Report of the National Seminar on “Understanding Hazards and their

Mitigation Options” organized by the School of Sciences,

Netaji Subhas Open University

UGC-DEB sponsored National Seminar on “Understanding Hazards and their Mitigation

Options” was organized by School of Sciences, Netaji Subhas Open University at Silver

Jubilee Hall, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, JD Block, Sector III, Salt Lake

City, Kolkata-700098 during the period March 28-29, 2014.

On the first day of the seminar, i.e. on 28 March, 2014, Dr. Kajal De, Professor of

Mathematics, and Director, School of Sciences, NSOU welcome the delegates which was

followed by the address of the Chief Guest, Professor Ranen Sen, Former Professor,

Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, USA. The key note

address was delivered by Dr. Patha Sarathi Chakraborty, Retd. Chief Scientist, DST, Govt. of

West Bengal & Former Geologist, Geological Survey of India. The presidential address was

given by Professor Subha Sankar Sarkar, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Netaji Subhas Open

University. Smt. Tinki Kar Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor of Geography, NSOU proposed

the vote of thanks. The inaugural session was concluded by singing the National Anthem.

In the first technical session the Sub-Theme was Hazards, Disaster Mitigation and

Management. In this session the Chairperson was Dr. Prabir Ghosh Dastidar, Scientist,

Ministry of Earth Science, Govt. of India and the Rapporteur was Smt. Tinki Kar

Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor of Geography, NSOU. In this session two Invited speakers

Dr. Nilangshu Bhusan Basu, Principal Chief Engineer (Civil), Kolkata Municipal

Corporation presented his paper on "Disaster – An Experiment of Mumbai 2005 Cloud

Burst” and Professor Chandan Ghosh, Professor & Head Geo-Hazards Risk Management

Division, National Institute of Disaster Management presented his paper on “Uttarakhand

Flash Flood-2013: Reconstructions Measures”. In this technical session a total of eight papers

with illustrations were presented.

In the second technical session the Sub-Theme was Environmental Hazards and their Mitigation

Options. In this technical session the Chairperson was Prof. Chandan Ghosh, Professor & Head

Geo-Hazards Risk Management Division National Institute of Disaster Management and the

Rapporteur was Dr. Asit Kumar Sarkar, Academic Consultant, NSOU. Professor Sunando

Bandyapadhyay,Professor of Geography, University of Calcutta was the Invited Speaker who

presented his paper on Geographic Changes in the Western Ganga Brahmaputra Delta, India:

Patters, Hazard Implications and Mitigation Options. A total of six papers were presented in this

session.

Report of the UGC-DEB sponsored National Seminar, School of Sciences

On the second day, i.e. 29 March, 2014, in the third technical session the Sub-Theme was

Ground Water Hydrology and Environmental hazards. In this session the Chairperson was

Professr Bana Behari Jana, International Centre for Ecological Engineering, University of Kalyani

and the Rapporteur was Dr. Biraj Kanti Mondal, Lecturer in Geography, NSOU. Prof. Sunil

Kumar Dey, Professor of Geography, NEHU was the Invited Speaker in this session who

presented his paper on “Human Interference on Landslides in Darjiling Himalayas and their

Mitigation”. A total of four other papers were presented along with a poster presentation in this

technical session.

In the fourth technical session the Sub-Theme was Urban Hazards- Susceptibility and

Preparedness. In this session the Chairperson was Prof. Sunil Kumar Dey, Professor of

Geography, NEHU and the Rapporteur was Dr. Asit Kumar Sarkar, Academic Consultant, NSOU.

Two invited speakers presented their papers in this technical session. Professor Bana Behari Jana

of International Centre for Ecological Engineering, University of Kalyani, presented his paper on

“Promoting Green and Sustainable Technologies as Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for

Water and Wetland Conservation. Dr. Tapas Das, Scientist, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre,

Mumbai presented his paper on “Utilizing Hazardous Radiation for Human Welfare”. A total of

eleven papers were presented in this session.

In the fifth technical session the Sub-Theme was Social Hazards. In this session the Chairperson

was Dr. Tapas Das, Scientist, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai and Smt. Tinki Kar

Bhattacharya, Asst. Professor of Geography, NSOU acted as the Rapporteur In this session the

invited speakers were Dr. Prabir Ghosh Dastidar, Scientist, Ministry of Earth Science, Govt. of

India who presented his paper on ‘Research & Innovation to Understand Hazards and Their

Mitigation: An Analysis’. The other invited speaker was Dr. Kalyan Rudra, Chairman, West

Bengal Wetland Development Corporation, who delivered his lecture on ‘Disaster in Devbhumi’.

A total of seven papers were presented in this session.

All the participants in all the technical sessions presented their papers with illustrations and lively

interaction sessions were followed in the form of question and answer between participants and

speakers.

Lastly in the valedictory session the valedictory address was delivered by Professor Bikas Ghosh,

Professor of Physics, NSOU followed by presentation of certificates to the participants.

A photo session was followed by the end of valedictory session. All the speakers, participants

(about 75) from various discipline and various parts of India make the effort of the members of

Organizing Committee, the staff of School of Sciences as well as the staff of the University

fruitful and make the seminar a grand success.

Note: A list of presented papers was attached herewith.

