Bhubaneswar: The second edition of the three-day-long annual festival of deep insight and fun-filled moments “Soch Vichar” of the Poverty and Human Development Monitoring Agency (PHDMA), concluded on 5 December, after serious deliberations on various development-related issues, livelihood, economy, and climate resilience measures amidst well-known sectoral experts.
The concluding day marked inspiring remarks by Member Secretary PHDMA, Roopa Soshan Sahoo, for the young professionals, to excel in their respective fields and expand the spectrum of PHDMA in the entire development arena across Odisha.
The Day-1 started on December 3 with an insightful panel discussion on “Delivering governance: Odisha on the move” in which experts from leading organisations CYSD, UNDP and XIM University participated.
Initiating the discussion Dipak Samantarai, Former Director, of the National Academy of Broadcasting and Multimedia called for the creation of more awareness on the various government schemes and welfare measures so that people need to be updated on them.
Professor Niraj Kumar Dean, School of Rural Management, Xavier University Bhubaneswar called for a coordinated approach and support for those at the grassroots level. The onus, according to him, lies on implementing agencies to focus on the management aspects of the schemes.
UNDP State Head Abha Mishra cited the example of the Odisha Government using e-portals and technology to enhance transparency in governance for the welfare of the people.
Basant Kumar Nayak, Program Director, CYSD emphasized that governance should be context-specific, guided by four parameters: Participatory, inclusive, accountable, and transparent processes. He highlighted Odisha’a vision on introducing separate budgets for agriculture, gender, nutrition, etc., and stressed the importance of inclusive governance.
During the DAY-2 deliberations, Dr Avitoli Zhimo, a noted anthropologist and Associate Professor from Delhi University, while speaking on “Visual Anthropology” emphasized the transformative power of images in revealing the lived experiences of the other half of the world. She discussed the significance of Applied Visual Anthropology (AVA) emerging as a form of social intervention distinct from its academic counterpart.
In another session National Award winner noted documentary maker from Odisha Lipika Singh Darai, who belongs to the Ho tribal community of Mayurbhanj district showcased her documentary “Some Stories Around Witches” (2013), which was particularly connected to the theme of anti-witch hunting, delving into the socio-political-cultural dynamics prevalent in tribal communities.
She also interacted with the participants of Soch Vichar and emphasized aspects like fieldwork and information or research and prolonged engagement with the people to extract the most comprehensive and nuanced insights.
On the concluding day (Day-3) an engaging deliberation on Climate Change and its impacts with emphasis on the regional context was held followed by a question-answer session.
The four-member expert team enlightened the participants through their observations from their field experiences on “Climate Resilience and Livelihoods in Odisha” on the final day of “Soch Vichar”.
The panel included Giri Rao, Executive Director, Vasundhara, Swapnasri Sarangi, General Manager, Foundation for Ecological Security, Gautam Kumar Pradhan, Senior Advisor, SELCO Foundation and Amulya Kumar Khandai, Integrator, PRADAN.
In a follow up session, Zoya Khan, Research Manager, EPIC India spoke on “Evidence-based research: Methodology and its future in Odisha” and touched upon issues like evidence-based policy making, educating the lawmakers, emissions trading between industries, carbon offsets, national carbon markets and how air quality index is affecting life expectancy.
Apart from the engaging discussions, fun-filled activities on an increased awareness of SDGs, leadership and team-building exercises were conducted under the guidance of Officer on Special Duty PHDMA Amruta Priyambada. Senior officials of PHDMA also attended the festival and took part in the activities.