National Interaction cum Evaluation Workshop for ENVIS held at Gangtok, Sikkim | 28-30 March, 2014
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India held three days National Interaction cum Evaluation Workshop of Environmental Information System ( ENVIS) Centres during March 28-30, 2014 at Chintan Bhawan, Gangtok, Sikkim. The workshop was organised in collaboration with Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology. More than 120 senior participants from various national institutions and various State Government departments participated in the interaction cum evaluation process for further strengthening of Environmental Information System in the Country.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Shri A.K.Srivastava, who was the Chief Guest of the inaugural function, stressed on protection of environment and need to have strong institutional instrument for repository of database and information system which ENVIS Centres can provide. He talked about fragile ecosystems, sustainable development and climate change. Congratulating the Science & Technology Department for organising such an important event, he said the more study and generation of information is needed to be done by all participating institutes. He also thanked Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI for giving opportunity to Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology to organise such an important event.
Shri S.K.Shilal, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology delivered a welcome speech while Shri B. Brahma, Senior Economic Advisor, Ministry of Environment and Forests, GoI who was the guest of honour, talked at length about the mandate, funding and activities of ENVIS Centres. He also stressed on efficient management of generated information data.
Shri. Abhay Kumar, Deputy Economic Advisor, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. Of India made a brief presentation about the ENVIS scheme while other dignitaries present during the inaugural function were Shri Arvind Kumar, Principal Secretary-cum PCCF, Forests, Environment and Wildlife Management Department, Shri. M.G.Kiran, Principal Secretary, Home Department and Evaluation experts from different central universities and institutions
During the inaugural function, the Chief Secretary also released publications by various ENVIS Centres. An ENVIS mobile application developed by FRLHT ENVIS for andriod system based on Medicinal plants was also released on the ocassion.
Two parrallel sessions for evaluating the activities of 68 Thematic and State Centres were carried out in the next two days of the National meet. Following independent experts from reputed national intittutes evaluated the activities of various ENVIS centres for 2013-14:
- Dr. N. Ramaiah, Chief Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona Paula -403004, Goa, Mobile: 09420897437 Email: ramaiah@nio.org
- Dr. Avinash Chandra, Professor (Retd.), Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110016 Mobile: 09891820655 Email: chandra@ces.iitd.ernet.in, achandra45@hotmail.com
- Dr. Bharat H. Desai, Professor, Centre for Internation Legal Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi - 110067, Mobile: 09990352162, Email: desai@mail.jnu.ac.in
- Dr. M. N. V. Prasad, Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, New Life Science Buildling (South Campus), Lab No. F44, Professor C.R.Rao Road, Gachhibowli, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad - 500046, Mobile: 09989144651 Email: prasad_mnv@yahoo.com, prasad.heavymetal@gmail.com
The concluding sessions of the workshop was also attended by Ms. Vandana Aggarwal, Economic Adviser, MoEF, GoI who interacted with partcipating ENVIS Centres.