Curtain Falls On PHDMA’s 3-Day Annual Fest ‘Soch Vichar’ In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Curtain came down on the second edition of the three-day-long annual festival , Soch Vichar, of Poverty and Human Development Monitoring Agency (PHDMA) here on Tuesday after serious deliberations on various development-related issues, livelihood, economy, and climate resilience measures.

The concluding day marked inspiring remarks by Member Secretary PHDMA, Roopa Soshan Sahoo, for the young professionals, to excel in their respective fields and expand the spectrum of PHDMA in the entire development arena across Odisha.

The Day-1 started on December 3 with an insightful panel discussion on ‘Delivering governance: Odisha on the move’ in which experts from CYSD, UNDP and XIM University participated. Former director of the National Academy of Broadcasting and Multimedia Dipak Samantarai called for more awareness about various government schemes and welfare measures.

Dean, School of Rural Management, Xavier University Bhubaneswar, Niraj Kumar stressed coordinated approach and support for those at the grassroots The onus, according to him, lies on implementing agencies to focus on the management aspects of the schemes. UNDP State Head Abha Mishra cited the use of e-portals and technology by Odisha government to enhance transparency in governance for the welfare of the people.

Program director, CYSD, Basant Kumar Nayak emphasized that governance should be context-specific, guided by four parameters: participatory, inclusive, accountable, and transparent processes. He highlighted Odisha’a vision on introducing separate budgets for agriculture, gender, nutrition, and stressed the importance of inclusive governance.

The second day of the fest saw noted anthropologist and Associate Professor from Delhi University Dr Avitoli Zhimo emphasising the transformative power of images in revealing the lived experiences of the other half of the world while speaking on ‘Visual Anthropology’. She discussed the significance of Applied Visual Anthropology (AVA) emerging as a form of social intervention distinct from its academic counterpart.

In another session national-award winning documentary maker Lipika Singh Darai, who belongs to the Ho tribal community of Mayurbhanj district, showcased her documentary ‘Some Stories Around Witches’, which was particularly connected to the theme of anti-witch hunting, delving into the socio-political-cultural dynamics prevalent in tribal communities.

She also interacted with the participants of Soch Vichar and emphasised aspects like fieldwork and information or research and prolonged engagement with the people to extract the most comprehensive and nuanced insights.

On the concluding day, an engaging deliberation on Climate Change and its impacts with emphasis on the regional context was held followed by a question-answer session. The four-member expert team shared through their observations from their field experiences on ‘Climate Resilience and Livelihoods in Odisha’.

The panel included Vasundhara executive director Giri Rao, Foundation for Ecological Security general manager Swapnasri Sarangi, senior advisor, SELCO Foundation, Gautam Kumar Pradhan and integrator, PRADAN, Amulya Kumar Khandai.

In a follow-up session, research manager, EPIC India, Zoya Khan spoke on ‘Evidence-based research: Methodology and its future in Odisha’ and touched upon issues like evidence-based policy making, educating the lawmakers, emissions trading between industries, carbon offsets, national carbon markets and how air quality index is affecting life expectancy.

Apart from the engaging discussions, fun-filled activities on an increased awareness of SDGs, leadership and team-building exercises were conducted.

The Agency is an autonomous organization under the administrative control of Planning & Convergence Department, Government of Odisha. Its goal has been to build the state government’s capacities in tracking the progress of poverty and human development indicators on a regular basis and providing a monitoring system and collecting national and international best practices with regard to poverty reduction and improved life quality and adapt them to local conditions and disseminate the same to different stakeholders.