Department of Geography
History
Year of Establishment : 1941
History of the department : The Department of Geography of the University of Calcutta was founded in 1941 at its College Street Campus by the doyen of Indian Geography, Padmabhushan Prof. Sivaprasad Chatterjee. In 1963 it was shifted to the Science College at the Taraknath Palit Shiksha Prangan. The Department now covers a floor area of 775 m2, 26% of which is occupied by laboratories. Legendary teachers like Prof. Nirmal Kumar Bose, Prof. Kanan Gopal Bagchi, Dr. Ranjit Lahiri, Dr. Sujan Bandhab Chatterjee, Sri Dakshinaranjan Mitra and Dr. Mira Guha contributed significantly to the development of the Department. Other internationally-known geographers who adorned its faculty include Prof. Bireswar Banerjee, Prof. Manotosh K. Bandyopadhyay, Prof. Pijush Kanti Saha, Prof. Subhas C. Mukhopadhyay and Prof. Subhash Ranjan Basu. This year the Department is celebrating its 75th year of foundation. The department has so far produced two D.Litts, two D.Scs and over one hundred sixty Ph.D. Scholars. Alumni of this department have made significant contributions in various states of India and also in different countries of the world.
Special award/ recognition from UGC or related statutory body :
- In 2012, the Department successfully completed the UGC DRS SAP Phase-I programmes.
- In 2014, it started UGC DRS SAP Phase-II programmes.
- In 2015, the DST PURSE Scheme has been introduced.
Academic
Faculty members :
| Name | Designation | Area of specialization | |
| Sumana Bandyopadhyay [Profile] |
Professor | Urban Geography & Gender Studies | sumona_bm@yahoo.com |
| Ranjan Basu [Profile] |
Professor | Pedology, Environment and Population | basu_ranjan2045@yahoo.com |
| Sunando Bandyopadhyay [Profile] |
Professor | Geomorphology, Remote Sensing-GIS | sunando@live.com |
| Lakshmi Narayan Satpati [Profile] |
Professor | Climatology, Geohydrology | satpati.ln@hotmail.com |
| Sudhir Malakar [Profile] |
Associate Professor | Tourism Geography, Regional Planning, Social Geography | sudhirmalakar.cu@gmail.com |
| Pratima Rohatgi [Profile] |
Associate Professor | Cartography, Remote Sensing GIS, Industrial Geography | rohatgipratima@gmail.com |
| Nilanjana Das [Profile] |
Associate Professor & HOD | Social and Cultural Geography, Tourism Geography | ndgeocu@rediffmail.com |
| Utpal Roy [Profile] |
Assistant Professor | Urban Geography, Health & healthcare Geography | utpalgeovu@gmail.com |
| Debasis Ghosh [Profile] |
Assistant Professor | Environment and Soli Geography | drdebasisghosh@gmail.com |
| SK Mafizul Haque [Profile] |
Assistant Professor | Cartography, RS and GIS | mafi_haque@yahoo.co.in |
| Lakpa Tamang [Profile] |
Assistant Professor | Fluvial Geomorphology & Socio-Hydrology | tamanglakpa@gmail.com |
Visiting faculty members :
| Name | Institutions attached with | Period of appointment |
| Sri Gopinath Saha | NATMO, Kolkata | 2016-17 |
| Dr. Asit Kumar Sarkar | NATMO, Kolkata | 2016-17 |
| Dr. Ashish Sarkar | residency University, Kolkata | 2016-17 |
| Dr. Soumendu Chatterjee | residency University, Kolkata | 2016-17 |
| rof. Nikhil Krishna Dey | Burdwan University, Burdwan | 2016-17 |
| rof. Mantu Mohan Jana | University of North Bengal, Darjeeling | 2016-17 |
| rof. Lakshmi Sivaramakrishnan | Jadavpur University, Kolkata | 2016-17 |
| rof. Saswati Mukhopadhyay | Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata | 2016-17 |
| Dr. Arindam Dasgupta | Chandannagar College | 2016-17 |
Courses
| Programme | Level of study | Eligibility | Intake capacity |
| MA / MSc Geography | MA / MSc | BA/BSc (Hons.) in Geography | 120 |
| PhD in Geography | PhD | MA / MSc in Geography |
Research
Research scholars :
| Name | Research topic | Name of the supervisor | Date of registration |
| Jaydip De
UGC JRF |
