FROM DIRECTOR'S DESK

The Universe originated from Shiva and Shakti and separation of Umlaut "e" from the word Shakti forms a word "Shava". "Bharata-Bhumi" signifies Shiva and Himalayan region and Himachal is its "Prana Shakti" or life's divine energy. Seeing this divine energy it is very well said in the Skanda Purana, "He, who thinks on Himachal, is greater than he who performs all worship in Kashi. In a hundred ages of gods, I could not tell thee of the glories of Himachal. As the dew is dried up by the morning sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of Himachal." The Himalayas have been a source of spiritual inspiration for the sages who called it 'Deva Bhumi' or 'the land of gods.' Vastness of Himalayas is an example for the universality of human consciousness and whole of the region is full of mystic vibes.

In Skanda Purana, there is a reference of the celestial marriage of Parvati, the daughter of mountain Himalaya, with Lord Shiva. It is curious to know that the word Parvati indicates one belonging to mountains or the daughter of mountains. Apart from being a natural heritage, the Himalaya is a spiritual heritage for the Hindus. From the Himalayas have originated life-giving perennial rivers that have sustained many civilizations. A number of pilgrim places are located in the Himalayan region. Thus the entire Himalayan range can be called "Tapobhumi" or the land of spiritual austerities and has invited sages, yogis, artists, philosophers to explore its soul. Himalaya is home to a variety of races and communities. The environment has made the people of this region cheerful, happy, simple, courageous and resourceful.

Himachal Pradesh with varied climatic conditions forms a hot spot for floral faunal and cultural diversity, is the most fascinating region of the Indian Himalaya. Himachal derives its name from the Himalayas which literally means 'Land of eternal snow' are some of the highest mountain system in the world. The Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, established in July 1970, is one of the leading affiliating-cum-residential universities in India. With the hard work of its faculty members and researchers who worked sincerely over the years, the university got the distinction of being selected by the UGC as a "University with Potential for Excellence in Himalayan Studies" and established the Institute of Integrated Himalayan Studies. The Institute is indeed a dream come true for Himachal Pradesh University and thereby there is tremendous responsibility on all of us associated with it, to keep the wheel of good research, documentation, capacity building and identifying implications for policy, etc. moving. I would like to thank the University Grants Commission (UGC) for selecting the Himachal Pradesh University as a UGC Centre of Excellence and hence giving us this opportunity to fill in the gaps in research and documentation which are necessary for suitable policy framing and implementation.

The Institute is an autonomous centre of Himachal Pradesh University and is located in Summer Hill, a suburb of Shimla. As per UGC directives, the institute has academic, administrative and financial autonomy for achieving "Excellence Plus". The mission of the Institute is "to create an integrated knowledge base and evolve strategies for the development of Himalayan region, Himachal Pradesh in particular and its people through research, academic courses and service with a global perspective."

The Institute set up as an Inter-Departmental and Multi-disciplinary Center of Excellence, embarked upon the task of identifying its thematic areas and after a series of workshops and detailed discussions, the focal areas were identified as biological aspects, physical aspects, socio-cultural aspects and economic-political aspects of the Himalayan region. An Expert Committee of the UGC visited the Institute in September 2003 and suggested that the Institute should group all its research activities in two main areas, viz. Natural environment and sustainable Development in the Himachal Himalaya and Social, Cultural and Economic Dimensions in the Development of Himachal Himalaya. The committee also suggested that the Institute should gear itself up towards compiling status reports on all information available on the Himachal Himalaya and also identify research gaps.

At present the Institute is playing an important role in documenting, fostering, nurturing and improving various research and development programmes based on its mandate. The Institute initiated a number of long term in-house projects such as preparation of bibliographies on the Himalaya and outsourced a number of short term projects pertinent to the identified themes.

The Institute is making efforts to achieve sustainability and is establishing linkages with government departments, universities in India and abroad and other Indian and foreign organizations. I pray to the Almighty to bless this centre so that it can benefit common people. I also wish that the Institute should not only come up as a centre of attraction but also as a centre of excellence in every field, whether it is the field of research or academics, at national and international level. In the years to come, the institute proposes to play a much bigger and productive role. It wishes to focus more on qualitative research and desires to undertake action-oriented research which will have direct implications for the primary people in general.

The institute is highly grateful to the UGC for providing financial assistance for setting up this institute. It is further expected that in future also, the UGC will be generous in providing financial assistance to the institute. The institute hopes to emerge as a centre of distinction under the dynamic leadership of our Honorable Vice Chancellor Prof. Sunil Kumar Gupta. I appreciate the efforts of research and administrative staff for their sincere efforts, commitment, support and cooperation in smoothly running various activities of the institute.

Prof. Vidya Sharda
Director
IIHS