Hydrology and Water Resources Management in India – from Ancient to Recent Times
Name of the Speaker: Dr. Sharad Kumar Jain
Title of the Seminar: Hydrology and Water Resources Management in India – from Ancient to Recent Times
Date and Time: 28th October 2020 (Wednesday), 4:00 PM
Online platform: MS Teams [link to the video of the seminar]
About the speaker: Dr Sharad Jain is currently serving as a Visiting Professor, Civil Engineering Department, IIT Roorkee, India. He has about 38 years R&D experience in the fields of surface water hydrology, water resources systems, environmental flows, and impacts of climate change on water resources. He was the Director, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India, during 2017-20. Dr Jain was a Post-Doctoral fellow in Japan for one year, Visiting Professor at Louisiana State University, USA, for one year, and NEEPCO Chair Professor at IIT Roorkee (2009-2012). He was also the Director General of National Water Development Agency for a short-term. Dr Jain has co-authored five books, has written 35 book-chapters, about 250 technical papers, and more than 75 technical reports. Dr Jain is a member of Editorial Boards of three reputed technical journals. He was the Chairman of the Expert Appraisal Committee (River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects), MoEF&CC. He is/was member of many scientific committees.
Abstract: Water is closely linked with human existence and survival. Relationship between humans and water is unique. Most ancient civilizations, including the Harappan (Indus Valley) civilization, developed and grew in the vicinity of springs, lakes, rivers and oceans. In the struggle for development, the need to carefully manage water propelled the growth of hydrologic science in ancient India. However, most of the knowledge of hydrologic sciences developed by our forefathers remained hidden and unknown to the world at large until the recent times. Based on ancient literature and evidences revealed by the recent explorations, this talk will provide some fascinating glimpses into the hydrological, hydraulic and related knowledge that was developed in ancient India. The talk will also cover the water management activities in different times and describe how the management decisions evolved in different periods in response to the type and magnitude of demands for water, preferences/choices of the society, and available technology at those times.
Date/Time
Date(s) - 28/10/2020
4:00 pm
