Welcome . . .

Greetings!

Today, 15 September 2007 (Bangalore time) is the launch of this, the restructured web-site of The Indian Institute of Geographical Studies.

It is with much pleasure and eager anticipation of many good things to come, that I am writing this message.

Over the past year or so, several well-wishers and Trustees of The Dharani Trust (the parent organization of The Indian Institute of Geographical Studies or “The IIGS”) and its sister organization in the USA (Dharani USA, Inc.) expressed the opinion that such a re-structuring is needed to sharpen the focus of the work that this organization does.

Several people gave inputs to this process. You see its operationalization here courtesy of the patient help of Vivek Dhar.

Our focus…

All the work that Dharani has undertaken has had Geography as the organizing principle, framework, and disciplinary aegis. Previously, it was all spread out in unwieldy categories which did not clearly bring out the focus of what Dharani does.

Simply put, Dharani undertakes community development through research, education, and outreach using Geography as the aegis, the method, and the organizing discipline.

• This focus is now brought about with this re-structured web-site.
• Here is a partial list of the features you will find on this new site:
• A sub-domain dedicated to our Geography education initiative GeoVidyaa
• Blogs for both the main domain (the one you are now reading) and for GeoVidyaa
• Clearly organized structural and functional components of The IIIGS
• Projects and activities for various constituencies such as students, teachers, researchers, and NGOs

We hope to systematically build long-term partnerships with many organizations to implement the various efforts envisaged on this site. If you are interested in helping in any way at all, please contact us.

Geography is an exciting and powerful discipline. Join us in making learning, teaching, research, and service better with the use of geographic tools and frameworks.

I hope you take a leisurely and in-depth look at the new site … and that, frequently. Take a moment to reply to posts on the blog.

Let us converse and collaborate.

Chandra Shekhar Balachandran, PhD

Director, The IIGS