National Seminar on “People and Places: Evolving Landscapes”

Chandigarh

15 March 2017

DIVYA AZAD

A Two day National Seminar on “People and Places: Evolving Landscapes” organized by the Department of Geography, (CAS-II)was inaugurated today at the ICSSR Complex in Panjab University(PU), Chandigarh. Prof. Smita Bhutani Convener of the Seminar welcomed the delegates. Prof. B. S Ghuman, inaugurated the seminar and emphasised the need to integrate all social science disciplines to understand the multidimensionality of the people’s lives, places and landscape. He highlighted the growing tendency of the inward-looking policies across the globe and their ramifications on people and places. Prof. Saraswati Raju, from Jawaharlal Nehru University was the keynote speaker. She emphasised the need to study ‘spatiality’ more vigorously in geography. She highlighted that the question of places ‘where’ things happens is essential to understand why and how those things happens. She spoke about the regulated access of public spaces for women in comparison to men in the Indian context and questioned the gender neutral construct of the public spaces.
Guest of honour, Professor B.C Vaidya spoke about importance of understanding the movement of people in globalization. The landscape studies can be strengthened by including recent technology in research. The day to day life of the people living in various places must be essential focus of such studies. The evolution of the landscape is a continuous phenomenon and it must be studied within the context of changing policy with successive governments. He remarked that the timing and the theme of the seminar is very much relevant in today’s context.
Prof. Gopal Krishan, in his Presidential address, underlined the theme of the seminar and said that the theme is sustainable, geographical and essential to geography. He stressed the vitality of the landscape in understanding the differences in development.
A total of thirty delegates hailing from Delhi, Aligarh, Patiala, Simla, Rohtak, Kurukshetra and Pune have arrived in the city to participate in the two day seminar being organised with funds available under the Centre of Advanced Study grant available to the Department of Geography from the UGC.