Our Faculty

• PhD(Agricultural Physics)
  Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
  1993
• M.Sc (Agricultural Physics)
  Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
  1989
• B.Sc (Agriculture) Honours
  Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (Agricultural University ), Mohanpur, West Bengal
  1986

Professional Experience

National R&D Management

In Geospatial Science and Technology applications in Natural Resource Management

• Formulation, coordination and monitoring of research projects and sub-programmes in land, water, crop and environmental management for local level development
• Technical and organizational capacity building of local government departments for watershed management programmes implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Agriculture.
• Development and management of Natural Resources Data Management System (NRDMS) District GIS database centers.
• Networking with various federal and state governmental departments, research organizations and NGOs for designing and implementation of NRDMS programme and projects.
• Development of National State level Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Significant Achievements :

• A project on “GIS-based technologies for local-level development planning” supported by the UNDP during 1996-2001 with total UNDP contribution of $1.26 million and a counterpart support of Rs. 54 million by the Government of India.
• A network programme on “Hydrology of Small Watersheds” developed among 5 national R&D organizations in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Rural Development.
• “Empowering Youth through Geo-Informatics & Participation for Local Area Development (EYGIPLAD)” – a collaborative programme between NRDMS, DST and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), autonomous organization under Ministry of Youth & Sports, Government of India.
• Developed NRDMS GIS database centers in the states of West Bengal, Manipur, Assam, Uttarakhand.
• National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) has been established. State Spatial Data Infrastructure have been established in 16 states of India.
• Developed a National Programme on Geodesy. As a part of that National Center for Geodesy has been established at IIT Kanpur.
• Developed the National Geospatial Programme through national consultation, consisting of the following sub- programmes:
• Geospatial Science Programme
• Geospatial Technology Development Programme
• Geospatial solutions for effective governance
• Geospatial Entrepreneurship Development Programme.
• Contributed in development and implementation of the National Geospatial Policy 2022 as core group member.
• Appointed as Chairman of Geospatial Information Sectional Committee (LITD-22) by the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS).

Science for Equity Empowerment and Development (SEED) and State Science and Technology (SSTP) Programs

Scientific, administrative and financial leadership provided for the evolution of the SEED and SSTP Programs as follows:

• SEED Programme: Strengthening the societal welfare system through delivery of science led solutions and location specific appropriate technologies leading to Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Capacity Building of people belonging to most vulnerable sections of the society for creation of sustainable livelihoods and improve quality of life in tune to their growing aspirations.
• SSTP Programme: Catalysing Science Technology Innovation (STI) ecosystem through Centre–State Science and Technology (S&T) Cooperation mechanism for assessing, implementing and delivering appropriate solutions to state-specific challenges through Human Capital Development, strengthening S&T based delivery system and creating the Scientific Temper.

Significant Achievements 

• A new programme, ‘Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Hubs’ was conceptualized and initiated in 2019 for development of SC & ST Communities through systemic interventions to address the weakest linkages in the predominant livelihood systems through S&T interventions, creation of social enterprises based on the strongest aspects of livelihood systems and harnessing Indigenous Knowledge Systems  through inputs of S&T. Total 45 STI Hubs have been Established till now.
•  A programme ,‘Strengthening, Upscaling & Nurturing Innovations for Livelihood (SUNIL)’ was Conceptualized and launched in year 2022 to support NGOs and Knowledge Institutions in partnership for identifying livelihood centric local/systemic problems of Economically Weaker Section of the society and appropriate S&T based solutions through applied research; developing models of technology delivery & social enterprise creation in society, and capacity building of Community based Organizations & NGOs through KIs and vice versa.
• A new programme called ‘Community COVID Resilience Resource Centres was conceived to strengthen community’s preparedness, response and approach to future health challenges as well as other uncertainties (including uncertainties in livelihoods) for Resilience, Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development, better recovery, building Science Technology and Innovation (STI) capacities and capabilities of the communities for improved resilience against the pandemic and post pandemic recovery for livelihood rejuvenation. Total 26 CCRRCs have been established tilll now in partnership with UNDP-India.
• Launched a programme on ‘Accelerated Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups’ in year 2022 to strengthen the currently announced PVTG Mission of Government of India.
• As a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with Ministry of Earth Sciences launched year-long programme ‘TECH-नीव@75’ on 15th November 2021 to highlight the impact of Science, Technology and Innovation in creating social equity and inclusion at societal foundation level .
• An inclusive, holistic and multi-disciplinary mission mode programme “S&T FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD SYSTEM” jointly by the DST and the Office of PSA has been recommended by the PMSTIAC in Jan. 2023 to address the observed systemic gaps in the livelihood system and upgrade in a holistic manner through integration of various developmental tools & appropriate technologies, knowledge and communication in the local language, manufacturing at the local level, quality assessment, technology scaling & deployment, expanding the use of digital infrastructure and building STI capacities of communities, etc.
• A dynamic “Women Empowerment Atlas: From S&T perspective “has been conceptualized and developed on GIS platform.

