History of the Department
The Department of Geography, under School of Environmental Sciences (now, Human & Env. Sc) was established in June 1976 with the appointment of Prof. R. C. Sharma as the Head of the Department and the Dean of the School. Under his able leadership, the Department offered M.A./M.Sc. and M.Phil./Ph.D.
The present (2012) composition of the faculty members includes five Professors, three Associate Professors and three Assistant Professors. In light of the great diversity of specialisations that Geography has branched into many fields and sub-fields. Current approved strength of the Department is 13 positions, 11 filled-up, and two positions of Professors (non-plan residual vacancies) remain to be filled-up.
The present (2012) composition of the faculty members includes five Professors, three Associate Professors and three Assistant Professors. In light of the great diversity of specialisations that Geography has branched into many fields and sub-fields. Current approved strength of the Department is 13 positions, 11 filled-up, and two positions of Professors (non-plan residual vacancies) remain to be filled-up.
Academic Programmes
The academic programmes of the department can be broadly classified into three major streams. These are
(i) MA/M.Sc. programme,
(ii) M.Phil. and Ph.D. Programme, which involve teaching, and research, and
(iii) Programme of research activities undertaken by the members of the faculty, which mainly includes research projects.
The emphasis in all the streams centres on:
(i) an understanding of the problems at both theoretical and empirical level having universal significance, and
(ii) applying the knowledge acquired to the issues concerning the nation and in the specific context of the region, particularly the problems associated with the processes of development of the region.
This programme is based on one-year two-semesters of orientation and basic courses (core courses), followed by two semesters of specialisation. The last two semesters are devoted to particular streams of specialisations in geography. In addition, the MA/MSc students are required to undertake two field study programmes, one pertaining to a general understanding of the nature of development taking place in the country, the other is an intensive study based on field surveys on different aspects of rural and urban life in the region, on which they write a full paper of project.
The evaluation of the students is made at two levels:
(a) sessional evaluation (25%) consists of tests, writing of term papers and long essays and semester seminar presentation during the course work of the semester.
(b) The external evaluation is made to assess the performance of the students in the final examination, at the end of the semester.
The department admits 20 students for M.Phil. programme every year. The programme is based on at least one semester of course work to orient the students into research aptitude, followed by dissertation writing. In the last 24 years as many as 100 students have been awarded M.Phil. degree on theses pertaining to diverse fields in geography. Notable among these are Geomorphology, Agriculture, Political, and Urban Geography, studies on Land use, Social problems such as slums, land ownership and patterns of land holding etc
The Ph.D. Programme in the department effectively started from the year 1978. Since then 37 scholars have been awarded Ph.D. degree till date, and more than 40 scholars are currently working towards their Ph.D. degree and are at various stages of their work. The focus of the research activities in the department is in the field of Geomorphology, Environment, Political Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, Agricultural Geography, Social and Urban Geography and more recently on Remote Sensing and GIS with greater emphasis on North-East India.
(i) MA/M.Sc. programme,
(ii) M.Phil. and Ph.D. Programme, which involve teaching, and research, and
(iii) Programme of research activities undertaken by the members of the faculty, which mainly includes research projects.
The emphasis in all the streams centres on:
(i) an understanding of the problems at both theoretical and empirical level having universal significance, and
(ii) applying the knowledge acquired to the issues concerning the nation and in the specific context of the region, particularly the problems associated with the processes of development of the region.
(a) The Masters’ Programme
This programme is based on one-year two-semesters of orientation and basic courses (core courses), followed by two semesters of specialisation. The last two semesters are devoted to particular streams of specialisations in geography. In addition, the MA/MSc students are required to undertake two field study programmes, one pertaining to a general understanding of the nature of development taking place in the country, the other is an intensive study based on field surveys on different aspects of rural and urban life in the region, on which they write a full paper of project.
The evaluation of the students is made at two levels:
(a) sessional evaluation (25%) consists of tests, writing of term papers and long essays and semester seminar presentation during the course work of the semester.
(b) The external evaluation is made to assess the performance of the students in the final examination, at the end of the semester.
(b) M.Phil. Programme
The department admits 20 students for M.Phil. programme every year. The programme is based on at least one semester of course work to orient the students into research aptitude, followed by dissertation writing. In the last 24 years as many as 100 students have been awarded M.Phil. degree on theses pertaining to diverse fields in geography. Notable among these are Geomorphology, Agriculture, Political, and Urban Geography, studies on Land use, Social problems such as slums, land ownership and patterns of land holding etc
(c) Ph.D. Programme
The Ph.D. Programme in the department effectively started from the year 1978. Since then 37 scholars have been awarded Ph.D. degree till date, and more than 40 scholars are currently working towards their Ph.D. degree and are at various stages of their work. The focus of the research activities in the department is in the field of Geomorphology, Environment, Political Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, Agricultural Geography, Social and Urban Geography and more recently on Remote Sensing and GIS with greater emphasis on North-East India.
