Speakers
An introduction to the Speakers
Inaugural Session
Prof. Babli Moitra Saraf
Professor Babli Moitra Saraf, Principal of the College since 1 July 2009, is in the Department of English and is also the Head of the Department of Multi - Media and Mass Communication. She has received her M.Phil degree in English and Ph.D in Sociology. She is fluent in several Indian and foreign languages. Her doctoral thesis studies language change in the advertising industry in India in the first phase of globalization (1984-94), and the emergence of the Indian urban middle class identity. Active as a teacher both within and outside her College, her teaching interests include Translation, Poetry, Modern Indian Literature in Translation, Classical Literature, Renaissance and Modern European Drama, Poetry, The Bible, Cultural Studies, Communication Studies, Literary Theory, Literature and the Arts and the Hindi Film Song. Her ongoing research examines traditions of Orality, Embodied Languages and Performance in the context of Translation and Translation Studies. Her publications, La Cattura (Theoria, 1996) and La Preda e altri Racconti (Einaudi, 2004), are acclaimed translations. Her work Rajouri Remembered (2007), is a translation of a family narrative, from Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and oral history, recounting the effects of the Partition of India in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Her latest publication is Hey Diddle Diddle: Tun-Tun Tara-Tara (New Delhi: Vani Prakashan, 2017), which are Hindi adaptations/translations of popular nursery rhymes in English. She is a member on the Scientific Board of In Other Wor(l)ds: Project Book Series on translations from Asia and North Africa. She received the 27th Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Memorial National Award for Teachers in 2011 and the Fulbright- Nehru International Education Administrator Seminar award in 2011.
Dr. Anindita Roy Saha
Dr. Anindita Roy Saha is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and the Head of the Department of Environmental Studies, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi. She is the Coordinator of the Centre for Earth Studies at IndraprasthaCollege, a research and learning centreaimed towards interdisciplinary initiatives for environmental protection and sustainable development. She is a visiting faculty at the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, where she teaches Environmental Economics and Resource Economics. Dr. Saha has studied at Jadavpur University, Kolkata and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She obtained her Ph. D degree from JNU in the area of Energy Economics. Her area of specialization is Development Economics with special focus on the Economics of Energy, Environment and Resources. She has been associated with the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi South Campus, Ambedkar University Delhi, Nalanda University and Amity University in various academic and professional capacities. She has many scholarly articles in national and international journals to her credit. She has supervised several research projects and participated in international and national level conferences, seminars and workshops in areas covering environmental education, climate change, disaster management and environmental sustainability.
Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan
Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan is Professor of History and Environmental Studies and Head of the Department of History at Ashoka University. He has been Professor in Modern Indian History at University of Delhi (2007-2011) and also taught at the universities of Cornell and Jadavpur and at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru. He has also served as Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi (2011-2015). He has a BA in History from Hindu College, University of Delhi and an MA (Balliol College) and D.Phil (Nuffield College), both from Oxford University. He was a Rhodes Scholar (1986-89). Rangarajan is the author of Fencing the Forest: Conservation and Ecological Change in India’s Central Provinces, 1860-1914 (1996), India's Wildlife History: An Introduction (2001), and Nature and Nation: Essays on Environmental History (2015). He edited the books Environmental Issues in India: A Reader (2007) and The Oxford Anthology of Indian Wildlife, Volumes I and II (1999). He has co-edited sevaral volume of books. People, Parks and Wildlife: Towards Coexistence (2000), Battles over Nature: Science and the Politics of Conservation (2003), Making Conservation Work: Securing Biodiversity in this New Century (2007), Environmental History: As if Nature Existed (2010), India’s Environmental History Volumes I and II (2012), Selected Works of C. Rajagopalachari, Vol. 1, 1907-1921 (2013), Selected Works of C. Rajagopalachari, Vol. 2, 1921-22 (2014), Nature without Borders (2014), Shifting Ground: People, Animals and Mobility in India’s Environmental History (2014) and At Nature’s Edge: The Global Present and Long-Term History (2018).