• Facilitation and promotion of knowledge development, management and sharing through interaction of government, academia and industry in various areas of science and technology from Global to Local level.
• Providing thought leadership, analytical and solution centric approach and inclusive team leadership at Organizational Level.
• Development of strategies, policy implementation, financial management and staff management for the execution of day-to-day operations in science and technology organizations.
• Ability to conceptualize, lead, direct and execute multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional programmes from local to global level (Natural Resources Data Management System programme , Scientific & Industrial research programme , Dedicated mobility support programmes, Public Private Partnership Programmes, Scientific Networking Programmes, Outreach programmes, Seminars/workshops, IPR) in the field of science and technology .
• Knowledge of issues, challenges and work processes for the coordination among the wide array of government departments and agencies in India, France and USA.
• Gender-Sensitive & experience of working in multi-cultural environment.
• Skilled in interactive & effective communication at different platforms with different stakeholders of scientific, administrative & societal sectors; honor commitments & take ownership of responsibility while ensuring quality and timely deliveries

Significant Achievements

• As a co-PI of the project on “GIS-based technologies for local-level development planning” supported by the UNDP, calibrated and validated soil and water conservation models like AVSWAT, GRAM-SWAT, ECOLAND, Almanac Characterization Tool (ACT) for refining the outputs of the UNDP project teams. Development and testing of indigenous GRAM++ GIS package.
• Research on Hydrology at Small Watershed scale and application of GIS for soil and water management.
• Teaching on Geospatial Science and Technology and its application in various academic institutions.
• Deputed to the Black land Soil and Water Research Center, Texas A&M University System, Temple, Texas, USA as a Visiting Scientist under an UNDP fellowship for the development of Spatial Decision Support system (SDSS) for land and water management using Indian data. I calibrated and validated Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model through SWAT-ARCVIEW interface using Avenue programming language and the data from Bankura district of West Bengal to generate spatial outputs on water yield, Silt yield, Crop production and Biomass production for the watersheds in Chhatna block as required by the users at the district.
• Awarded a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship by the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), The Netherlands. Developed and implemented a project on “ Capacity building for Institutions of Local Governance (ILG): The Case of Bankura District, West Bengal, India” as part of the ITC’s international research programme on “Test bed Geospatial Data Infrastructure (T-GDI)”at a total cost of € 10,000.
• Awarded Senior Professional Research Fellowship on “Groundwater Governance in Theory and Practice” by the International Water Management Institute(IWMI), Sri Lanka. Developed a capacity building framework for sustainable ground water management and governance in India based on lessons learnt from South Australia during research study tour to the University of South Australia, Adelaide under the Fellowship.
• Worked as an associate in the India R8171 project funded by the Department of International Development (DFID) and implemented jointly by the Center of Land use and Water Resources Research (CLUWRR), University of New Castle, UK and Department of Civil Engineering, IIT, Delhi. Department of Science and technology was involved in the project as a major stakeholder.
• Formulated the sub-programme on “R&D on Geo-visualization for better spatial planning” with the goal to improve spatial planning through developing powerful human-centered methods and visual representational technologies that make it possible for various users to solve developmental problems through computer-supported, visually-enabled analysis of the growing wealth of geospatial data.
• Team member for developing National Spatial Data Exchange (NSDE) standard under National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) programme. Also provided technical inputs for interoperability of spatial data among different software and during Geographical Markup Language (GML) relay.
• Developed Livelihood Centric STI based development framework and taught about the same in many academic institutions.
• Co-guided 2 research scholars for Ph.D degree.
• Reviewer of “Technology in Society” Journal, Elsevier.

Background/concept papers 

1. Concept paper for the sub-programme “Creating awareness about application of Geoinformatics for local problem solving”.
2. Concept paper on “Empowering Youth through Geo-Informatics & Participation for Local Area Development (EYGIPLAD)” – a collaborative programme between NRDMS, DST and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS).
3. Concept Paper on State Spatial Data Infrastructure for West Bengal.
4. Background paper on “Geo-visualization for better spatial planning”- a programme initiative under Natural Resources Data Management System (NRDMS).