E-Governance for Urban Management in India: Organisational Implications and Challenges | Prof. Sumana Bandyopadhyay | 01.10.2015 (Joining) 02.12.2016 (Registration) |
| Sanjib Mondal UGC JRF |
Development and Management of Wastelands for Sustainable Livelihood in Lateritic Soil Areas of PaschimMedinipur -case study of Garhbeta II block | Dr. Pratima Rohatgi Prof. R. N. Chattopadhyay |
02.11.2015 (Joining) 03.02.2017 (Registration) |
| Pritam Ghosh | Nutrition and Child Health: A Study in Malda District, West Bengal | Dr. Pratima Rohatgi | 22.01.2016 |
| Dr. Sanghamitra Sarkar S. Radhakrishnan Post Doctoral Fellow |
Socio-Economic Appraisal of the Teesta Char Dwellers-A Part of the Lower Teesta Valley, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India | Prof. Lakhinarayan Satpati | |
| Dr. Kapil Ghosh D. S. Kothari Post Doctoral Fellow |
Multi-scale modeling of Landslide risk assessment in North Sikkim District, Sikkim,India. | Prof. : Sunando Bandyopadhyay | |
| Priyanka Kundu | Infrastructural Network Analysis for Economic Development in West Bengal: An Appraisal | Prof. Ranjan Basu | 01.11.2013 |
| Mousumi Bandyopadhyay | Resource Potential and Constraints of Development in South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal: A Geographical Analysis | Prof. Ranjan Basu | 03.01.2014 |
| Purnima Mallick | Role of Forest Resource Utilization, Tribal Acculturation and Eco-tourism in Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal: An Environmental Appraisal | Prof. Ranjan Basu | 19.03.2014 |
| Aparna Chakrabarty | Problems of Tea Gardens in Selected Districts of West Bengal | Prof. Ranjan Basu | February, 2015 |
| Surajit Das (S.C. Dec. 2010) |
Role of Self-help Groups in Empowerment of Women : The Case of South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal | Prof. Ranjan Basu | June, 2015 |
| Anuradha Mukherjee (UGC JRF) |
Selected Cognizable Crimes and Delinquent Behaviour in Social Environment of Kolkata City: A Spatio-temporal Analysis | Prof. Ranjan Basu | JRF Joining 28.08.2014 Registration 22.01.2016 |
| Abhijit Dutta | Food Security in West Bengal: A Socio-economic Appraisal |
Prof. Ranjan Basu | 02.03.2016 |
| Tulika Saha | Changes In The Natural Freshwater Wetlands of The Indian Part of Ganga Delta: A Spatio-Temporal Analysis | Prof. : Sunando Bandyopadhyay | 07.03.2014 |
| Sayantan Das | Evolution of Drainage and Morphology of Upper Bhagirathi-Ganga Interfluve Region of West Bengal with Special Reference to Palaeochannels | Prof. : Sunando Bandyopadhyay | 01.02.2016 |
| Nabendu Sekhar Kar | Morphological Changes and Human Encroachment in Indian Sundarban: The Post-1971 Period | Prof. : Sunando Bandyopadhyay | 14.08.2013 |
| Sreetapa Nandy | Water Bodies of Kolkata Municipal Area: Changes during the Last 200 Years and Related Issues | Prof. : Sunando Bandyopadhyay | 01.06.2016 |
| Karabi Das UGC JRF |
Physico-Economic Changes in the Indian Sundarban: An Evaluation | Prof. : Sunando Bandyopadhyay | 20.05. 2016 |
| Manoj Pant | A Study on Flood Hazards and Disaster Mitigation in the Murshidabad District of West Bengal | Prof. : Sunando Bandyopadhyay | 18.02. 2014 |
| Atrayee Biswas UGC JRF |
Reconstruction of Quaternary Depositional Environment in Parts of the Rahr Region, West Bengal: An Integrated Approach | Prof. Sunando Bandyopadhyay and Dr. Abhijit Chakraborty | 30.10.2014 |
| Pritam Santra UGC JRF |
Holocene Evolution of the Eastern Subarnarekha Coastal Region, West Bengal and Odisha | Prof. Sunando Bandyopadhyay and Dr. Abhijit Chakraborty | 20.05.2016 |
| Madhumita Sengupta | An Assessment of Impact of Displacement on Women: - Case Studies in West–Bengal. | Prof. Sumana Bandyopadhyay | 20/03/2009 & reregistered 25/03/2014 |
| Bappaditya Biswas | Urban Ecological Crisis in Small Towns of Northern West Bengal | Prof. Sumana Bandyopadhyay | 19/03/2014 |
