FDP on ‘Understanding Geodiversity and Geoheritage’ starts at PU

Chandigarh, February 23, 2022: A week long Faculty Development Program organized by HRDC, Panjab University, on the theme ‘Understanding Geodiversity and Geoheritage’ started today in Online Mode. The chief guest for the inaugural session of the program was Dr. S.K Varshney, Advisor and Head, International Cooperation, Department of Science and technology, Government of India.
The seven day program will cover various topics including Concept of Geodiversity and Geoheritage, role of UNESCO and IUGS in designation of Geoheritage and Heritage Stones. The course will also entail case studies from different continents, and status of India vis-à-vis. world. The first day of the course gave an opportunity to the participants to listen to Dr. Varshney who spoke about the relevance of understanding the concepts of Geodiversity in every day living. Prof. Dr. Gurmeet Kaur, course coordinator and resource person took an elaborate session on the topic, ‘Geodiversity all around us’. She drew examples from vicinity, Panjab University campus and created a vivid session for the participants. The third session for the day had a talk on the topic, ’Geodiversity, Geoheritage and Geoparks’ supplemented with excellent pictorial depiction of geodiversity by Dr. Om Bhargava (retired Director, Geological Survey of India), an eminent geoscientist, with an experience of over 60 years. 
The Interdisciplinary FDP has over 30 participants not only from diverse subject areas like Geology, Geography, English, Hindi, Mass Communication, Social Work, Physics, Zoology, Political science, Environment Science, library science but also from various parts of the country like Maharashtra, Kerala, Pune, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.