JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.83, APRIL 2014

472 NEWS AND NOTES

World Wetlands Day – Atul Aditya Pandey, Geological Society of Patna Science College, PatnaUniversity

The Geological Society of PatnaScience College commemorated “WorldWetlands Day” by organizing two days offunction at the Geology Department, PatnaUniversity. On day one, an exhibition ofmodels/charts/posters prepared by thestudents of Patna Science College wasinaugurated by the Principal of the collegeU.K.S inha. Around 50 models and chartswere showcased by the students depictingvarious dimensions of wetlands in generaland status of riverine wetlands of northBihar plains in particular. Few models werealso exhibited on other aspects of geologicalscience. The models were evaluated by

panel of judges consisting of retired officersof GSI namely Shri N. Dayal, ShriP.K.Sinha and Shri Binod Kumar. A quizwas conducted in the afternoon session. Thequestions related to the limnology.

On the concluding day, three presenta-tions were made for creating awareness onthe Wetlands of the Ganga plains. AtulAditya Pandey, Associate Professor in thedepartment of geology presented a historicalaccount of the Ramsar Convention. Thesignificance of the wetlands in maintainingthe ecology of the region and threatslooming large due to pace of developmentalactivities in the Ganga plain were elaborated

in detail. Sudarshan Sahu, Scientist fromCGWB dealt on the “ground water – wet-land interactive system in the gangetic plain.Gopal Sharma, Scientist, Zoological Surveyof India presented a slide show on some ofthe well known wetlands of the state ofBihar – viz. Kabar lake of Begusarai dist.,Baraila lake of Vaishali dist., Kusheshwarsthan of Darbhanga dist. and Gogabeel ofKatihar dist.

The valedictory session was chaired byAnil Kumar Sinha,Vice Chairman BiharState Disaster Management Authority whogave away prizes to the winners of the Essay,Quiz and Model exhibition competitions.