| Ajanta Bhattacharya UGC JRF |
Participatory processes in Environmental Governance: The Case Study of Chilika Wetland, Odisha | Prof. Sumana Bandyopadhyay | 16/03/2015 |
| Yogendra Kumar Srivastava | Water Resources Assessment for Ranchi Urban Area: Impact of Anthropogenic and Environmental Factors | Prof. Sumana Bandyopadhyay | 22/01/2016 |
| Binay Krishna Pal | Managing Public Space for Sustainable Urban Transformation: Lessons from Kolkata | Prof. Sumana Bandyopadhyay | 20/05/2016 |
| Debarpita Banerjee | Assessing Values of Urban Water Bodies: The case of Kolkata | Prof. Sumana Bandyopadhyay | 05/08/2016 |
| Ajay Debnath | Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in the Sundarban Region of West Bengal in the perspective of Climate Change | Prof. Lakhinarayan Satpati | 23/04/2014 |
| Madhab Mondal | Geomorphic Problems of the Middle Ichamati River Basin, West Bengal, India | Prof. Lakhinarayan Satpati | 19/02/2014 |
| Satyabrata Mandal | Variability of Climate and Its Implications in Cropping System of Sagar Island, West Bengal | Prof. Lakhinarayan Satpati | 22/12/2015 |
| Anwesha Haldar UGC SRF |
Sustainable Energy Management in Climatically Vulnerable Areas of South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal | Prof. Lakhinarayan Satpati | 20/08/2014 |
| Sujoy Sadhu UGC SRF |
Urban Climate Trends in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) | Prof. Lakhinarayan Satpati | 30/10/2014 |
| Pradip Patra CSIR JRF |
Characteristics and Impact of Climatic Hazards in Selected Districts of South Western Part of West Bengal | Prof. Lakhinarayan Satpati | 05/02/2016 |
| BratatiDey | Status Of Women in South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal | Dr. Nilanjana Das | 05.03. 2012 |
| DebolinaSen | MaghBarua Community in Kolkata- A Study in Social Geography | Dr. Nilanjana Das | 17.09.2012 |
| Moumita Dey UGC SRF |
Changing State of Housewifery Among Urban Migrants from Bangladesh to Suburban Kolkata | Dr. Nilanjana Das | 25.01.2016 |
| Nayan Roy UGC JRF |
Culture and Society of a Minor Religious Group: A Case Study of Matua Community of West Bengal | Dr. Nilanjana Das | 22.01 2016 |
| Debarchana Biswas UGC JRF |
The Chinese Community of Kolktata: A Case Study on Social Geography | Dr. Nilanjana Das | 25.01.2016 |
| Pinaki Sarkar | Impact of watershed management on the socio-economic development of Bankura district – A case study of Gandeswari watershed area | Sudhir Malakar | 18.10.2011 |
| Jayanta Pranamik | Impact of tourism on development of Bankura district | Sudhir Malakar | 18.05.2012 |
| Neema L. Lepcha | Prospect of Eco-tourism inm West Sikkim | Sudhir Malakar | |
| Gaurab Bera | Social & Economic life of street children in Kolkata | Sudhir Malakar | 01.02.2016 |
| Subodh Seal | Changing economy of tribal community- A case study of Doars region, West Bengal | Sudhir Malakar | 01.02.2016 |
| Binode Sardar | Bidi worker of Indian Sundarban region: A socio economic appraisal | Sudhir Malakar | 20.05.2016 |
| Kalipada Mondal | Tourism & Sustainable development: A case study of Murshidabad districft | Sudhir Malakar | 02.01.2012 |
| Suman Mitra UGC JRF |
Dr. Lakpa Tamang |
Projects:
| Project title | Funding agency | Principal investigator | Duration | Budget |
| Environmental Perspective and Development in West Bengal | UGC DRS II | Prof. Ranjan Basu | 2014 onwards | Rs. 74.50 Lakhs |
Thrust areas in teaching and research of the academic department/ centre :
- Geomorphology and hazard studies,
- Tropical climatology,
- Pedology and land use,
- Environmental geography,
- Industrial geography,
- Urban and Transport Geography
- Tourism geography,
- Regional planning and Cartography
- Its spatial thrust areas have traditionally been West Bengal, Sikkim and Jharkhand.
