News

March 12, 2018
On the development of cooperation with India in the sphere of water research
At the invitation of Prof. Ñ.R. Murthy, President of the Karnataka Environment Research Foundation (KERF, Bangalore, India) and Dr. A.B. Anitha, Executive Director of the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM, Kozhikode, India) and at the assignment of Academician-Secretary of the Department of Earth Sciences RAS A.O. Gliko a delegation of Russian scientists from 3 RAS institutes: Water Problems Institute RAS (Acting Director A.N. Gelfan, DSc), Northern Water Problems Institute KarRC RAS (RAS Corr. Academician N.N. Filatov, Secretary for Science T.I. Regerand, PhD) and Institute of Limnology RAS (Director Sh.R. Pozdnyakov, DSc) visited India on February 22-28, 2018. The aim of the visit was to negotiate on cooperation between scientific institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences and India in the sphere of water research and to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation, development of scientific research and education in the sphere of integrated water management.

On February 22-23 meetings were organized with specialists from the Indian Institute of Science/Centre for Ecological Sciences (Bangalore) Dr. T.V. Ramachandra and KERF President Prof. C.R. Murthy. Following Dr. T.V. Ramachandra’s suggestion, the Russian delegation visited the Institute of Engineering and Technology of the Alva’s Education Foundation (Mangalore, Karnataka) and gave lectures on environmental research and education, issues related to water resources in India and Russia. The audience of the lectures was around 400 people, including the Institute’s undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty. The parties expressed mutual willingness to exchange their experience of training specialists in hydrology and environmental science.

On February 26-28 a conference on integrated water management took place at the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM, Kozhikode). Members of the Russian delegation gave keynote lectures on the scientific research implemented by RAS institutes and told about the key results obtained lately by specialists from their institutes. Presentations about the experience of studying water resources, water protection, water management and its planning in India were made by scientists from CWRDM and invited specialists from other organizations.

On February 27 the ceremony of signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation, development of scientific research and education in the sphere of integrated water management took place at CWRDM. The MoU was signed by representatives of the Water Problems Institute RAS (NPI RAS, Moscow), Northern Water Problems Institute of the Karelian Research Centre RAS (NWPI KarRC RAS, Petrozavodsk) and Institute of Limnology RAS (IL RAS, St. Petersburg) on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences, by CWRDM Executive Director Dr. A.B. Anitha and Dr. P.S. Harikumar on behalf the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), and by KERF President Prof. C.R. Murthy on behalf of the Karnataka Environment Research Foundation (KERF).

The possibilities of cooperation between RAS organizations and the Indian Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, implementing joint research, exchanging the experience of research and developments in the sphere of water management systems, inland water protection methods, development of water treatment and sewage systems, securing potable water quality were discussed.

In signing the MoU and participating in the workshops and meetings we – the delegation of RAS institutes – were governed by the proposals pre-approved by the Department of Earth Sciences RAS, KarRC RAS, WPI RAS and IL RAS, as well as by documents such as “Integrated Programme of Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation between the governments of the Russian Federation and India”, “Agreement on scientific cooperation and exchange of scientists between RAS and Indian National Science Academy”.

Organizations in India have demonstrated much interest in cooperating with RAS organizations, in doing joint research and training specialists in water resource studies.

We extend our thanks to Prof. emeritus C.R. Murthy (President, KERF, Bangalore, India), Drs. A.B. Anitha (Executive Director) and P.S. Harikumar (Leading Researcher) from the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (Kozhikode, India), as well as to Dr. T.V. Ramachandra (the Indian Institute of Science/Centre for Ecological Sciences (Bangalore) and Mr. V.M. Alva (Alva’s Education Foundation, Mangalore, Karnataka) for the excellent organization of our visit to India.


N.N. Filatov RAS Advisor, RAS Corr. Academician
A.N. Gelfan, DSc Acting Director, Water Problems Institute RAS
Sh.R. Pozdnyakov, DSc Director, Institute of Limnology RAS
T.I. Regerand, PhD Secretary for Science, Northern Water Problems Institute, KarRC RAS

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