Dibrugarh University's National Seminar Concludes

A national seminar on ‘Poverty, Inequality and Economic Development In India’ was organized by the Department of Economics, Dibrugarh University recently under the sponsorship of UGC Special Assistance Programme (DRS-3).

The seminar was inaugurated by Vice Chancellor, Dibrugarh University, Dr Alak Kumar Buragohain and attended by many eminent guests from different universities of the country. 70 scholars presented their research papers in the seminar whereas seven experts delivered their valuable speech on the subject. The key-note speech was addressed by Professor Achin Chakravorty from Institute Of Development Studies, Kolkata.

Poverty reduction has been a prime development goal for all the countries throughout the globe. Latest UN report exposes that out of 125 crore, about 30 crore people of India are still living under extreme poverty who suffer from hunger, under nutrition and ill health. These impoverished people have either little or no literacy and have no political voice. Living in a poor and degraded environment far away from the mainstream development scenario, they stand and depend for their livelihood either on small and marginal farms or on some petty jobs in the informal sector or have to beg. Thus, removal of extreme poverty in India is really a big challenge for the policy makers of the country.

Thus, this seminar was proposed to provide a platform to academicians, researchers and policy makers to discuss the issues relating to poverty, inequality and development in India. Within the broad theme of the seminar, the following subthemes were thoroughly discussed (i) Issues relating to the measurement of poverty and inequality; (ii) Poverty, inequality and the role of the government; (iii) Governance issues and Poverty Alleviation Programmes; (iv) Poverty, Inequality and Development issues of the STs, SCs and other marginalized groups; (v) Rural and Urban divide in poverty and development; (vi) Gender inequality and Development; (vii) Inequality and Economic Development in India with special reference to NE India.

Expert speakers on the subject included Professor Manish Sharma from Madhya Pradesh, Professor BS Tiwana from Punjab University, Professor Homeshwar Goswami from Down Town University, Professor RK Mahajan from Punjab University and Professor Kishore Goswami from IIT, Kharagpur.

Source: Darshana Brahma, City Journalist, Guwahati, CollegeDekho