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Jorhat, Oct. 30: The Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, Guwahati, under Indian Council of Social Science Research, Delhi, has signed an MoU with JB College Jorhat to promote research and development activities in the Northeast.
Under the MoU — the first one between the institute and a college in Upper Assam signed earlier this month — the area of research will be all subjects under social science.
The director of the institute, Bhupen Sarmah, told this correspondent today that under the Centre’s programme to promote research activity in the field of social science in the Northeast, the MoU with JB College had been inked for a period of three years after which performance of the college and the institute would be reviewed and the pact could be extended.
Sarmah said the job of the institute is to carry out joint research on matters pertaining to social science of the Northeast which is used for policy formulations for the region. He said as JB College is a premier college interested in expanding its role, the institute has taken it as a partner.
He said under the terms of agreement the college would be a full-fledged partner in all kinds of research like carrying out field surveys, organising conferences, workshops, seminars, and symposiums at various levels to collect authentic data on different aspects of social science.
The two sides will cooperate in organising special lectures by scholars of national and international repute on an annual basis besides making every effort to support and promote long-term research and training programmes on teaching and other related activities.
Sarmah said there would be joint publications of all conferences, workshops, seminars along with capacity-building programmes for upcoming research scholars.
The MoU also calls for designing effective research internship programmes for students. “We look forward to a fruitful relationship with the college and hope to undertake projects depending on mutual areas of interest between both the institutes,” Sarmah said.
JB College principal Bimal Barah said he hoped the college would grow gradually as a research institute by being a partner with a “well-known research institute” of the region.
He said social science subjects are not only needed for academic purpose but also required for research studies as these subjects are concerned with the socio-economic conditions of the people.
“Proper and correct studies in these subjects could go a long way in resolving many issues as policies in the Centre were framed on the basis of feedback received from bodies like the institute,” Barah said.
He said the political science department would be the nodal body for implementing the MoU.
Head of the department of political science of the college Bolin Hazarika said as a first assignment under the MoU, a weeklong workshop would be organised at the college in December on research methodology for carrying out any kind of research under social science.
Hazarika said the workshop in which resource persons of national and international repute will participate, will discuss the new trends of methods coming up across the globe to carry out research.
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