Theme: Biodiversity conservation
Dr. Abdul Jamil Urfi
Dr. Abdul Jamil Urfi is Associate Professor at Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, India. He did his Ph.D. in Zoology in 1988 and subsequently post-doctoral studies, as a European Commission Fellow at NERC ITE Furzebrook, England, on the foraging ecology of the European Oystercatcher, overwintering on the Exe estuary in Devonshire. In India, he was involved with environmental education as a staff scientist at CEE, Ahmedabad where he also carried out studies on reptiles and snakes, in context of captive breeding research and urbanization. The Painted Stork has been the focus of his research for over three decades, initially as a CSIR funded researcher at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and subsequently as a faculty at the University of Delhi. This resulted in his book, 'The Painted Stork, Ecology and Conservation' (Springer, New York, 2011). As a Fulbright Scholar, he also studied colonial waterbirds in Florida Everglades, USA. His other books are 'Birds Beyond Watching' (Universities Press, India) and 'Birds of India, A Literary Anthology' (Oxfords University Press, India). Besides scientific research he is also interested in science education, higher education policy and development issues.
Dr. K S Gopi Sundar
Gopi Sundar was born in Bangalore and watched as the city slowly converted from a Green City to a completely polluted and crowded one as the computer boom hit the country. He grew up walking the gardens of the city and the forests of the Western Ghats, and a sighting of the Golden Oriole in Bangalore’s Cubbon Park convinced him that birds are worth studying. He went on to complete a Masters in Ecology from Pondicherry University where we secured the University Gold Medal. He then joined the Wildlife Institute of India where we worked on a project looking at the conservation status of the Sarus Crane. After completing this project, he was invited by the International Crane Foundation to consider starting a long-term programme on the conservation of cranes in India. He first completed a PhD at the University of Minnesota where he looked at the diversity of birds in Uttar Pradesh’s farmlands. He discovered that Uttar Pradesh’s farmlands had the highest bird diversity of any cereal-dominated farmland in the world and realized that the obsession with only protected reserves in India was not a holistic way to think about wildlife. He then initiated the first long-term monitoring programme in Asia for large waterbirds in agricultural areas, and the programme now covers several districts in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and lowland Nepal. His work has led to the discovery of many new populations of species that were previously thought to be greatly endangered and has showed the high value of certain kinds of agriculture to help preserve several wild bird species. He has been a National Geographic Fellow since 2009, has been an invited member on the State Board for Wildlife for Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, and was conferred the Carl Zeiss Award for Conservation for his efforts to bring attention to wildlife in agricultural areas. He was invited to become the global Co-chair of the IUCN Stork, Ibis and Spoonbill Specialist Group, and currently has work spread in Africa, Asia and Australia. When he is not in the field travelling to look for birds, he spends his time writing scientific and popular articles, works with students in three continents helping to understand species that have received very little research attention, maintaining a small organic farm where he is trying to restore local seed varieties, and tries to attract butterflies to lay eggs in his garden by finding and planting seeds of butterfly host plants.
Dr. G. V. Gopi
My research focuses primarily on the ecology and dynamics of wildlife populations, especially in the context of management and conservation problems. My interests are divided between coastal wetlands and the North Eastern Region. Around 20 years of work experience in the field of Wildlife conservation. During this period have worked on the ecology of rare and threatened species such as Tiger, Elephant, Mishmi Takin, Orange bellied himalayan squirrel, Common leopard, Marine turtles, all 3 species of Crocodiles found in India, Indian skimmers and colonial nesting waterbirds. My investigations entail studying threatened faunal species, spaces, documenting ecological processes and patterns following human–wildlife interactions and understanding traditional ecological knowledge. Involved in integrated conservation planning for inland and coastal wetlands, and forested landscapes, impact assessment of development projects on wildlife/wetland habitats.
Dr. Nawin Kumar Tiwary
Dr. Nawin K. Tiwary completed his Ph.D. in Ecology and Conservation from the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi. During his doctoral research, he studied various aspects related to distribution, breeding and occupancy of Painted Storks in North India. He has studied various ecological and environmental factors that can influence nest survival in Painted Stork colonies. He has been actively involved in ecological and biodiversity research with a special interest in colonial waterbirds, urban ecology, wetland studies, and habitat modeling. His current research interest is in understanding the colony dynamics and distribution of stork species outside protected areas in North India. As an avid birdwatcher, he is also involved in popularizing field ornithology and has made several presentations and talks in Delhi. He is also passionate about filming birds and other forms of wildlife and makes small documentaries to showcase some interesting behavior and highlight relevant issues. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi where he teaches the compulsory Environmental Studies paper to undergraduate students.
