Sanjay K. Ram's Personal Website
Integrated Approaches to Sustainability
India is facing severe environmental challenges in many regions, the urgency of which is magnified by climate change. Sustainability goals still remain far from being fulfilled in many dimensions including agriculture, food security, water, equitable access to power, deployment of renewable energy, poverty alleviation, indigenous work availability, economic growth, social justice and gender equality.
Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest source of livelihood in India. 68 % of the Indian population lives in rural areas and 70% of rural households depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood. Of this agricultural population, 82% of farmers are small and marginal.
In spite of rapid technological progress, the transfer of most technologies to rural areas for societal benefit has not occurred. The recent socioeconomic setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed the farmers, migrant workers and the vulnerable sections of the society, undoing years of progress in poverty reduction.
Rural areas need sustainability and livelihood strategies focused on agriculture and technological solutions contextually aligned to villages.
The time has come to develop new approaches to applying interdisciplinary technologies to bridge the technology transfer gaps and design context-sensitive enterprises to deliver sustainable, integrated solutions to environmental, agricultural, economic and social challenges in rural India. If you are interested to develop collaborative projects where your experience or team can contribute to research on sustainability solutions like waste water treatment, carbon dioxide scrubbing, hybrid energy solutions or any other innovative environmental preservation or restoration strategies, please contact me. The synergy of our shared visions and approaches can do more than we can do as individuals.
