N.J. Yasaswy Memorial Lecture by Water Man of India Jan 08, 2019

The ICFAI University, Dehradun organized N. J. Yasaswy memorial Lecture on “Water Resource Management: Indian Perspective” in the fond memory of Late Mr. N. J. Yasaswy, the founding member of ICFAI Group. Faculties, staff and students of ICFAI University and other institutions participated in the event. Over exploitation of natural resources has resulted in scarcity of water in many areas of the country. The main objective of this lecture was to sensitize the young minds of the country about the water management and make them aware about their social responsibility. Vice Chancellor, the ICFAI University, Dehradun, Dr. Pawan K. Aggarwal welcomed the Chief Guest Dr. Rajendra Singh who is a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award and is known as “waterman of India”. His untiring efforts as the chairman of Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an NGO founded in 1975, have helped in restoring life and hope to barren land of Rajasthan. Dr. Aggarwal emphasized that water management is an important issue in the context of sustainable development.

Dr. Muddu Vinay, Pro-Vice Chancellor ICFAI University highlighted the contribution of Late Mr. N. J. Yasaswy towards education. He said that Late Mr. N. J. Yasaswy was among the pioneers who envisioned the need of modern management education in Indian context. He also threw light on leadership qualities of Late Mr. N. J. Yasaswy viz. time management, commitment and his ability to inspire people.

Brigadier Rajiv Sethi, Registrar ICFAI University, Dehradun pointed out that, of water resources on the earth only 3% is fresh and out of that 2/3rd is locked up in glaciers. Hence, there is a requirement of optimizing the usages of water. The Chief Guest, Dr. Rajendra Singh pointed out that floods and droughts faced by the country are due to ecological imbalance and absence of water bodies to recharge ground water. He has drawn attention to the community based management of water and other natural resources for sustaining agriculture, making an easy access to drinking water and avoiding immigration from rural areas to urban areas. He shared that he along-with his team has revived 11800 water structures in the last 35 years with no financial support from the government. He emphasized on the importance of water conservation and suggested that the young minds should work on sustainable water resource management for the benefit of the society at large.

Prof. Raghvendra Sharma, coordinator of this event, Presented Vote of thanks. Prof. Sarita Negi, Prof. Monika Khairola, Dr. Amit Joshi, Dr. Ankita Srivastava, Prof. Sanjeev Malaviya, Dr. Rakesh Pandey, Prof. G F Chakravarthy were also present in the event.