Society, Culture, Religion and History

Organizer: National Institute Of Rural Development (NIRD)

Venue: National Institute Of Rural Development
             Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad 500030

Description:
Keeping in line with the tradition of the NIRD in organizing Annual Melas, the Rural Technology Park (RTP), NIRD is organizing a “Rural Technology Mela” for four days from February 25 to 28, 2012. A large number of rural technologies, products developed by various technology developers will be displayed in the Mela. There will be about 200 stalls for displaying various rural technologies and rural products from all over the country. It is expected that a large number of technology developers, technology users, technology institutions, Universities, scientific and research organizations, Public Sector Undertakings, Departments, Self Help Groups (SHGs) from states, namely, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and many other parts of the country are expected to participate in the Mela.

Close to 30 hydroelectric projects are being planned on the Teesta and its tributaries. Not only is this river an essential part of Lepcha identity and life, but it also flows through a fragile zone. In this article first published in the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), Kanchi Kohli examines the ramifications of this policy.

The paper informs that a number of epidemiological studies on the benefits of water and sanitation interventions have shown that diarrhoea can be reduced by 30–50%.

Organizer: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Venue: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE),
            41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area,
            New Delhi- 62

Description:
Managing information, in the internet era with explosive information availability demands special skills and calls for investments in strengthening the information infrastructure and skills of an organisation. This specially designed course will teach participants on how to manage all aspects and types of information, at an institutional level and develop a virtual resource centre using open source tools and technologies.

This has been a generic first attempt that can be fine-tuned and customised for each type of ecosystem and each kind of service value. Ecosystem services are defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as ‘the benefits people obtain from ecosystems'.

Mountains occupy 24% of the global land surface area and are home to 12% of the world’s population. Mountains have an ecological, aesthetic, and socioeconomic significance, not only for those living in the mountain areas, but also for people living beyond them. However, the importance of ecosystem services arising from mountains is not properly recognised. The HKH region is endowed with a rich variety of gene pools and species, and ecosystems of global importance. It is a storehouse of biological diversity and a priority region in many global conservation agendas. The region has many unique ecosystems that play a critical role in protecting the environment and in providing livelihoods for much of Asia and beyond.

It also deals with the threat to the biodiversity in the area due to climate changes and argues for the need to devise adaptation strategies at an urgent level to preserve the unique genetic variability of the region and the indigenous knowledge of farming practices in the area.

This presentation by Arghyam includes the results of doctoral study done by G Sridevi under the guidance of Prof.

Shri Popatrao Pawar is an inspiring promoter of the 'Ideal Villages Movement' on "Integrated Agriculture and Rural Development for Tomorrow's Maharashtra" on the occasion of the inauguration of Observer Research Foundation's Maharashtra@50 Study Centre on 24th June 2010.

It makes some suggestions on the way in which it may be useful to proceed. The article argues that a new case has now been added to the existing list of river-water disputes and that the issue has turned very crucial as feelings are running high on the Mullapperiyar issue in both Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and that there is a risk that the dispute might become intractable. The article warns that wisdom is needed to avoid a serious deterioration of the relations between the two states.