First Memorial Lecture in honour of Professor Gopal Krishan, Professor Emeritus 

Chandigarh, July 10, 2024: The Department of Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh organized first Memorial Lecture in honour of Professor Gopal Krishan, Professor Emeritus, Panjab University, Chandigarh  on Wednesday at ICSSR Complex, North-Western Regional Centre, Panjab University, Chandigarh.  

Prof. Arun Kumar Grover, Former Vice Chancellor, Panjab University, Chandigarh was the Chief Guest.  Prof. B.S. Ghuman, former Vice Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala delivered the Memorial Lecture on the topic “Envisioning India as a Developed Nation from the Balanced Regional Development Perspective”.

Prof. Navneet Kaur, Chairperson, Department of Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh welcomed the Chief Guest and the Speaker.  Prof. Krishna Mohan introduced the audience about the multi-faceted personality of Prof. Gopal Krishan.  Prof. B.S. Ghuman in his lecture highlighted that India is on the march of becoming economic super power.  In this journey, India has envisioned to become a developed country by 2047.  For achieving this objective, country needs to adopt a multi-pronged strategy encompassing all sectors, regions and strata of society.  Balanced regional development strategy along with other strategies would play a pivotal role for achieving the goal of becoming an advanced economy by 2047. The existing reality of glaring regional disparities doesn’t augur well in this regard. Indian government, along with state and local governments need to launch an aggressive strategy to develop backward states on speedier paths which would emerge as powerful engine of development of national economy. Economic literature lends support to this policy prescription by postulating that in the long run the per capita income of backward geographies has the potential to catch up the per capita income of that of advanced geographies.

Prof. Arun Kumar Grover in his presidential remarks stated that the vision of balanced development dates back to 1943 when teacher scientists envisioned it.  He appealed the teachers of the Universities to join hands to gather and work for evolving strategy form regional development.  On this occasion, a large number of senior academicians, bureaucrats, researchers, family members of Prof. Gopal Krishan were present.  Prof. Salahuddin Qureshi, President, National Association of Geographers of India was also present.  Finally, Dr. Vishwa Bandhu Singh Chandel presented vote of thanks to everyone who supported in grand success of the first Memorial Lecture.