Theme: Natural resource management & Sustainable energy
Dr. Rajendra Singh
Dr. Rajendra Singh, popularly known as 'Waterman of India' is a renowned Indian water conservationist and environmentalist. He is the winner of Stockholm Water Prize 2015; an award known as 'the Nobel Prize for Water' and Ramon Magsaysay Award 2001, for Community Leadership. He runs an NGO called Tarun Bharat Sangh which was founded in 1975. The Rajasthan based NGO has been instrumental in fighting the slow bureaucracy, mining lobby and has helped villagers take charge of water management in their semi-arid area as it lies close to Thar Desert, through the use of johad, rainwater storage tanks, check dams and other time-tested as well as path-breaking techniques.
Over the years TBS has helped build over 8,600 johads and other water conservation structures to collect rainwater for the dry seasons, has brought water back to over 1,000 villages and revived various rivers in Rajasthan. Rajendra Singh is also heading a national network of organizations working on water issues; Rashtriya Jal Biradari. This network is working for the restoration of all mighty and small rivers of the country.
Mr. Saurav Malhotra
Saurav currently heads management of the Balipara Foundation and is the lead architect & designer of the Rural Futures programme which aspires to integrate ecological gains with upward socio-economic mobility of forest-fringe communities. Through Rural Futures, Saurav and his team mobilise forest-fringe communities (esp. youth) to engage in the complete value chain of ecosystem restoration – from collecting seeds & building nurseries to planting saplings back into the forest of their homesteads. The communities are compensated for their efforts and the youth are trained in various technologies to monitor & map ecosystem services as well as to document their own traditional ecological knowledge which further enhances the programme. The restoration occurs in such a way that it allows for sustainable harvest of forest produce and agroforestry crop to deliver a system of steady revenue and in the future, a system of locally and autonomously delivering universal basic assets to the communities. The key feature of the programme is community ownership & management of the end to end cycle of the programme. Saurav is a trained biologist with a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Manipal University, Manipal, India and a Master’s degree in the Biological Sciences from the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Ms. Taruna Idnani
Taruna Idnani has diverse experience of research and policy advocacy in the field of climate change and clean energy. She has worked on market mechanisms on climate change and clean energy, exploring low carbon interventions in various policies and schemes, implementation of various off grid low carbon projects. She has worked to support legislators in South Asia to make well informed, targeted policy interventions in climate change. She has experience of working with international organizations. A Postgraduate in Environmental Sciences and Resources Management from TERI University, she has been a recipient of DAAD Scholarship at Environmental Policy and Research Centre of Freie University (2009), Berlin. Presently, she works with The Conferderation of Indian Industry (CII). She is passionate about working in the field of sustainable development and motivating youth to adopt sustainable lifestyles.
Theme: Environmental Pollution
Prof. Radhey Shyam Sharma
Prof. Radhey Shyam Sharma is serving as a Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi. His research interests include understanding the ecology of abandoned mines and other contaminated sites for the development of ecological restoration and bioremediation biotechnologies. His specialization includes soil microbiology, plant-microbe interactions, phyto/bioremediation and environmental biotechnology. He has published several research papers in Journals of international repute, such as Nature, Scientific Data, Soil Biology & Biochemistry, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Journal of Environmental Management, and Environmental Research.
He has been teaching post-graduate students and guiding Ph.D. scholars on different aspects of environment and ecology, particularly Ecotoxicology and Environmental Health and Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Delhi. He has also been engaged in imparting training and capacity building among University teachers, post-doctoral and doctoral research scholars through the organization of workshops and training programmes.
Dr. Chirashree Ghosh
Dr. Chirashree Ghosh earned Ph.D degree in “Ecotoxicolgy” from VisvaBharati University at Santiniketan followed by a Post-doctoral Research at the University of Wageningen,The Netherlands, in the area of “Waste water Management using non conventional method”. In the year 2000 She was recipient of prestigious DAAD fellowship(Germany) and attended a graduate program on water technology at the university of applied sciences, Suderburg, Germany. In back home initiated major research in the area of “Environment Pollution & Health” and in the year 2003, she had joined as a faculty in University Delhi at Department of Environmental Studies.
