Dehradun: Off the main road near Dehradun’s busy Ballupur flyover, lies a modest complex of buildings that houses some of India’s most unique research. From fossils of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago to precious minerals carefully extracted from rocks found beneath the Earth’s surface, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology chronicles every detail of the Indian subcontinent’s collision with Eurasia over 50 million years dedicated to. first.
What is more pressing is that whenever disaster strikes the fragile Himalayan region, scientists here are quick to provide their expertise and forecasts.
The sinking of Joshimath is no different. Over the past two weeks, scientists at the institute have been working with other agencies to try to save the remaining parts of the city that are facing severe landslides.
What puts the Wadia Institute in a unique position to address such issues is its expertise in the Himalayan region. This is the only research institute in the world It focuses entirely on rocks and remains from the Himalayas, the smallest mountain range on Earth.
And because the Himalayas are still evolving, many universes open themselves up to continuous study, faculty and students of the institute told ThePrint.
“I want to do my job Trans Himalayan area, so this is one of the best places to help me do that. The Himalayas are still rising and the plates are still colliding, which is why we are seeing many new discoveries from here,” said Shailendra Pundir, a postdoctoral scholar at the institute, specializing in petrology, geochemistry and geodynamics.
But as an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology of the Central Government, it must work within certain constraints. Red tape marks routine tasks. A gag order on discussing land subsidence in Joshimath is one that the institute readily followed, and its current director, Kalachand Sen, remained unavailable for interviews despite repeated attempts to contact him by phone, email and in person. be unavailable.
At a time when climate change is occurring on a large scale, particularly affecting the Himalayas, the work emanating from the Institute is being sought by national government bodies as well as international researchers.
“The study of Himalayan geology is important as it controls the water budget of the subcontinent and determines the monsoon. It is home to the third pole, and is one of the most seismically active regions in the world,” said a senior from the institute. Scientist Kaushik Sen explained to ThePrint, adding: “Our research not only contributes to the fundamental science of the Himalayan region but also its impact on society and life.
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a kind of organization
Young geoscientists in India who want to continue doing serious research do not have much choice after completing their PhD. Other institutes doing research in geology include CSIR’s National Geophysical Research Institute, Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, Central Institutes like IIT Kharagpur, and Geological Survey of India.
But Wadia remains popular because of his precise focus on Himalayan geology and the opportunity to pursue pure research.
“Wadia is a big name, and joining the program, either for a PhD or as a research assistant, is not always easy,” said Shubham Chowdhary, a postdoctoral fellow who completed his Ph.D. from the institute. After coming 38th in the National Eligibility Test, Chowdhary briefly worked for a commercial oil company before returning to academia.
“I wanted to come back here because I knew I would have the freedom to pursue my research interests without any hindrance. I can work in the lab any time, night or day. If you are a motivated person, this kind of learning environment is ideal,” he said.
The institute itself is small and staid, with an air of studiousness pervading its corridors. There are eight broad areas of focus, including Geochemistry, Geophysics, Sedimentology and Glaciology – each with its own laboratory.
Among the complex’s brightest new assets is a mass plasma spectrometer, an instrument that measures isotopic ratios used in geochemistry.
Several research assistants and young scientists told ThePrint that working at the Wadia Institute was an attractive prospect as it has all the necessary equipment for studies under one roof.
Today, the institute has 55 permanent scientists who are supported by dozens of Ph.D. scholars and research fellows. After 2003, when Baldev R. Arora, the former director, felt that as the average age of scientists was more than 50 years, involving more youth in the institute’s academic activities became a priority.
“We started a scheme to induct young scholars into the institute and now there are over 60 of them,” he told ThePrint over the phone. Arora served as the director of the institute for six years from 2003 to 2009.
Even though it is the only institute of its kind in India, it has not become a top research institute either nationally or internationally. according to Web Ranking of World Research Centers, The Wadia Institute is ranked 84 out of 297 research institutes in India after Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and National Physical Laboratory India. It is ranked 1773 in the world.
The upgrade of lab equipment has not always kept pace with its development. An ancient-looking computer sits in the Department of Geochemistry’s Spectro Laboratory, where rocks are liquefied to try and find various trace elements. The machine, purchased in 2003, continues to serve the Department of Geochemistry – one of the most attractive for the Institute.
