.
Dr. Manish Kumar, UPES Dehradun, was the next speaker. He focused his discussion on the challenges of environmental management and put special emphasis on the black carbon transmission mechanism which causes severe respiratory problems and also highlighted the biomass burning in rural areas.
Dr. Santosh Kumar, UBA Coordinator AIIMS Rishikesh, highlighted the challenges of health care system in rural areas and the crucial role of medical science in community places. He focused his discussion on the need for better health care infrastructures in rural areas along with the activities undertaken by AIIMS Rishikesh under UBA Programme including community wellness Programme, and teleconsultation Programme.
Dr. Ashish Pandey, UBA Coordinator IIT Roorkee, focused his discussion on organizing various conferences and workshops under UBA IIT Roorkee to carry out activities related to women empowerment and identifying problems in different UBA adopted villages. He also highlighted the ongoing projects in IIT Roorkee such as UDAAN, Agro Metrological Observatory and Agro Advisory Services for community benefit.
Dr. Arpita Ghosh, CSEM Coordinator IIM Sirmaur highlighted the importance and role of CSEM department and its objective. Dr Ghosh further explained the objective behind establishment of the center and the type of projects undertaken by CSEM department.
Dr. Devika Vashisht, UBA Coordinator IIM Sirmaur discussed the activities carried out under UBA Programme. She highlighted the key issues prevailing in the community areas such as overuse of chemical fertilizers and poor sanitation behaviour followed by possible sustainable solution to the problems. Both the conveners presented the formal vote of thanks at last.
