Mhow (Madhya Pradesh): "Places having highest rainfall face water scarcity while Jaisalmer having lowest rainfall has sufficient water throughout the year. The reason for this is the management of water resources and if natural resources are managed properly, there will be no dearth of them in nature", Gopal Arya, senior environmentalist from Delhi said this while presiding over the special plenary session of the international conference on sustainable development at Dr BR Ambedkar University of Social Science (BRAUSS), Mhow on Friday. Arya said that it has already been discussed at global conference that the world will face sixth extinction if people don't pay attention to the environmental cause. Mentioning about supreme sacrifice of 363 persons belonging to Bishnoi community, he said that nowhere in the world could one see another such example of nature conservation. During corona, people were confined to their houses and it was seen that rivers had become clean, Himalayas had become visible and pollution in Delhi became negligible. These things teach us that man is responsible for degradation and damage to the environment.
Earlier, Padmashri Dr Janak Palta who was the chief guest of the session, said that women in society can be excellent guides or teachers for the issues related to sustainable development. In a PowerPoint presentation, Dr Palta showed photographs of her house and told about her zero-waste life and ways to practice sustainable development in the true sense.
Prof Ulrich Berk of Germany said that the Sun’s energy benefits mankind in many ways. Prof Berk who has carried out extensive research on Agnihotra, told the gathering about the shlokas and processes of Agnihotra, which are very helpful for the purification of the environment. He told about the unique properties of Agnihotra ash which can be utilised for the purification of water and soil. He also gave a presentation about Homa therapy for the purification of rivers and showed pictures about how they are purifying Narmada River by way of this therapy. He also appealed for the inclusion of Homa therapy as a certificate course in the BRAUSS so that this could be of use for the region.
Conference convener Prof DK Verma, director of research of BRAUSS told the audience that a course for Homa therapy would be started soon at the university. Dr Vinayak Chakraborty of Bangladesh spoke about fishery development in the Sunderban region of Bangladesh. Dr Sona Dubey talked about the effect of environmental degradation on underwater creatures. Dr Chavi Kumar of Jabalpur said there is a need for the formation of a national consortium in the country so that the efforts of every individual and organisation could be clubbed to make it more effective. She also advocated for the formation of a pool of indigenous knowledge. Dhwani Sharma said that people’s deeds and words should match when they talk about sustainable development or zero waste lifestyle.
Dr Archana Sharma said that if one adopts satvik patten of life, it could contribute towards sustainable development in the best way. Dr Poornima and a few other scholars also presented their papers in the conference. Eminent persons present in this conference were BRAUSS vice chancellor Prof DK Sharma and Nanaji Deshmukh University vice-chancellor Dr SP Tiwari.
Prof DK Verma gave a presentation on the social action research model for sustainable development being implemented with the help of 40 government colleges in tribal districts namely Alirajpur, Dhar, Jhabua, Khargone and Barwani. Prof DK Verma convened the session while Dr PC Bansal proposed a vote of thanks.
