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The issue in hand is all about maintaining a state of harmony between humans and nature and remembering Mahatma Gandhi's saying "There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."
Prof Rajagopalan Member, Governing Board of International Ocean Institute, Malta visited Birla Institute of Technology and Science – BITS Pilani on 17 November 2009 to deliver a talk on Global Environmental Crisis. The talk was sponsored buy Oxford University Press (OUP) India and organized by Staff Association BITS Pilani. Dr VS Nirban Vice President Staff Association welcomed the gathering and introduced Prof Rajagopalan to the audience.
OUP which is the world's largest university press, publishing more than 4,500 new books a year; has a presence in more than fifty countries worldwide and employs some 3,700 people. OUP India propagates the liberal objectives of the University to further education and learning through publications that reflect the specific needs of the country that it serves.
OUP India was established in 1912 in Bombay (now Mumbai). After Mumbai, offices were established at Chennai and Kolkata, and an office at Delhi was opened in 1972. With the opening of the Delhi office, the headquarters of OUP India shifted from Mumbai to Delhi.
Prof. R.Rajagopalan holds a B.E. degree from Madras University and Ph.D. degree from IIT Kanpur. He had taught for over 30 years at IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras handling a variety of courses on industrial engineering, management, environment, and development. At IIT Madras, he was also the Director of International Ocean Institute (IOI India).
Prof Rajagopalan has been giving presentations and conducting workshops on environment across the country. He is passionately involved in a rural development project in coastal villages in South India, integrating livelihood issues, environment, and eco-technologies. Prof. Rajagopalan has edited and written several books and papers.
His talk focused on creating an increased sensitivity towards environmental issues apart from developing an appreciation of the seriousness of the environmental crisis at the local and global levels among students and faculty. Spiced with wit and humour, he discussed the major environmental problems which included over exploitation of natural resources, degraded land, disappearing forests, endangered species, escalating pollution, growing population, dangerous toxins, global warming, and extreme weather, among others.
Apart from environmental damages that have happened in Easter Island, Madagascar, Himalayas, Arctic and Antarctic, Greenland, Maldives etc, Prof Rajagopalan also talked about Gaia theory as well as coastal – marine degradation, ecological footprint, sustainable development, ozone layer depletion, urban explosion and associated issue of slum dogs. The details presented by him about population spike, consumption spike and extinction spike were truly eye openers.
Dr Hari Om Bansal Secretary Staff Association proposed the vote of thanks. What emerged after the talk is to remember the quote by Alan M Eddison "Modern Technology owes Ecology an Apology" and gear up for a "Cradle to Cradle" approach which challenges society to redesign the materials we use and to revolutionize the manner in which we make them.
About BITS Pilani
The Birla Institute of Technology and Science - BITS Pilani (bits-pilani.ac.in) is a Deemed to be University established vide Sec.3 of the UGC Act, 1956 under notification No. F.12-23/63.U-2 of June 18, 1964. NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council reaccredited BITS with 3.71 CGPA out of 4 and awarded "A" grade "Very Good" status. It is indeed a matter of pride that for the year 2009, BITS Pilani has been ranked among the top ranking universities along with IITs in various Magazine surveys such as India Today, Outlook, LiveMint etc. BITS offers degrees in various disciplines presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad campuses. BITS Pilani has done pioneering work in industry university collaborations in terms of Practice School and Work Integrated Learning Programmes. Alumni of the Institute who are Proud to be BITSians and ambassadors for Brand BITS Pilani are spread across all continents from Australia to America.
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