Summary
The chair professor will carry out high-quality empirical and applied research in the rural drinking water and sanitation sector
He/she will provide policy guidance and build partnerships with state governments
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has established a ‘Chair of Jal Jeevan Mission’ for water treatment technology aimed at enabling every rural household to have a functional household tap connection (FHTC) by 2024.
The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2019 from the Red Fort.
Mihir Kumar Purkait from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the institute has been selected as the first occupant of this Chair, IIT Guwahati said in a statement recently.
Purkait has a portfolio of diverse innovations and developments in basic and applied research. He has the credit for industrialising various technologies for up and downstream operation of water and wastewater treatment technologies, waste to wealth generation, separation of value-added product from a plant source, and electrochemical reduction of CO2 to various products.
“My expertise gained in the last 22 years on the fundamental and applied research on water treatment technologies will be useful to the concerned government authorities to make a strategy for implementing more efficient, economical and sustainable technology beneficial to the society,” said Purkait.
The Jal Jeevan Mission Chairs are established by the department of drinking water and sanitation, National Jal Jeevan mission (NJJM), New Delhi in reputed academic institutions to carry out high-quality empirical and applied research in the rural drinking water and sanitation sector. The objective of the Chair is to address sectoral challenges and facilitate the achievement of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ and ‘ODF Plus’ in rural India.
TG Sitharam, director, IIT Guwahati, said, “The supply of contaminant-free drinking water to rural areas is a priority for the Centre and all the state governments, including Assam. The technology adopted here might be useful to the citizens, both in rural and urban areas, for getting contaminant-free drinking water. I am very glad that NJJM has established a Professor Chair on water treatment technology at IIT Guwahati.”
The initiative intends to establish five Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)-Professor Chairs in institutions of repute such as Indian Institutes of Technology/ Indian Institutes of Management/ social sciences academic-cum-research institutions and national institutions having research experience relevant to the needs of the water and sanitation sector.
The JJM-Professor Chair will work in coordination with state and Centre-run sanitation and water supply bodies. It will focus on capacity building and maintaining a balance among capacity building, outreach, academic program, and educational activity, and research in-focus areas of the institute.
The chair will also be responsible for conducting high-quality empirical and applied research in the rural drinking water sector that is aligned to the objectives and priorities of Jal Jeevan Mission.
The chair will serve in an advisory capacity to NJJM in matters of policy or technology and will function as a think-tank in the selected focus area, in particular, and the rural water supply sector in general. The chair will also conduct a PhD programme and related course work in the selected focus area.
Last updated on 24 Mar 2022
