RONO HILLS, Mar 13: A two-day national seminar on ‘Dynamics of economic development in Northeastern region of India: present status, emerging issues and future prospects’, organized by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Department of Economics (RGU) in collaboration with Women Studies and Research Centre (RGU), concluded here today.
Speaking at the valedictory function, Prof Atul Sarma, former RGU Vice Chancellor and member of the 13th Finance Commission, admired the scholars for presenting good quality research papers and appraised the scholars for correctly identifying the micro problems, quantifying them and analyzing suitably. He, however, suggested the scholars that they need to properly conceptualize the research problem as the quality of research depends on how well a researcher articulates the research problem. Once the research problem is well formulated then the research progresses smoothly, he added.
Prof Sarma also called for understanding the phenomenon and behaviour of data to know the kind of trend; linear and non-linear. Thereafter, decide the technique to be applied for data analysis and hypothesis testing. He urged the scholars to review the existing literature in such a way to identify the research gap and then come out with a research problem to make contribution to the knowledge.
Stating that knowledge comes from questioning, the former VC urged the scholars to have critical thinking.
Prof S K Nayak, RGU Vice Chancellor (i/c), mentioned that Prof Sarma had given big support during the preparation of first Human Development Report of Arunachal Pradesh. He asked the scholars to carefully observe the phenomenon as it has a process and research is also a process which needs identification of the phenomenon to proceed further to come out with quality output.
Later, the VC gave away the certificates to the participants.
During the seminar, four plenary lectures were delivered.
The first lecture was delivered by Prof Mrinal K Nath of IIT, Guwahati on the topic ‘Development Experience of North East and Labour Mobility. The second lecture was delivered by Prof Ashish Nath, Tripura University on the topic ‘Knowledge economy and the Northeastern states of India: lessons from recent growth experiences’. The third lecture was delivered by Prof Komol Singh, CESP, JNU, New Delhi on the topic ‘Social Capital, Institutions and Development in India’s North Eastern Region’. The fourth lecture was delivered by Dr Amiya Sarma, Gauhati University on the topic ‘Connectivity of the Northeastern region through the Siliguri corridor: economic and strategic importance’
At the valedictory session, Prof Lijum Nochi informed about the activities of the CDS.
Earlier, Dr Ashi Lama, Seminar Coordinator, mentioned that in total 41 papers were presented in the 8 technical sessions during the two-day event.