As a part of Sanskriti Anveshak Lecture Series on land policy, Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture organizes a lecture on issues of wetlands on 9th October, 2010.  Presented by Prof. A.K. Bhagabati of department of Geography, Gauhati University, the title of the lecture is Wetlands of Assam: past, present and future.

The agriculture sector of India in contemporary times faces two challenges. One, intensification of land use to raise food production for the rising population, and two, the challenges posed by natural resource degradation and climate change caused particularly by variable rainfall and extreme weather events.

A popular but unfounded belief has been spread that Hindus have thirty-three crore (33,00,00,000) gods. It is a misunderstanding of the Vedic concept of the State, and hence a misinterpretation of the word koti. Thirty-three divinities are mentioned in the Yajur-Veda, Atharva Veda, áatapatha-Brāhmana and in other Vedic and later texts. The number thirty-three occurs with reference to divinities in the Parsi scriptures of Avesta as well.

In Jaina tradition, as in all Indian communities, marriage is a community event as not only two individuals, but two families are united. Until, and sometimes after, marriage, children generally live with their parents, and it is the parents’ responsibility to introduce them [perhaps with the help of suitable intermediaries] to prospective marriage partners. It is quite misleading to refer to this as arranged marriage – in practice, the couple has every opportunity over a long period to get to know each other, and the decision to marry belongs to them alone.

The epic tradition of India upholds an ideal tradition of Indian culture, assimilating the folk culture in it. India is a country of different communities, languages and cultural groups. Inspite of all the diversities it has a basic cultural unity. This unity is cemented firmly by the great epics like the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata. The Rāmāya¸a remains a perennial source of social functions on the cultural life of India.

On the Singpho Community

1. Initiation of the process through a societal and communal approval

2. In the Tai-Phake community, legal marriages are conducted socially and with the community’s approval. It is, in fact a social custom—an ancient tradition, that has been in continuance untouched over time.

The foundation of the Khasi society is based on the concept of Kur and Kha. Ka Tipkur ka Tipkha is a respectful recognition of the basic social structure, which consists of either maternal or paternal relationships. All those who are descendants of the same ancestral mother belong to the same Kur or clan and members of the father’s clan are not Kur but Kha. It enjoins all to know and respect each other, to recognize one’s relation on both sides and to give due regard to them.