By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 7 Feb: The passing out function of the 122nd batch of a 4 month “Certificate Course on Soil & Water Conservation & Watershed Management” was organised at ICAR – Indian Institute of Soil & Water Conservation, here, today. The training programme addresses issues related to natural resources (soil, water and vegetation) management that mitigate the impact of climate change and helps to ensure livelihood, nutritional and environmental security in the country. The four month programme was organised from 8 October, 2021, to 7 February, 2022. A total of 27 officers representing six states (Punjab-9; Nagaland-5; Mizoram-4; Kerala-3; Madhya Pradesh-2; Chattisgarh-1) and three Scientists from ICAR-IISWC participated in the programme, including eight women participants.
Colonel Rohit Srivastava, Commanding Officer, Eco Task Force, Dehradun, was the Chief Guest and awarded the merit certificates to the meritorious for their outstanding performance during the training. The overall merit certificate of the batch was bagged by Dr Jyoti from Punjab for her excellent performance. She was also awarded merit certificate for her performance in Conservation Agronomy. The Certificate of Merit for Integrated Watershed Management was jointly awarded to Dr Jyoti from Punjab and Suraj S Adiyoly from Kerala. The merit certificate for Conservation Forestry was jointly awarded to Dr Gulshan Kumar Sharma, Scientist, ICAR-IISWC, Regional Centre, Kota, and Dr Inderpal Singh from Punjab, while the merit certificate for Soil Management to Control Land Degradation module was awarded to Dr Inderpal Singh from Punjab. Dr Manoj Kumar, Scientist, ICAR-IISWC (Regional Centre, Chandigarh) won Merit for Soil & Water Conservation Engineering Module and the Local Project, both. The certificate for Study Tour was bagged by Smitha MS from Kerala.
Col Rohit Srivastava highlighted the importance and enormity of the problem of soil and water conservation in his address and urged the Officer Trainees of the 122nd Batch to address the issue with zeal and vigour to percolate the knowledge of the training at the field level. He wished that the trainees work in their respective states on war footing to conserve the natural resources and keep the flag of the Institute high.
Dr M Madhu, Director, highlighted the brand value of ICAR-IISWC as a training organisation. He urged the Officer Trainees to disseminate the knowledge accquired during the training in their states, carry forward the relationship with other fellow trainees and with ICAR-IISWC and be proactive in sharing technologies and skills pertaining to their states with other Trainee colleagues in future.
Dr DV Singh, Head (HRD&SS) Division presented the overall training report of the Course. Experts of various fields were invited from esteemed institutes to cover the subjects on the basis of feedback of earlier batches. The module of this training programme consisted of 47 % practical and 53% theory. This training amidst the pandemic and after a long break of one and half years was a daunting task which the Institute and the Officer Trainees successfully completed for which he congratulated all associated with this programme.
During the feedback session, the participants acknowledged and appreciated the efforts made by the IISWC and gave their suggestions for further improvement of the course. The 122nd Batch was coordinated by Dr Lekh Chand, Scientist from the Institute. He proposed the vote of thanks.
The event was attended by Dr NK Sharma, I/c Head (SS&A Division), Dr Charan Singh I/c Head (Plant Science Division), Dr D Mandal, Dr Bankey Bihari, Er SS. Shrimali, Dr Matber Singh, Dr Indu Rawat, Dr Raman Jeet Singh, Lata, Suresh Kumar, KR Joshi, AK Chauhan, MP Juyal, Ramesh Prakash, Dinesh Chand, Kamal Kishore and Karan Chhetri. This function was coordinated by Dr Trisha Roy, Soil Scientist.
