PANAJI
“Fire your imagination and show more interest in taking up research as a career” asserted Prof Harilal B Menon, Vice-Chancellor, Goa University during the inaugural address of Call of the Wild Lecture Series recently organized by V. M. Salgaocar Chair of Wildlife Studies, Goa University. The lectures held over two days were delivered by four eminent personalities from the field of wildlife and conservation namely Dr Chelmala Srinivasulu, Osmania University, Telangana, Dr KV Gururaja, Shrishti Manipal Institute, Bengaluru, Dr Bivash Pandav, Wildlife Institute of India, Uttarakhand and Shirish Manchi, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History. Prof Menon spoke about the importance of maintaining the balance and equilibrium with nature. He mentioned about how recent satellite pictures have shown that forest cover is receding, oceans are warming and cyclones are now occurring in the Arabian Sea, a region which had never witnessed such phenomena before. He encouraged students to take up research as a career, he further added that research component is now also included in the New Education Policy and explained how academic and research activities work in tandem to influence certain important policy decisions. Prof Bhaskar Nayak, Advisor-Education, V M Salgaocar Trust who was also present spoke about the Chairman Dattaraj Salgaocar’s vision and intense desire to preserve wildlife. He mentioned that VM Salgaocar Chair of Wildlife Studies was instituted for this sole purpose, and he added that this Chair is coupled with the concept of having a post-doctoral fellow who will be working continuously on wildlife.