Report of the UGC-DEB sponsored National Seminar, School of Sciences

List of Presented Papers

First Day (28 March, 2014)

Technical Session –I:

Invited speakers:

1. Dr. Nilangshu Bhusan Basu, Principal Chief Engineer (Civil), Kolkata Municipal

Corporation

Topic: Disaster- An Experience of Mumbai 2005 Cloud Burst

2. Prof. Chandan Ghosh, Professor & Head Geo-Hazards Risk Management Division

National Institute of Disaster Management

Topic: Uttarakhand Flash Flood-2013: Reconstruction measures

Other oral presentation:

1. Cost Benefit Analysis of the Interactions between People and Tiger: A Case Study of Indian

Sundarban - Chandan Surabhi Das

2. Droughts and it's mitigation options using Spatial Information Technology: A Case Study on Dangra

Sub-Watershed, Upper Part of Dwarakeswar River, West Bengal, India -Jatisankar Bandyopadhyay

and Kartic Bera

3. Evaluating Landslide Hazard and Risk in the Shivkhola Watershed of Darjiling Himalaya, West

Bengal - Sujit Mondal

4. Flood Disaster and its Impact on Poverty in West Bengal-A Case Study of Malda District -Md Ismail

5. Phailin: Impacts and indicators - Abhijit Mitra, Sufia Zaman and Gahul Amin

6. Flood Hazard: A Case Study on Haora River, West Tripura - Mugdha Chakraborty and Nibedita Das

(Pan)

Technical Session –II:

Invited speaker:

1. Professor Sunando Bandyapadhyay, Professor of Geography, Calcutta University.

Topic: Ganga Delta: The Indian Part River Degeneration, Coastal Erosion & Sea Level Rising

Other oral presentation:

1. Hazards and Management of Electronic Waste - The Indian Perspective - Bikas Ghosh

2. Anthropogenic Global Warming and Climate Change: Policy Analysis for Sustainability - Biswajit

Roy

3. Recycling of poultry by-product through aquaculture - Kausik Mondal

4. Investigating the seasonal variation of physicochemical parameters and heavy metal concentration in

different ponds of Midnapore Municipality area - Kamal Kanti Bera, SurjyoJyoti Biswas and Goutam

Ghosh

5. Solid Waste and Visual Pollution: Its Effect on Civics of Society - Tanaya De

Second Day (29 March, 2014)

Technical Session-III:

Invited speaker:

1. Prof. Sunil Kumar Dey, Professor of Geography, NEHU

Topic: Human Interference on Landslides in Darjiling Himalayas and their Mitigation

Other oral presentation:

1. Accumulation of Arsenic on Common Medicinal Plants in Murshidabad district of West Bengal,

India. - Soume Pyne, Alok Chandra Samal and S. C. Santra

2. An in vitro evaluation of arsenic induced phytotoxicity in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and the role of

Seed priming with selenium during germination - Debojyoti Moulick, Alok Chandra Samal and

S.C.Santra

Report of the UGC-DEB sponsored National Seminar, School of Sciences

3. Solid Waste Hazards and Strategies for Better Management - Udaybhanu Bhattacharyya and

Debolina Ghosh

Poster Presentation: Cosmic Hazards on Biological objects

- Sankarsan Roy, Rahul Podder, Barnali Roy, Sucharita Bose, Priynka Rakshit, Sonali Prasad,

Santanu Bose, Debasis Bhandari and Susanta Nath

Technical Session-IV:

Invited speakers:

1. Prof. Bana Behari Jana, International Centre for Ecological Engineering, University of Kalyani

Topic: Promoting Green and Sustainable Technologies as Mitigation and Adaptation strategies for

water and wetland conservation

2. Dr. Tapas Das, Scientist, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai

Topic: Utilizing Hazardous Radiation for human welfare

Other oral presentation: 1. Assessment of urban flood: Measuring hazard and vulnerability of Kolkata city - Atreya Paul

2. Urban floods risks and strategies for mitigation - - G. Anbalagan

3. Solid waste management and sustainable aquaculture: An approach through vermitechnology -

Debajyoti Chakrabarty

4. Wireless Power Transmission: A Hazardless Approach - Shreyasi Chakrabarty

5. Child Poverty – The Curse of Urban Development: An Overview of Indian Scenario - Alolika

Mangal

6. Aspects of Urban Hazards in Climate Change Scenerio: A Study in Basirhat Town - Sabyasachi

Das

7. Metro Railway and Related Hazards: A Case Study of Kolkata - Lakshmi Sivaramakrishnan and

Susmita Bhowmick

8. Hospital wastes –A potential environmental and anthropogenic hazard: A case study of SSKM and

CNMC hospitals - Aratrika Mukherjee

9. Industrialization and Corporate Reporting of environmental degradation in India: a case study -

Pratap Banerjee

Technical Session –V:

Invited speaker:

1. Dr. Prabir Ghosh Dastidar, Scientist, Ministry of Earth Science, Govt. of India

Topic: Research & Innovation to Understand Hazards and Their Mitigation: An Analysis

2. Dr. Kalyan Rudra, Chairman, West Bengal Wetland Development Corporation

Topic: Disaster in Devbhumi

Other oral presentation:

1. Organizational Hazard and Mental Stress: Losing life and livelihood - Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay

2. Maoist Menace, a Result of Several Social Hazards, In West Bengal, A Case Study of Four

Villages of West Medinipur, West Bengal - Zupati Hembram

3. Suicide- A Psychosocial Hazard: A Comparative Study of Selected Major Cities in India

- Soumita Banerjee

4. Social Dimensions of Vulnerability among Coastal Communities in Parts of West Bengal

- Sukla Basu

5. Integrated Development Programme Mitigate Different Socio-Political Hazards –A Case Study in

Jhargram - Swapna Ghorai and Ishani Ghatak