The Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) organized a one-day Seminar on “Mountain Hydrology” on 27th February 2024, as a component of the Indo-Taiwan joint research project supported by ICSSR (India) and MOST (Taiwan) and part of Viksit Bharat Abhiyan. The overarching project, titled “Assessment of sediment loss, N cycling, water and soil quality and their impacts on livelihood of farmers in small watershed of Sikkim Himalaya” is led by Dr. Hasan Raja Naqvi, from JMI and Prof. Jr. Chuan Huang, a distinguished researcher from National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
Prof. Haroon Sajjad, Head Department of Geography welcomed the guests, speakers, participants, faculty members, University Tarana Team and the students in the inaugural session of the Seminar. In his welcome address Prof. Sajjad highlighted the significance of Viksit Bharat Abhiyan initiated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and emphasized the need of examining the impact of climate change on mountain hydrology. He encouraged the young minds to come forward for devising effective strategies for adaptation and mitigation. Dr. O. P. Mishra, Director of the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), Ministry of Earth Sciences, graced the occasion as the chief guest while Prof. Nazim Husain Al-Jafri, the Registrar, JMI was the Guest of Honour. Prof. Tabrez Alam Khan, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, JMI graced the occasion as a Distinguished Guest. Dr. O. P. Mishra commended Dr. Hasan for his international collaboration efforts and shared insights on the parallels between the human body and the Earth.
Prof. Nazim Husain Al-Jafri emphasized the importance of water conservation, while Prof. Tabrez Alam Khan established the link between chemistry and hydrology. Prof. Alam praised the Department’s leadership and contribution to the Faculty of Sciences and the University.
In the next session of the Seminar, Prof. Jr. Chuan Huang (River) from National Taiwan University Taiwan. and Prof. Padmini Pani, Jawaharlal Nehru University shared their research.
Prof. River, while delivering his talk, focused on erosion, landslides, sediment loss, runoff, and biological degradation in Taiwan. Prof. Pani presented a case study of Chambal badlands and discussed micro-geomorphological space, gully erosion, ravine encroachment, and gully levelling. Both the scholars made commendable presentations and were received well by the audience. Later, the invited speakers interacted with the participants. This session was followed by the presentations of research papers of researchers on different aspects of mountain hydrology. Pei-Hao Chen (PH) from Taiwan National University, Taiwan, Rayees Ali, Ayesha Siddika, Moumita Dutta, Manirul Mia, Md Atik Nawaz and Ammu S Anil from JMI shared their research. The session was chaired by Prof. Masood Ahsan Siddiqui.
Earlier, the programme was conducted by Prof. Lubna Siddiqui. Prof. Masood Ahsan Siddiqui proposed the vote of thanks to the guests, faculty members, supporting staff participants and students and horticulture department for making the event a grand success. Prof. Siddiqui also extended his thanks to the ICSSR for funding this joint project.
