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Member Secretary’s Report
2020-2021

  1. At the outset, I would like to pay my homage to departed soul of our life members, Professor Vinay K Srivastava, Professor A.R. N. Srivastava and Professor Shaunak Kulkarni who left us for heavenly abode during this year.

  2. The outbreak of pandemic during this year has disrupted the entire humanity and we are all trying to cope with the new normal situation. But I hope we will get back to our old course shortly. INCAA, as an organization had a number of administrative and academic plans and programmes, but could not execute all due to this pandemic situation. Nevertheless, let me present before you whatever we could do during this period. 
     

  3. The Annual Meet of Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists (INCAA) and Celebration of 100 Years of Teaching Anthropology in India was held in Kolkata on 21st & 22nd February, 2020. This was done in collaboration with the Asiatic Society, Indian Museum, Anthropological Survey of India and Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal.
     

  4. The Inaugural Function was held on 21.2.2020 at 11am at the Ashutosh Birth Centenary Hall, Indian Museum under the chairmanship of Professor R. K. Mutatkar, Former Chairman, INCAA. It started with the lighting of lamp by guests. Prof. Kishor K. Basa, Member Secretary, INCAA welcomed the guests on the dias as well as all present. The Inaugural Address on the Celebration of 100 Years of Teaching Anthropology in India was delivered by Professor Vinay K. Srivastava, Director, Anthropological Survey of India on the topic Whither Goest Anthropology? Some Thoughts, Some Lessons. A volume on Ethics and Objectivity in Anthropology , edited by Professor P. K. Misra – which is the Proceedings of Roundtable 2019 held in Pune – was jointly released by Professor R. K. Mutatkar and Professor R. K. Das. This was followed by an address by Dr. Satya Brata Chakrabarti, General Secretary, Asiatic Society. Besides, Dr. Satya Brata Chakrabarty and Professor Vinay K. Srivastava jointly released the Prof. B. M. Das Memorial Oration 2020 which is to be delivered by Prof. S. L. Malik on 22.2.2020. Subsequently Professor Rajat Kanti Das, President, Indian Anthropological Society, Kolkata and Professor A. R. Bandyopadhyay, Head, Department of Anthropology, Calcutta University addressed the gathering. Then Professor A. R. Bandyopadhyay and Professor Barun Mukhopadhyay jointly released the Professor S. C. Dube Memorial Oration 2020 which is to be delivered by Professor P. C. Joshi on 22.2.2020. This was followed by an address by Professor Barun K. Mukhopadhyay, General Secretary, Indian Anthropological Society. Professor Dipak K. Midya, Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University proposed a vote of thanks. 
     

  5. The post-lunch session comprised Roundtable 2020 on the theme Envisioning Anthropology in Twenty- First Century India which was co-ordinated by Professor Vinay K. Srivastava and Professor Kishor K. Basa. To begin with, Professor Basa read out the background note, prepared by the co-ordinators and circulated among the invited speakers. The speakers included  Professor P. Venkata Rao (Hyderabad), Prof. Barun Mukhopadhyay (Kolkata), Dr. S. B. Ota (Bhopal), Dr. Amit Kisku (Medinipur), Dr. Prasanna K. Patra (Bhubaneswar), Dr. Mithun Sikdar (Mysore), Dr. Chandana Sarmah (Gauhati), Professor  Chellaperumal (Pondicherry), Professor Sarit K. Chaudhuri (Ita Naagar). Professor Subhadra Mitra Channa (Delhi) was present in the morning but had to leave immediately due to a bereavement in the family. She had submitted a written text for the session.
     

  6. The academic session was followed by the Governing Council Meeting of INCAA which was attended by Members of the Governing Council, INCAA and some Special Invitees.
     

  7. In the second day, i.e. on 22.2.2020, the venue was at the Vidyasagar Hall of the Asiatic Society. The day started with a welcome address by Dr. Satya Brata Chakrabarty, General Secretary, Asiatic Society. Then the Professor B. M. Das Memorial Oration 2020 was held with Professor Ranjana Ray as the Chairperson. Professor Rajan Gaur, Member, Governing Council, INCAA introduced the Chairperson Prof. Ranjana Ray and the speaker Professor S. L. Malik, Formerly Vice Chancellor, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University. Professor  Malik delivered the Memorial Lecture.
     

  8. Then the Professor S. C. Dube Memorial Oration, 2020 was held with Professor  R. K. Mutatkar as the Chairman. Professor Avik Ghose introduced the Chairman Professor Mutatkar and the speaker Professor P. C. Joshi, Head, Department of Anthropology, Delhi University. Professor Joshi delivered his lecture on Shaman as Ethno-Sociologist: Some Reflections on Himalayan Shamanism.
     

