Make technology socially relevant, Soz tells scientists

Member Parliament and former union Minister, Prof. Saif ud Din Soz today stressed upon scientists to make technology relevant to the needs of current society.

Inaugurating a two day national workshop on Spatial Planning for G-Governance organized by University of Kashmir this morning, Prof. Soz said the very concept of technology is not important but what really matters is its application to solve the problems society faces from time to time. The inaugural session was presided by Prof . Riyaz Punjabi Vice Chancellor Kashmir University.

Present on the occasion were MLC, Mr. Vijay Bakaya, Dr. Mark Sorensen of Geographical Planning Collaborative International, USA, Mr. Ishfaq Mir, Director, WARMERR and SAPPHIRE, scientists and experts from the state and outside.

Prof. Soz was highly appreciative the way Kashmir university is coming closer to the society and understanding its needs “ over the years your research is becoming quite relevant and fruitful to the society “ Soz told to the audience comprising mainly of the students scholars and the teachers from the university .

Prof. Soz said the conventional concept of planning needs to be changed to include scientific inputs about geographical entities and a balance between resources and needs. He asked the experts attending the workshop to use technology for mapping natural resources like forests and water resources and tackle problems like climate change and global warming. Appealing to save forests and water resources, he said no other state in the country can compete with J&K in terms of these resources and asked to use technological inputs for the preservation of the same.

Prof. Soz also stressed the need for a comprehensive master plan for Kashmir based on the data collected through these scientific methods.

In his presidential remarks, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof. Riyaz Punjabi said based on the recommendations of the workshop, the university along with some civil society groups intends to prepare a vision document which would subsequently be presented to the Government for implementation. He hoped the workshop would address the geographical indices and local needs of the region.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Registrar of the university, Prof. S. Fayyaz Ahmad said the university intends to launch a master’s programme in Geo-informatics soon. He said with ever increasing population and decreasing natural resources good governance is a challenge but with remote sensing and Geo-informatics it has been made easy.

Dr Shakil A Romshoo organizing secretary of the workshop is to discuss the challenges in the exploitation and development of energy resources in the state including the hydropower and is being attended by a score of foreign experts from USA, UK, Italy, Australia and a number of other national experts. Dr. Mark Sorensen of Geographical Planning Collaborative International, USA, presented the paper

Ms Ambreen conducted the proceedings of the event and Dr. Rakesh Chandra , senior Assistant Professor presented vote of thanks.

It is pertinent to mention here that the University is partnering with reputed international institutes for promoting research on the environmental friendly development of the energy resources in the state.

Dr. Mark Sorensen of Geographical Planning Collaborative International, USA, presented the paper on Knowledge infrastructure and Governance issues : my personal experience in Asia .