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Member Secretary’s Report
2022-2023

  1. At the outset, I would like to pay my homage to the departed soul of our life members, who left us for heavenly abode during this year.
     

  2. The Indian Anthropology Congress of the Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists (INCAA) was held from February 21, 2022 to February 23, 2022 in a blended mode in Hyderabad, in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology, University of Hyderabad. The theme of the Congress was Anthropology and Biocultural Diversity in India: Retrospect and Prospect.
     

  3. Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of UoH, Prof. B. J. Rao chaired the Inaugural Session and Dr. W. R. Reddy, IAS (Rtd.), delivered the keynote address.
     

  4. The organizers divided the congress into five segments. They are as follows: Memorial Lectures, Round Tables, Symposia, Technical sessions and screening of Ethnographic films.
     

  5. After the Inauguration Session, B.M. Das Memorial Lecture was delivered by Professor Padamashri K. Paddyaya, Professor Emeritus and former Director of Deccan College, Pune, India (Chaired by Professor K.K. Basa); and Professor Vinay K Srivastava Memorial Lecture by Professor Agust’in Fuentes, Department of Anthropology at Princeton University (Chaired by Professor P. Venkata Rao). Professor S.C. Dube Memorial lecture could not be held because of the sad demise of the speaker Professor I.S. Marwah, former Professor of Delhi University.    
     

  6. There were three Round Table meetings in that congress. Apart from the INCAA Round Table meeting on the topic Anthropology and Pandemics (Chaired by Professor K.K. Basa), the organizers conducted two other Round Table meetings- Decolonizing the Discipline: Anthropology in India (chaired by Professor P. Venkata Rao) and Cultural Diversity and Tribal Education in the context of NEP (Chaired by Professor R. Siva Prasad).
     

  7. There were 12 symposia in the congress. The themes of the symposia were diverged ranging from Diversity, Endangered Languages and Sustainability, Genome Diversity and Gene-environment Interaction in Health and Disease, Recent research in Archaeological Anthropology, Biological and Cultural Diversity of Northeast India: Tradition and Transition, Changing Ecological Consciousness: Religious Beliefs and altering Interventions with Nature, Mitigating the Natural Hardships through Cultural Interventions in the (Sub) Himalayas, Anthropological Insights on Issues of BioCultural Diversity in India, Studies on Malnutrition, Nomadic Tribes in India and Bio-Cultural Diversity: Knowledge and Conservation, Tribal Tourism and Bio-cultural Diversity, Food, Identity, and Reaction of the Communities during the Pandemic Crisis in the North-East India and so on.
     

  8. Four ethnographic films were screened during the congress. These were Nagoba Jatara – by Ms. Jennifer Alphonse;  Prof. (Dr.) A. Aiyappan –The Great Indian Anthropologist – by Dr. Mahendra Kumar;  Birth 1871 – by Dakxin Bajrangee and  Sent Away Boys – by Harjanth 
     

  9. There were 25 technical sessions in the congress ranging from Nature-Culture interaction to  Livelihood and Traditional Knowledge, Livelihood and Ecological Knowledge, Biodiversity and Tourism, Covid Pandemic-Challenges and Responses, Physical Anthropology I and II, Prehistoric Arts Crafts and Folklore, Reproductive and Sexual Health and so on.
     

  10. There were poster sessions, where the participants presented their research. 
     

  11. The conference received 225 presentations excluding those absent for various reasons. Out of which, 200 were from various parts of India and 20 presenters from various countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Japan, United Kingdom, and USA. Overall, 44 sessions were conducted during three days for academic deliberations besides a few sessions for organizational management.
     

  12. The valedictory session was chaired by Prof. V. Usha Kiran, Honorary Director, ICSSR-SRC. The Valedictory address delivered by Prof. S. M. Patnaik, Former Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.
     

  13. The three-day congress has significant audience in each session despite conducting 5-6 parallel sessions every time. At any given time during the congress was attended by 300-400 participants, all the sessions put together in online and offline. There were 150-250 online participants 100 offline participants for the memorial lectures. Everything put together, the congress had the participation of more than 5000 online and offline delegates in various roles.
     

  14. After a long effort, we have been able to change the signatories of the account of Canara Bank of INCAA, Jadavpur Branch, Kolkata. This bank account is in operation now. We have shifted the SBI, Jhargram Branch account to  SBI Ballygunge Branch, Kolkata for operational convenience. 
     

  15. We have not been able to change the registered office of INCAA, which is presently in Jhargram, West Bengal. However, the publications of  INCAA has been shifted from that office to a space provided by  the authority of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanjadeo University, Baripada, Odisha. We are now in the process of disbursing the publications to different academic institutions. 
     

  16. The Regional Chapter of Guwahati Regional Centre organized their 17th Foundation Day of this chapter was celebrated in the Department of Anthropology, Cotton University. This Regional Chapter also organized a two-day international seminar on November 1 and 2, 2022 on the theme Development and Changes: Role of Anthropology and Allied Disciplines in collaboration with Down Town University, Assam through blended mode. The themes of the seminar ranged from Rethinking Development, Gender Discrimination and other issues, Power, Politics and Ethnicity, Child rights and Governance, Natural Resource Management and Security, Health and Culture, Agriculture Development, Population Aging and Associated Concerns, Archaeological Anthropology and Cultural Resource Management and so on. 
     

  17. The activities of the four regional chapters, namely Chandigarh, Lucknow, Mysuru and need to be initiated. 
     

  18. Only one new member enrolled for INCAA this year. 
     

  19. We are trying to develop a new website for INCAA. Professor B.V. Sharma, one of the Vice-Presidents of INCAA has taken this initiative. 
     

  20. We are still in the process of looking for an office space from INCAA. 
     

  21. We couldn’t proceed much to introduce Fellowship Programme in INCAA (as proposed by Professor K.K. Basa) nor could have initiated the process of creating corpus fund for INCAA (as proposed by Professor R. Siva Prasad).
     

  22.  We have not succeeded in preparing the ‘Status Paper’ of Anthropology  (as raised by Dr. Appa Rao)
     

  23.  Professor R. Siva Prasad, former Professor of Hyderabad University has been appointed as the Election Officer for conducting the election of the members of the Governing Council of INCAA 2023-2026.
     

  24.  The theme for the Indian Anthropology Congress for the year 2023 is “Anthropology in Nation Building in the Post-Independence Era and the Road Ahead”, February 21-23, 2023, in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology and Tribal Studies, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia, West Bengal.
     

  25.  The theme of the Round Table meeting of  Indian Anthropology Congress is “The Public/Private Partnership of Human Body and the State: Biological and Cultural Dimensions ”.
     

  26. This year Professor B.M. Das Memorial Oration will be delivered by P.K. Chattopadhyay [Former Professor of Forensic Sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala]. 
     

  27. This year Professor S.C. Dube Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Vijoy S Sahay  (former Professor of Anthropology, Allahabad  University). 
     

  28. The Governing Council appointed  S. Singha & Associates , Chartered Accountant , P.O. Mogra, Paschim Medinipur, WB, Pin 721156 as the auditor. 

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