  9. After lunch, the Valedictory Function was held under the Chairmanship of  Professor R. K. Das, President, Indian Anthropological Society. The Valedictory Address was delivered by Dr. Satya Brata Chakrabarty, General Secretary, Asiatic Society. Vote of Thanks was proposed by Professor Kishor K. Basa, Member Secretary, INCAA, who acknowledged the collaboration received from Asiatic Society, Indian Museum, Anthropological Survey of India, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya and support received from Departments of Anthropology, Calcutta University and West Bengal State University. He also thanked officers, teachers, students and research scholars of the above mentioned organisations and universities as well as delegates from outside and local for their various support and presence.
     

  10. Then the Annual General Meeting of INCAA was held under the Chairmanship of Professor R. K. Mutatkar. Professor Kishor K. Basa, Member Secretary, INCAA thanked every one present and those who have helped in making the programme a success.
     

  11. The new Governing Council (GC) of INCAA could virtually meet for the first time on August 16, 2020 and discussed on the Anthropology Congress 2021 and finalized Delhi as  the venue with the Department of Anthropology, Delhi University as the collaborator. The members of the  GC also resolved that since the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya has expressed its inability to provide financial assistance towards the travel grant of the invited speakers of the Annual Meeting of the INCAA, 2020, the Governing Council unanimously resolved to reimburse the travel grant to the invited speakers from the INCAA fund.
     

  12. The draft of Ethical Guidelines for Anthropological Research prepared by a Committee with Professor R. K. Mutatkar as Chairman and Professor P. C. Joshi as Convenor was circulated among Members for their feedback. We have received the feedback from some of our members. All the feedback have been communicated to the members of the drafting committee.  
     

  13. The members of the Governing Council showed concern regarding the shifting of office of INCAA from its present registered office to Kolkata for operational convenience. However, because of the present COVID 19 pandemic situation, the members simultaneously considered that the shifting process may be initiated when the situation becomes conducive. At present, we are in the process of shifting the office of INCAA at a suitable place in Kolkata. 
     

  14. The activities of the four regional chapters, namely Chandigarh, Lucknow, Mysuru and Guwahati need to be initiated. Only the Guwahati Chapter has reconstituted their executive committee with Dr.  Bapukan Choudhury , Former Prof. and HOD, Deptt of Anthropology, GU and Dr. Rajendra P Athparia (as Advisors);  Dr. Jonali Devi, Cotton University(as Ex-officio member),  Dr Tilottoma Baruah, Cotton University (President),  Dr. Gulrukh Begum, Gauhati University and Dr. Kalpana Choudhury, Dimoria College (Vice-Presidents),  Dr Nilofar Jasmin, Morigaon College (Secretary), Dr. Chandana Sarma, Gauhati University (Joint Secretary),  Dr. Hridayananda Das, Cotton University (Treasurer) and  Dr. Arifuz Zaman, Gauhati University, Dr. Pradip Goswami, Dimoria College, Dr. Manoj Gogoi, Dudhnoi College,  Dr. Jyotirupa Sarma, Arya Vidyapeeth College, Dr. Abhijit Bora, North Guwahati College and Ms  Mayuri Barkataki, Pragjyotish College (as members). The Regional Chapter of Guwahati Regional Centre organized their Foundation Day Lecture programme on August 19, 2020. 
     

  15. We will try to introduce some new the number of regional centres and also their activities. 
     

  16. We are taking initiative to sell the published volumes of INCAA to different academic institutions. The suggestion of Professor B.V. Sharma to initiate publications of e-book, rather than hard copy by INCAA was appreciated.
     

  17. Four new members enrolled for INCAA this year. 
     

  18. We are trying to retrieve the email IDs of all the members whose email IDs are not updated with our office. 
     

  19.  We are also planning to enhance the visibility of INCAA through social media (like Facebook) and revising the INCAA website.
     

  20.  The theme for the Indian Anthropology Congress for the year is “Anthropology: Theory to Application”, February 21-23, 2021, in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi.
     

  21.  The theme of the Round Table meeting for this year’s “Anthropology Congress is Anthropology: Towards an Integrated Paradigm”, 2021.
     

  22. This year Professor B.M. Das Memorial Oration will be delivered by Professor R. Siva Prasad [Former Professor of Anthropology, Hyderabad Central University and Honorary Professor, Centre for Digital Learning, Training and Resources (CDLTR), Hyderabad] on the topic "Theory Behind Practice and Practice Behind Theory: The Case of Indigenous Knowledge". 
     

  23. This year Professor S.C. Dube Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Professor Shalina Mehta (former Professor of Anthropology Department, Punjab University) on the topic  Protest, Change and Democracy Locating ‘current’ farmers protest movement in Dube’s construct of ‘Understanding Change’

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