Guwahati, 23 March 2021: The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Assam down town University (AdtU), on March 17 and 18, 2021 organised an international conference (Online) on Post-Covid challenges and Rural Development in South Asia. The conference was organised in collaboration with the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NERC), Guwahati and Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, Cumilla, Bangladesh.
The conference saw participation of 50 students and 30 teachers from the university, along with seven invited guests and one special guest. The two-day international conference received a total of 20 research papers from across the country.
The event introduced the following plenary sessions:
- Pandemic and Rural Development: Prof. Subhabrata Dutta, Department of Social Work, Assam University, Silchar.
- Pandemic and Agriculture: Mr. Abul kalam Azad, Director (Project), Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, Cumilla, Bangladesh.
- Pandemic and Governance: Ms Sonal Goel, IAS, New Delhi.
The paper presenters of each sub-theme highlighted their findings on the basis of both primary and secondary data. The extent of the pandemic and imposed lockdown in every sector ranging from education, health to employment was described by the researchers.
Prof. R M Pant, Director of NIRDPR-NERC, Abdullah Al Mamun, Director (Agriculture & Environment) of BARD, Bangladesh and Abul kalam Azad, Director (Project), Bangladesh, who was also the Guest of Honour, highlighted the effect of Covid-19 pandemic and rural development in South Asian Countries and suggested the way ahead.
It is to be mentioned here that the event served as a platform for discussions and debated among the scholars, researchers and practitioners. = Each plenary session ended with healthy academic discussions between speakers and the participants.
BARD authorities have shown their interest to take up more academic initiatives in collaboration with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Assam down town University.
