PIC’s Seventh Foundation Day

lecture on ‘Today Kerala, Tomorrow Konkan?’

Speaker: Dr. Madhav Gadgil, Ecologist, Academician, Writer, Founder of Centre for Ecological Studies, and Hon. Member, PIC

24th September 2018

On the occasion of PIC’s seventh Foundation Day anniversary, eminent ecologist Dr. Madhav Gadgil delivered a lecture on ‘Today Kerala, Tomorrow Konkan?’ The lecture focussed on the floods in Kerala, its causes and what needs to be done to avoid a similar situation elsewhere. Dr. Gadgil said that mismanagement of manmade reservoirs caused the Kerala floods. He emphasized that uneven economic growth and environmental degradation is currently forcing rural people to migrate to cities. This kind of growth, he opined, is not job-less growth, but job-destroying growth.

Dalits in India: Search for a Common Destiny

Speaker: Dr. Sukhdeo Thorat, Former Chairman, University Grants

Commission Professor Emeritus, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU

26th September 2018

Economist, Dr. Sukhadeo Thorat spoke of the challenges faced by the Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Maharashtra as part of his lecture on ‘Dalits in India: Search for a Common Destiny.’ The programme was chaired by Prof. Rajas Parchure, Director, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. During the lecture, Dr. Thorat gave an economic overview of Scheduled Castes in Maharashtra and explained the reasons holding back their progress. He mentioned that asset ownership, entrepreneurship and access to education are some major challenges faced by SCs in Maharashtra.