A curtain-raiser event for the upcoming India International Science Festival (IISF) being organised in Kolkata during 5-8 November’19, was held today at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad. IISF is a celebration and promotion of Science and Technology being organised by Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Science and Technology in association with Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) and is aimed at engaging the public with science, to demonstrate how science could lead India towards becoming a developed nation within a short span of time.
As part of this event a Special Public Guest Lecture on “Earth Sciences for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Major Water Issues in India ” was delivered by Dr. V. M. Tiwari, Director, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute. Vivekananda Pai, Secretary, VIBHA (Vijnana Bharati) presided over the proceedings as Guest of Honour.
Dr. Satheesh Shenoi, Director, INCOIS in his welcome address emphasised the need of encouraging informal scientific recognition and innovation while elaborating on the usefulness of the IISF 2019 platform.
The Vivekanand Pai, Secretary, Vijnana Bharathi, expressed his appreciation of the ocean information services provided by INCOIS, performance of the Tsunami Centre etc.. He focused on how traditional knowledge needs to acknowledge and on uniting all enthusiasts who have an interest in achieving scientific progress. In his lecture, Dr. Tiwari discussed issues such as water requirements of both crops and animal rearing, elaborating on the UN climate-change report that calls for a change to the human diet to reduce the wastage of water caused by meat consumption. Likewise he listed the water footprints of various dishes popular dishes. He also discussed per capita availability of utilizable water while listing out a 3-pronged approach to water resource management.viz. 1) Assessment of water resources availability 2) Development of hydrological models and scenarios 3) Ensure appropriate information to decision makers. He elaborated on the risks of ground water contamination especially regarding Arsenic in Ganga Basin Groundwater, emphasising that the concentration partly stems from anthropocentric activities like intense exploitation of groundwater, application of fertilizers, burning of coal and leaching of metals from coal-ash tailings. He outlined a conceptual regional scale model for aquifers coupled with a decision support tool at village-scale. Some case-studies he focused on were the Community-based Groundwater Management in Choutuppal Mandal, Telangana and Hydrological Study of the Kazipally Industrial Area for the evaluation of Seepage and Environmental Degradation. The lecture was attended by college students and members of the public in addition to INCOIS employees.