The passing out function of the 116th batch of four-month certificate course on soil and water conservation and watershed management was held at the ICAR – Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation in Dehradun. According to the institute officials, the course is one of the unique training programmes in the country addressing the issues related to natural resource (soil, water and vegetation) management that helps mitigate the impact of climate change and ensure livelihood, nutritional and environmental security in the country. The four month programme was organised from April 22 at the institute headquarters in Dehradun.
A total of 26 officers representing nine States including two from Punjab, three each from Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Nagaland, eight from Chhattisgarh, one each from Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat and four from Madhya Pradesh participated in the programme. Of the total participants, eight were women.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the institute director PK Mishra emphasised on the manegerial task of the officer trainees in watershed management programmes.
He urged them to implement the techniques learnt during the course of training in the best possible manner, act as a facilitator and provider in times of emergency while also acting as ambassadors of the institute to carry forward the knowledge of soil and water conservation and disseminate it to every level possible.
He also highlighted the importance of arresting degradation to conserve ecosystem which in totality takes care of climate change impacts and correlated the aptness of the training in the context. He requested everyone to take up a proactive role to get work done at the field level after gaining knowledge in the four month certificate training course.
The institute’s divisional head NK Sharma, addressing the officer trainees, referred to the integrated nature of the programme and how every individual from different subject background could harness the knowledge of the subjects for practical purposes.
Head of the institute’s human resource development division, Bankey Bihari presented the over all training report. He also spoke about the new components introduced in training programme of this batch. Experts in different fields were called from noted institutes to cover the subjects on the basis of feedback of earlier batches. The module of this training programme consisted of 47 per cent practical and 53 per cent theory. The post and pre training evaluation had 77 per cent gain in the overall knowledge of the officer trainees which was a very positive indicator of the training, he added.
The overall merit certificate for the training programme was bagged by Shamla Rasheed from Kerala for her excellent performance. For individual subjects she along with Deepak Singh were jointly awarded merit certificate in engineering. Rasheed was awarded merit for soil science, conservation agronomy and local project while Morade Amrut Sanjay and Rasheed jointly received merit certificates in conservation forestry. The merit certificate in integrated watershed management was awarded to Rajesh Bishnoi and for study tour Morade Amrut Sanjay and Rajesh Bishnoi jointly received the award.