Balasore: A Three Days International Webinar was successfully conducted on ‘Social and Cultural Challenges during COVID-19 Pandemic in Indian Society: Local and Global Concerns in collaboration with Indian Sociological Society and Ethnographic and Folk culture Society ,by Post Graduate Department of Social Science, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, Odisha, 27th -29TH July 2020. The inaugural day of the webinar was declared open by, Head of the Department of Socoial Sciences, Dr. Sunil Kumar Padhi, Chairman Post Graduate Council , Prof. S.N Dehuri, and Vice Chancellor Prof. Madhumita Das. This was followed by Inaugural address by Prof. Anand Kumar, Professor (Rtd.) Centre for Study of Social Systems, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi, Prof. Paramjt Singh Judge, Professor (Rtd.) Department of Sociology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, President Indian Sociological Society and Prof. Sukant Chaudhary, Lucknow University, Lucknow and Secretary Ethnographic Folk Culture Society. The afternoon session was dedicated to theme “Anthropology of COVID-19”, graced by Prof. Deepak Kumar Behera, Vice Chancellor , Sambalpur University and Prof.Mohan Kanti Gautam, President and Chancellor to European University of West and East, Netherland. The Second Day was dedicated to the theme of “Sociology of COVID-19” and Eminent Sociologists such as Prof.B.K Nagla, Professor (Rtd.) M.D University, Rohatak, Harryana, Prof. Jagan Karade, Professor Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Professore Nilika Mehrotra, Profesor, Centre for Study of Social Systems, J.N.U, Prof. Dipti Ranjan Sahu, Professor, Lucknow University, Lucknow. The second half was based on the theme “Revisiting Challenges of COVID-19” and it was chaired by Prof. Tatwmasi Palta Singh, Professor, Department of Sociology, Sambalpur University, Sambalpur. This session was enriched with multiple papers from speakers from different Universities across Odisha such as Dr. Bimala Nanda, Dr. Bikram Keshari Mishra, Dr. Tanaya Mohanty, Dr.Aditya Keshari Mishra, Dr.Manosmita Mahapatra, Dr.Vandana Narik, Dr. Sasmita Soren. The concluding day was based on the theme discussing “Contemporary Challenges of COVID-19 in Odisha”. This was addressed by Prof. Navaneeta Ratha, Professor, Utkal University, Bhubanewar, Prof. Anant Kumar Giri, Professor ,Madras Institute of Development, Vhennai, Dr. Arundhati Moanty, Bhadrak Autonomous College, Dr. Bibhabari Bal, B.J.B Autonomous College, This was also followed by presentations by some young University teachers such as Dr. James Kindo, Dr. Sagarika Maishra,Dr. Kumud Chandra Panigrahi , Dr. Jayram Sigh Samal etc. The last session was dedicated to “Issues of Research during COVID-19” which was addressed by Prof. Marie Bage, Utkal University, Dr. Rabindra Garada, Utkal University and Dr. Kapila Kemandu, Central University of Odisha, Koraput. This was followed by some interesting research papers from Ph.D scholars from several eminent institutions which included scholars like, Medha, Sumana, Samrita, Bijay, Manisha, Jaydev, Makardhwaja, Chinmayee, Bishnuprasad, Ansupa, Sonu, Debashreeta, Rahul, Prachi, Trupti, Supriya etc. The co conveners to this webinar were Dr. Pabitra Mohan Nayak , Dr. Sipra Sagarika and Dr. Smruti Sikta Thapa. The technical team who was the pillar to the grand success of this webinar included Manoj Kumar Siala, Prahllad Das , Bijay Kumar Sahoo and Tapu Maharana. This turned out to be an excellent exercise to understand different challenges of COVID-19 Pandemic in society from local to Global levels. This entire webinar was initiated and managed by Dr. Sipra Sagarika, Assistant Professor in Sociology, Post Graduate Department of Social Sciences, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore. Thus, this webinar aims to putforth its outcomes in an edited book form and contribute towards Governmental policy formulations to combat the crisis situation of COVID-19 Pandemic situation.
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