Thrust and Focus of Future Research Plans
a) Geomorphology with focus on Regional and Applied geomorphology.
b) Environmental studies with focus on Climatology and Climate change, Water Resources and Hydrology, Biogeography and Biodiversity and Watershed Management Studies.
c) Regional Development and Regional planning.
d) Researches on Social and Cultural Diversity of the North-Eastern Region with a special focus on Tribal Development.
e) GIS and Remote Sensing applications in Environment and Land Use Planning.
f) Promoting application of GIS and Remote Sensing through offering Diploma/Certificate Courses.
b) Environmental studies with focus on Climatology and Climate change, Water Resources and Hydrology, Biogeography and Biodiversity and Watershed Management Studies.
c) Regional Development and Regional planning.
d) Researches on Social and Cultural Diversity of the North-Eastern Region with a special focus on Tribal Development.
e) GIS and Remote Sensing applications in Environment and Land Use Planning.
f) Promoting application of GIS and Remote Sensing through offering Diploma/Certificate Courses.
a) Geomorphology with focus on Regional and Applied geomorphology:
Geomorphology is one of the major branches of Physical Geography with a close link with Geology and other systematic sciences. In this field, the department has evinced adequate interest from 1978 when Prof. R. K. Rai joined the department. The attention given was to study the regional geomorphology of the Northeast region with special focus on the Meghalaya plateau, and also on applied geomorphology, i.e. studying the connection between landforms and the manner it influences human activities like land use, agriculture and human habitations both rural and urban. Advanced courses on Geomorphology, Tropical Geomorphology, Environmental Geomorphology etc. are offered both at MA/MSc level as well as the M.Phil level. About 10 Ph.D. degrees have been awarded in this area and 6 Research projects have been completed. b) Environmental studies with focus on Climatology and Climate Change, Water Resources and Hydrology, Bio-geography and Bio-diversity and Environmental Economics:
Environmental Studies has been the core of geography since its inception in early nineteenth century. It has acquired great significance in recent times due to global environmental concerns emerging from accentuated industrialisation and urbanisation. The department focused its attention to such issues a decade back (1989) and introduced special courses on environmental science and the areas that geography can address to. The department now offers several courses on Environmental Geography, Climatology & Hydrology, Ecology & Bio-Geography (Compulsory) and special courses on Applied Climatology (including climate change), Hydrology and water resources and Bio-Geography (including bio-diversity) and other related courses like Soil Geography etc. The department has carried out several large and small research projects on deforestation and soil erosion, environmental impact assessment (EIA) and land use changes, landslides etc. Several Ph.Ds. have been awarded and many are working on a variety of themes.c) Regional Development and Regional Planning (Including urban problems):
Regional Development and Planning studies in Geography in India got an impetus from 1971 when Centre for Regional Development at Jawaharlal Nehru University provided leadership in studies in this area hitherto neglected in geography and that unfolded immense possibilities. From the inception of the department regional development studies and allied areas like regional planning, urban geography and rural development and micro-level planning has been a major thrust area of the department with primary focus on the Northeast Region. Several courses are offered in these areas including Geography and development, Regional planning, Urban geography, Agricultural geography, Micro-level planning, Integrated area planning at both MA/MSc as well as M.Phil./Ph.D. level. About 8 Ph. Ds. has been awarded and several are registered. Many research projects have been carried out and books and monographs published.d) Human Geography with a focus on Social and Cultural Geography of the North-Eastern Region and Political geography:
Human Geography has remained one of the most important areas in geography. The department offers several courses like Cultural and social geography, social geography, political geography, Political Geography of Indian Federalism, Historical Geography, Geography of Tribes, Population Geography, and Population and development. The focus then is the northeast region and the connection with the social and political processes in rest of the country. As many as six Ph. Ds and 20 M. Phils have been awarded degree in this area. Many research projects have also been completed. The members of faculty have published several books on these areas.
Equipment and Facilities
The department, however, has a number of (reasonably) well-equipped laboratories to assist the students, research scholars and teachers in teaching and research.
The map laboratory has a large collection of wall maps, topographic sheets on different scales and atlases, aerial photos and satellite imageries. Topographic sheets for many areas of the country are available in the Department.
The photo-reprographic lab is well equipped with facilities like photo printing; slide making etc. and digital video equipments are also available in the department. The Statistical/Computer lab has number of computers, as well as A4 scanner, A4 digitizer, A0 for students use. Two Weather stations (under SAP), and other peripherals. All the teachers have been provided with PCs and are linked to the department’s server through a LAN with Internet facility.
GIS Lab: There are also licensed version GIS software, AutoCAD-Map, Idrisi, ArcGIS Master Lab Kit, ERDAS Imagine (under SAP and FIST), which is available for teaching and research.
The Cartographic lab has minimum necessary equipments for cartographic needs, which includes Digital area Curvimeter, a computerised scriber and other surveying instruments. Besides, the department has a number of teaching aids like LCD projector, Laptop, slide projector, overhead projector, film projector etc.
The Aerial Photogrammetry Lab has a number of mirror stereoscopes, aerial photographs and other equipment. The department has got IRS and LANDSAT imageries of different bands and for different time period for almost whole North-Eastern India. Recently, a soil laboratory has been added to the existing four laboratories. The department has also received grants from DST under FIST programme. In this programme, the department has already equipped with High Resolution A0 colour Plotter, ERDAS Imagine 8.3 DIP Software (5 liceses), ArcGIS Master Lab Kit 8.4 software (3 licenses), High Resolution Digital Camera, High Resolution IRS 1D, IKONOS Digital Imageries, High-end Leica GPS and Two Hand held GPS. Internet facility for students and faculty is available.
