GRAMIN SAMVIKAS SANSTHAN (IRED): Year 2003

In the year 2003 at Department of Geography, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University, 11th Prithvi Parva, (IRED national Meet) was organised by Gramin Samvikas Sansthan (IRED). Prof. K.N. Singh was the Convenor and Prof. R.B. Patel was Organizing Secretary of the National Meet.

Arun Chaturvedi, Director, Institute of Land use and soil conservation, Nagpur., was Chief-Guest of this meet.

Focal theme of Seminar :
INTEGRATED LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT WITH SPECIAL REFERECE TO EASTERN U.P.

The objective of this seminar was to emphasize the urgent need for tackling the globally intenerated problems of ‘WEHAB’ (Water, Energy, Health, Agricultural Productivity and Biodiversity).

These areas of great are much more acute in India inhabiting the largest number of world poor, mostly in densely, settled, demographically fast growing parts of the ‘BIMARU’ states of which Eastern U.P. is an integral parts. The alarmingly fast growing population is encroaching upon the shrinking fertile land in an effort to ensure food security as well as to meet the housing and infrastructural requirements. Enhancing agricultural productivity without damaging further the ecological integrity is the only an answer to food security. This requires, however, a very prudent and judious use on not land but water logging, salivation, pollution etc. There is gross abuse of this common property along with the misuse of privately controlled land.

The organizers of XIth annual seminar have deliberates upon the problems of sustainable land use and optimum use of water resources in two of its earlier conferences. These problems, however are intricately interrelated in feedback systems. The problems afficting one cannotbe interrelated in feedback systems. The problems afficting accounts for over 80% of the water utilization in agriculturally dominant region it is inevitable that their optimum utilization pattern suggested in order to make their optimum utilization for raising agricultural productivity, therely ensuring food security in the wider sense of the term.

Sub themes of seminar are followings.
1) Poverty and regional eco-development.
2) Land use pattern and food security.
3) Reclamation of wasteland and its eco-developmental imlications.
4) Sustainable land use paradigms.
5) Floods, Droughts and Rain water harvesting.
6) Watershed management in regional context.
7) Organic farming: problems and Prospects.
8) Demographic impact on agricultural productivity.
9) Integrated land and water management: principles & practices.
10) Status and challenges of regional development in agro ecological perspective.