The Department of Geography at Miranda House, celebrated the International Year of Pulses 2016 as declared by the 68th UN General Assembly. A seminar on ‘Does India need a Pulses Revolution’ was organized on the 16th of February 2016.
The seminar began with the unveiling of the Annual Department Magazine, Geographica’16. The magazine celebrates the completion of 50 glorious years this session with a special Golden Jubilee Section. Earlier, the Department had held its Annual Fest Globe on February 5, 2016, and an Alumni Meet, on February 6, 2016 as part of its Golden Jubilee Celebrations.
Three eminent speakers shared with the audience their knowledge, studies, and perspectives on issues of pulses revolution with relation to agricultural development, food security, shift in area and production in pulses cultivation, nutritional security, and agricultural sustainability. Dr. Ashok Vishandass, Former Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India laid emphasis on the problems of policy induced bias, weak procurement machinery and low gross returns on pulses while speaking on ‘Deficiency in Production of Pulses in India: Its Diagnosis and A Policy Prescription towards Self Sufficiency’. He also brought out the fact that pulse cultivators are implicitly excluded from fertilizer subsidy regime due to these policy-induced biases. While speaking on ‘Production Technology, Accessibility, and Affordability of Pulses: Implication on Poverty and Nutrition’, Dr. A. Amarender Reddy, Principal Scientist and Faculty Member, Division of Agricultural Economics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute talked about the need to enhance profitability in pulses production. Dr. Arindam Banerjee of the School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi spoke about Macroeconomic changes in Indian food security and how pulses are an important component in the food basket. He also elaborated on the need to differentiate between policies in operation in developed nations where a smaller number of farmers are integrated with the market and countries like India, where there are millions of small-scale farmers practicing subsistence agriculture.
National Inter-College Undergraduate Student Paper Presentation Competition followed the Speaker Session where 10 shortlisted participants presented their papers on the same theme which was judged by Ms. Sulagna Chattopadhyay, Co-Founder & Editor of Geography and You, Dr. Anindita Sarkar and Dr. Bashabi Gupta of Department of Geography, Miranda House. Ms. Rashmirekha Pandit, a student of BA (hons) Geography, Second Year at Miranda House secured the First Position for her paper titled ‘Pulses Revolution: need of the hour’. It was a proud moment for the Department as she received a cash prize of INR 15000 along with publication rights of her paper in the ISSN and RNI accredited magazine Geography and You. Vaibhav Khare, a second year student of B.Tech (ECE) at SRM University, Chennai, and Mahima Shokhanda, a final year student of Geography at Shivaji College of the University of Delhi secured the second and third positions respectively. The efforts made by the presenters coming from various colleges across the country were appreciated by the judges. “More such opportunities need to be given to Undergraduate Students for Paper Presentation on various upcoming issues to inculcate Research and academic interests among students and to create awareness among the young minds”, said Dr. Anindita Sarkar, Teacher–in-Charge, Department of Geography, Miranda House.
The daylong Seminar ended with a heartfelt Vote of Thanks by Vasudha Singh, the President of the Geography Society. She expressed her deep sense of gratitude to the speakers, faculty members, editorial team, volunteers, participants, audiences, and Prize Sponsors Geography and You.
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