JNU: Kiren Rijiju inaugurates centre for disaster research

The Special Centre for Disaster Research (SCDR) was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju at JNU on Thursday. The country should equip itself to face “severe” disasters, he said during the event.

An MoU regarding the National Institute of Disaster Management to setup the SCDR was signed by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2015.

Speaking at the event, Rijiju said “We are going to face severe disasters in future and if we are unable to handle it effectively we are going to neutralise our growth.”

There is need to reach out to different communities at the grass root and sensitise them, he said.

“We are now talking about disaster risk management and how to prevent them or mitigate the effect,” the Union Minister added.

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Without confining it to just social sciences or natural sciences, the centre aims at taking a trans-disciplinary approach for its research.

The centre has also planned to include scientific findings and social sciences to decipher and direct the findings to communities, and institutions for decision making.

The centre’s website was also inaugurated by the minister himself.

Excited about the centre’s aim of taking the social sciences approach to disaster management, the UGC’s acting chairman, V S Chauhan said during the event.

The centre on Thursday also conducted a two-day workshop on various projects.

(With PTI inputs)

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