“A lot of environmental testing is done by this department, so this machine is extremely useful. It works, but it is not as efficient as the new ones. We have placed a new order, which will be installed in a few months,” Mutum Rajnikant Singh, a scientist who joined the institute in 2020, told ThePrint.
Singh claimed that the process of replacing the equipment is slow, but not inconvenient.
Darashaw Norsherwan Wadia – pioneer geologist
The institute was established in 1968 by its namesake, Darashaw Nausherwan Wadia. Wadia was a passionate geologist who traveled the world studying and presenting various geological phenomena ranging from minerals. Lanka from (now Sri Lanka) alpine geology in Switzerland. His interest in the subject arose at a time when it did not exist as a formal field of study in most Indian universities, and according to many, much of his learning was self-taught. Accounts,
He was appointed assistant superintendent in the Geological Survey of India in 1921 at the age of 38, and rose rapidly through the ranks to become geological advisor to the central government in 1944, then director for the Mineral Division of the Atomic Energy Commission. Took the position intermittently until his death in 1969.
But Wadia’s fascination with the Himalayas – among which he spent several years as a young teacher in Jammu – remained constant according to Record, In 1963, Wadia proposed that an institute dedicated to the study of the Himalaya be established. The Central Institute of Himalayan Geology finally came into existence in 1968 – a year before Wadia’s death – after which it was renamed in his honour.
Wadia’s writings and photographs from his travels in the Himalayan range are displayed in the institute’s museum, along with fossils of giraffes and elephants that once walked the earth.
The museum is perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the complex, capturing the origin and evolution of the Himalaya, and forcing visitors to take a closer look at specimens that would otherwise be overlooked. Hundreds of people – mostly students and other geologists – visit the museum each year, and leave glowing comments in its logbooks.
Artifacts displayed include volcanic ash, the skull of a Homo erectus (one of the earliest human species), fossilized bark of trees, and sediments from prehistoric times, among hundreds of others.
Decrease in development, move away from ‘basic research’
Although its scientists have long warned about the fragility of the Himalayas, many experts have criticized the institute’s inability to garner more attention from state and central governments. As an autonomous institute largely funded by the government, it is often torn between producing academic research and lending its expertise to government projects and court-appointed committees.
For example, large development projects as well as unplanned townships are flourishing throughout the Himalayas, despite well-documented studies showing how detrimental they can be to the region.
“When I was the director, we did a study which showed that not more than about 500 people should visit the Badrinath temple at a time because more than that would create a lot of stress on the environment. The government agreed at that time, and Some guidelines were drafted,” former director Arora told ThePrint. “But I am not sure what has happened now.”
The Institute’s focus on fundamental research – research rooted in expanding the knowledge base and formulating theories – as well as due to lack of administrative opportunities at senior levels, is gradually waning Pradeep Srivastava, now an associate professor at IIT Roorkee Hai, decided to drop out of college. 2021 after serving Wadia Institute for more than 16 years.
“In a small institute like Wadia, everything has to be done through the director, and the director is under the secretary of DST. It is a good place to start your career as they have every facility you may need .. But at my level you also start looking for lateral movement within the organisation. At Wadia, there was very limited scope for this,” Srivastava, who won the GK Gilbert Prize for Excellence in Geomorphological Research in 2007, told ThePrint told.
The implication, Srivastava said, was a limited sense of development. “The government has some mandate, but we are academics. We cannot align with any policy or political landscape. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if fundamental research takes a back seat, and if applied research comes with terms, it limits academic pursuits.”
Sen, senior scientist, acknowledges the gradual shift within the institute away from basic sciences and towards applied research. Applied research focuses on the problem-solving aspects of scientific inquiry. But according to him, more diversity is a welcome change. New research coming out of the institute includes developing early warning systems for landslides and closely monitoring the melting of glaciers – both of which are likely to be worsened by the effects of climate change.
“Earlier we used to focus on geology and geophysics, but now we have students from different streams including environmental sciences. This diversity has also helped strengthen some of our findings,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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