She had been Project Coordinator of a number of sponsored research projects, one of hermajor research contribution is preparation of Carbon footprint map of Delhi, which has been presented at Copenhagen summit, 2009 by state Chief Secretary. She has been also collaborator of national air quality monitoring program SAFAR since common wealth game, 2010 and presently sharing data with CPCB and NGT as a national database.In the year 2011 where her work “Water foot print map” presented as a case study from Asia pacific region by the international climate change work group and the meeting held at Johannesburg organized by IDRC, Canada. She was selected as a panel speaker by the SEG women’s network committee in the year 2019 at San Antonio, Texus. Being a teacher and researcher she is trying to mobilize community on environmental issues and sensitizing them how their simple effective lifestyle changes can help them to attend better quality of health.
Dr. Neha Mishra
Dr. Neha Mishra is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi where she teaches the compulsory Environmental Studies paper to undergraduate students. She obtained her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from University of Delhi. During her doctoral research, she worked on temporal and spatial variation in pesticide pollution and various other parameters in Yamuna river water and the adjoining agriculture fields in Delhi-NCR. Her study included biodegradation of persistent Organochlorine pesticide DDT, using indigenous bacterial sp. and it's protein analysis. She has also worked on heavy metal pollution in soil. She has expertise in various techniques like Gas Chromatography analysis, Real-time PCR, protein analysis using SDS-PAGE, etc. Her current research interest focuses on studying Particulate pollution and Air Pollution Tolerance of urban trees. As an ardent environmentalist, she has given several lectures and talks on environmental education and pollution. She has guided over 2000 students in pursuing different careers in Environment Sciences.
Theme: Global climate change & Waste management
Dr. Juan Chang
Dr. Juan Chang is Deputy Director a.i. of the Division of Mitigation and Adaptation and Principal Forest and Land use Specialist of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). He previously served for four years as senior specialist in forests and climate change for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in charge of promoting and coordinating climate change investments in forestry and land use sector in Latin America. Prior to joining IDB, he worked as forestry and climate change auditor with the company TÜV-SÜD, where he audited climate change forestry projects in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America since 2007. Before becoming a forestry and climate change auditor, he worked in development and implementation of biodiversity conservation projects and management of protected areas in Peru accumulating 20 years of work experience.
Dr. Anastasia Tikhonova
Dr. Anastasia Tikhonova is supporting in the division of Mitigation and Adaptation in the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in project management. She is also Sustainable Agriculture Consultant in Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). She has a PhD in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Central European University, and a vast experience in the areas, such as climate change mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction in agriculture.
Dr. Mayank Kumar
Dr. Mayank Kumar teaches history at Satyawati College (Evening), University of Delhi. His research interests pertain to exploration of human-nature relationships during the early-modern times. Dr. Kumar argued in his Doctoral thesis, that the ecology is defined and redefined by a mutual and continuous interface amid the complex webs of interactions among the physical, religious, socio-cultural, and politico-economic settings. He was associated with Decision Centre for Desert City, Arizona State University as Fulbright fellow to work on ‘Climate change and Water Issues’. He was a fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi to examine the issues associated with Social Stratification and the politics of natural Resources Management before availing UGC National Research to explore Humans and Natural World: A Study in the Social Perceptions, Interactions and Responses in the 17th and 18th Century Rajasthan. He is visiting faculty at Department of Environmental Studies, Delhi University, Delhi and Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Along with several articles published in reputed journals, Dr. Kumar has a monograph, Monsoon Ecologies: Irrigation, Agriculture and Settlement Patterns in Rajasthan during the Pre-Colonial Period, Manohar, New Dehi-2013 to his credit. Recently he has co-edited a volume, Revisiting the History of Medieval Rajasthan: Essays for Professor Dilbagh Singh, Eds., Suraj Bhan Bhardwaj, Rameshwar Prasad Bahuguna & Mayank Kumar, Primus Books, New Delhi, 2017 (ISBN: 978-93-86552-22-8).