19th APG Meet and International Conference, 2018
The 19th APG Meet and International Conference of the Association of Punjab Geographers was jointly organized by P.G. Department of Geography and P.G. Department of Agriculture, GSS DGS Khalsa College, Patiala on 2nd and 3rd November, 2018 on the theme, “Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Environment”. S. Surjit Singh Rakhra, former Education Minister, Punjab was the Chief Guest and Padam Shri Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal was the Guest of Honor for the Inaugural Session. Prof. M. S. Bajwa, Former Director Research, PAU, Ludhiana delivered the keynote address. He laid emphasis on the need of using sustainable practices in agriculture to save our environment for future generations. APG President, Prof. M.S. Jaglan, discussed about the conference theme in detail and enlisted the comprehensiveness of the vast sub themes covered in the preview of the main theme. Patron APG, Dr. H. S. Mangat, elaborated the increased horizon of the Association of Punjab Geographers. Details about the origins and working of Association of Punjab Geographers were given and new geographers were also encouraged to come into the folds of APG.
20th APG Meet and National Conference
Department of Geography, Govt. College, Hisar, Haryana is hosting 20th APG Meet and National Conference on Oct. 11-12, 2019. The Themes for the deliberations at the conference are:
Main Theme:
Ecological Sustainability, Regional Development and Geo-spatial Technology
Sub Theme:
1. Sustainability of Land, Air and Water Resources
2. Agricultural Development and Ecological Changes
3. Climate Change Impacts on Biosphere and Biodiversity
4. Sustainable Economic Development and Regional Planning
5. Socio-cultural Regionalism and Regional Identity
6. Sustainability and Resilience of Urban and Rural Settlements
7. Human Ecology, Dynamics of Population and Environment
8. Infrastructure and Amenities Development Impacts on Ecology
9. Geo-spatial Technology in Environmental Modeling
10. Application of Geo-informatics in Resource Management and Planning
11. Policy Oriented Research and Issues in Geography
Dr. Saminder Jeet Singh Young Geographer Award 2019
Original research papers along with bio-data of the authors who have done Masters’ in Geography and have not attained the age of 32 years are invited from all over India and SAARC countries for the Young Geographer Award competition. A soft copy of the paper prepared according to the format of 'Punjab Geographer' should be submitted in English to Dr. B.R. Thakur, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, H.P. University, Shimla (E-mail- brthakur53@gmail.com, Mob-09418065518). The participants are requested to visit www.apgorg.org for details of rules and regulations before submitting their paper to the coordinator.
Prof. B. Hema Malini Promising Geographer Award
This award has been instituted by Professor Bandaru Hema Mailni, Department of Geography, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam for the promotion of Geography among younger generations. For this award, a competition on Poster Presentation will be conducted every year, at the time of annual conference of APG and will be notified in the brochure of the conference. Young geographers, who have passed MA / M.Sc. in geography and not attained the age of 28 years, are eligible to participate in this award. The aspirants of the award shall submit soft copies of their original posters along with bio-data in English to Coordinator of this award, Dr. Vishwa B. S. Chandel, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh (E-mail: vishwa.geoinvader@gmail.com; Contact : 09872833637). For detailed rules and regulations about this competition, please visit: www.apgorg.org .
Devinder Singh Raina Memorial Meritorious Student Award 2018
To promote the subject of Geography, the Association of Punjab Geographers has instituted Meritorious Student Award, in the memory of Devinder Singh Raina, Department of Geography, University of Jammu, Jammu. Meritorious Student Award, 2018 was presented to Ms. Pushpa Devi, Department of Geography, University of Jammu for standing First in MA Geography Examination, 2018 of University of Jammu, Jammu, at 19th APG Meet and International Conference, held at Khalsa College, Patiala on 2-3 November, 2018.
State Level Geographical Quiz Contest, 2019
The State Level Geographical Quiz Contest is now being conducted in two stages. In the first stage, Zonal Level Quiz Contest will be organized by different zones. The zonal quiz is being conducted by DAV College for Women, Amritsar, Doaba College, Jalandhar, SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana, Govt. College, Mohali, Govt. Mohindra College, Patiala and Baba Farid College, Deon, Bathinda. The winners at zonal level will compete for State Level. The final State Level Quiz Contest will be conducted in the third week of February, 2019 at SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana.
Punjab Geographer
Original research papers are invited for publication from the members. Members can contact Dr. H. S. Mangat, E-mail editor@apgorg.org. Please visit website of APG: www.apgorg.org to see the guidelines for the authors and format of the paper.
News about the Members
Prof. D. D. Sharma, Dept. of Geography, HP University, Shimla has joined as Director, UGC-HRDC, HP University, Shimla.
News from the Departments
Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University
Seven students of the department submitted their dissertations for the award of Ph.D. degree in 2018. Out of these, 4 students namely, Jatinder Kumar, Ramjuwari, Sanjay Kumar and Tejpal were supervised by Professor M. S. Jaglan, while Ravinder, Preeti and Jagdeep Singh were respectively supervised by Professor S. P. Kaushik, Professor, Rajeshwari and Professor Omvir Singh.
Socio-economic Field Survey
Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra conducted a socio-economic field survey under the supervision of Prof. S.P. Kaushik and Mr. Ravinder Kumar from September 30, 2018 to October 7, 2018 in seven villages of Dharamsala tehsil of District Kangra in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Students of M.Sc. Geography, IIIrd semester participated in this socio-economic survey. There were 47 students including 19 boys and 28 girls. During the survey period, students and staff members stayed at Jadrangal village. The surveyed villages are located along the Dharamsala-Palampur road adjoining the famous Chamunda Devi temple. The students surveyed about 401 households in seven villages namely, Padar, Ghirtholi, Sakoli, Pattola, Balla, Kand and Uttaragran.
Geographical News
Sahara swung between lush and desert conditions every 20,000 years, in sync with monsoon activity:
The Sahara desert is one of the harshest, most inhospitable places on the planet, covering much of North Africa in some 3.6 million square miles of rock and windswept dunes. But it wasn't always so desolate and parched. Primitive rock paintings and fossils excavated from the region suggest that the Sahara was once a relatively verdant oasis, where human settlements and a diversity of plants and animals thrived. Now researchers at MIT have analyzed dust deposited off the coast of West Africa over the last 240,000 years, and found that the Sahara, and North Africa in general, has swung between wet and dry climates every 20,000 years. They say that this climatic pendulum is mainly driven by changes to the Earth's axis as the planet orbits the sun, which in turn affect the distribution of sunlight between seasons -- every 20,000 years, the Earth swings from more sunlight in summer to less, and back again.
Krakatau Causes Tsunami:
On August 26-28, 1883, Mt. Krakatoa volcano experienced one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever recorded in human history, generating 15-meter tsunami waves. The sound of explosion was heard at a distance of 3000 miles in Australia. It led to over 36000 deaths. The eruption destroyed the cone spread over five kilometres. In 1927, the cone emerged again from sea. It was named Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatoa). It gained a height of 338 meters till Dec. 22, 2018 when about 64-hectare chunk of the cone slid into the ocean causing huge tsunami in Java and Sumatra.