Teaching support
The main facilities of the Department include :
- Seminar Library containing 11,020 books and 3,325 volumes of journals.
- Map Library holding a rich collection of more than 1,000 old and rare maps many of which date from 1850s to 1930s. It also has a collection of 460 satellite images (paper prints) and aerial stereo photo pairs.
- RS/GIS Laboratory housing 30 workstations with state-of-art facilities in terms of software, satellite data, digital maps and equipment that can handle most types of geomatic problems and spatial analyses. It also has an A0 scanner and printer installed.
- Pedology & Sedimentology Laboratory for chemical and physical analyses of soil and sediment samples. It also has instruments like BOD incubator and aerosol sampler for analyses of various environmental parameters.
- Museum that exhibits specimens of geographical and ethno-cultural interest. Tribal outfits and wares from various parts of India are the speciality of its collections.
- Cartographic Survey Facilities of the Department include advanced survey equipment like Leica TC-805 Total Station, Leica Xeno-10 Differential GPS (Base and Rover units) and Koden CVS-118 Echosounder apart from all types of conventional survey equipment.
- In its premises it also houses two Learned Societies of eminence: Geographical Society of India (established in 1933) and Himalaya Samiksha Parishad (established in 1976).
Major activities :
- 29th Conference of the Indian Institute of Geomorphologists (IGI) on Geomorphology and Natural Hazards, forthcoming (November 24-27, 2016).
- UGC Refresher course on Disaster Management from February, 26- March17, 2016.
- Two Week Training Programe on RS, GNSS & GIS Using Open Source softwares in collaboration with the Geographical Society of India on 25th February – 07th March, 2016
- International Conference & 47th Annual Seminar of the Regional Science Association, India on Urbanization and Regional Sustainability, January 28-30, 2016.
- A special Lecture on Urban Sociality -Difference, Encounter and Belonging by Dr. Michele Lobo, Deakin University, Australia, January 8, 2016.
- A special Lecture on Urban Flooding of Greater Dhaka in A Changing Climate: Building Local Resilience to Disaster Risk by Dr. Susmita Das Gupta, Lead Environmental Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, USA, April 11, 2016.
Links :
- http://www.caluniv.ac.in/student/student.html
- http://www.caluniv.ac.in/libraries/library.html
- http://www.geographicalsocietyofindia.org.in
- http://www.himparishad.org
Additional information :
- A short term Consultancy assessment with World Bank titled Evolution of Islands in Indian Sundarban by Prof. Sunando Bandopadhyay for the duration of 6 months (ongoing).
- A short term Consultancy assessment with World Bank titled Land Dynamics of Indian Sundarban by Prof. Sumana Bandopadhyay for the duration of 6 months (ongoing).
- A short term Consultancy assessment with World Bank titled Migration from Bangladesh to Indian Sundarban by Dr. Utpal Roy for the duration of 6 months (ongoing).