Role of Anthropology in Social Impact Assessment deliberated

Chandigarh, March 8, 2019: A two days National Workshop on “Situating Social Impact Assessment in Development Milieu: A Holistic Approach" was inaugurated today in the Department of Anthropology by Prof. Shankarji Jha, Dean University of Instruction, Panjab University, Chandigarh. In his inaugural address he highlighted the role of Anthropology in Social Impact Assessment and congratulated the Department for being the Nodal Agency for carrying out the Social Impact Assessment for various regions successfully. The Key Note Address was delivered by Prof. Abhijit Guha, Former Professor Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal and Senior Fellow of ICSSR at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata. Prof. Guha emphasized that the major task for anthropologists would be to generate a scientific and reliable data-base through fieldwork on the impact of large and small scale land takings on various tribals and non-tribal populations of India regarding food, security, landlessness and other maladies. Chairperson of the Department Dr. Kewal Krishan welcomed the delegates and spoke about the developments occurred in the Department of Anthropology. Prof. A.K. Sinha, Organizing Secretary introduced the theme of the Workshop. Eminent Anthropologists have been invited from all over India as Resource Persons for delivering lectures in the Workshop. More than 60 delegates are attending this workshop for two days. Social Impact Assessment is undertaken to understand the likely impact of the developmental programmes to help decision makers in deciding whether the project should proceed as it is or with changes or be dropped all together. Deliberations will take place on the challenges before the anthropologists for Social Impact Assessment. The recommendations generated through the Workshop will be communicated to the fellow anthropologists and policy makers for further action. During the inaugural function of the Workshop the contributions to the subject of Anthropology by the superannuated faculty of the Department was highlighted and they were presented with Life Time Achievement Awards for their contributions. The Life Time Achievement Award was conferred on Professors J.C. Sharma, V. Bhalla, Surya Parkash, Shalina Mehta, B.G. Banerjee, R.N. Vashisht, Indu Talwar, Rajan Gaur, Dr. Baldev Singh, C.J. Edwin.