A collaboration of sorts

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 17

The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati; Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi; and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, collaborated in a pan-India, multi-institutional initiative to develop a 'Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the Indian Himalayan Region using a common framework.' 

Doctor Shyamasree Dasgupta, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Mandi, said the assessment exercise was unique because for the first time, all 12 Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) states have used a common framework resulting in the production of comparable state-level and within state, district-level vulnerability maps.

"Such comparable vulnerability assessments are useful for the government officials, implementers, decision makers, funding agencies and development experts, to have a common understanding on vulnerability, enabling them to assess which state in IHR is more vulnerable, what has made them vulnerable and how they might address these vulnerabilities," he said. 

The 12 states include Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and the hilly districts of West Bengal in the eastern part and Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir in the Western part of IHR.

The need for such an exercise was due to the fact that IHR is one of the most sensitive regions to climate change and variability, he said. Most parts of the region underwent significant long-term changes in frequencies and the intensity of extreme temperature and rainfall events over the last decades. Realising the high vulnerability of IHR, the government of India launched the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE).

10th Foundation Day

The Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, celebrated its 10th Foundation Day on February 24. 

Since its inception, the institute has been making rapid strides in science, technology, innovation, academics, entrepreneurship, research and development.

First institute to host winter school on cognitive modelling 

• IIT-Mandi, became the first institute in India to host a 'Winter School on Cognitive Modeling' last month inviting national and international researchers and professionals to train students on the best practices in the area of cognitive modeling
• Cognitive models are essentially theories of how people think and make decisions, implemented through computer simulations. Cognitive models can aid researchers in understanding how people make decisions in novel situations such as driving a car or trading in stock market. These decisions are often based on prior experiences and emotions
• Cognitive models can also be used to explain how people make errors while performing in a number of decisions or tasks. Some of these tasks may involve the allocation of resources, control of quantities to goals, negotiations among several individuals and making choices in real-world situations involving risk

"The assessment exercise was unique because for the first time, all 12 Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) states have used a common framework resulting in the production of comparable state-level and within state, district-level vulnerability maps. Such comparable vulnerability assessments are useful for the government officials, implementers, decision makers, funding agencies and development experts, to have a common understanding on vulnerability, enabling them to assess which state in IHR is more vulnerable, what has made them vulnerable and how they might address these vulnerabilities." Shyamasree Dasgupta, Asst prof, School of humanities and social sciences, IIT-Mandi