A
one-day National Seminar on Human Development in India: Progress and Challenges was
organised by the Department of Economics and Banking of Shree Damodar College
of Commerce and Economics, Margao, recently, at the Ganesh Daivajna Auditorium.
The keynote speaker of the seminar, Prof Vasant Bira Jugale, Former Dean and
Head of the Department of Economics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, inaugurated
the Seminar. Vice-Principal of the College Dr Rodney D’Silva welcomed the
participants.
Dr Lira M Gama, Head, Department of Economics and Banking,
provided an overview of the seminar.
The Chief Guest, Prof Jugale, in the inaugural address, traced
the evolution of Development Economics and said many factors affecting human
well being such as environment, health, education, sustainable development and
freedom have become an integral part of Development Economics discourse.
Technical Session I was based on the theme ‘Health: A Crucial
Pillar of Human Development’ and the theme paper was presented by Prof Subodh
Kandamuthan, Director of the Centre for Health Care Management at
Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad. He outlined various aspects
of health status in the country such as health infrastructure, men power, heath
indicators and health insurance with case studies. Four papers were presented
for this session followed by the discussion.
Technical Session II was based on the theme ‘Education: The
Driving Force to Progress’, which was chaired by Dr Yasmeen Aowte, Associate
Professor, Vice Principal, R P Gogte College of Arts, Science and Commerce,
Ratnagiri. This was followed by five paper presentations.
Technical Session III was based on the theme ‘Other Building
Blocks of Human Development’ and was chaired by Dr Sangeeta Shroff, Professor,
Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. Five papers were presented
in this session.
The
Valedictory Function commenced with a welcome address by Principal Dr Prita D
Mallya. A brief report on the deliberations of the seminar was presented by Dr
Sarath Chandran. The Chief Guest of the Valedictory Function was Arvind B
Khutkar, Additional Collector, Ponda. In his address, he said that the
deliberations that are taking place at the academic institutions should be used
for public policy formulation and his office is willing to extend the
cooperation and support for this kind of activities in future. The seminar
concluded with the National Anthem.
