Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Minutes of the AGM on 8th April, 2008,Bhubaneswar

Minutes of the Meeting of the General Body of IASSH held at Bhubaneswar on 8-4-08 at 6.30pm

Prof.P.K.B.Nayar President of the Association presided over the Meeting.

After welcoming the members of the association the President asked Dr. K.A. Parvathy the Secretary cum Treasurer to present the secretary’s report and the Treasurer’s report:

Dr. Parvathy then presented following report.
Indian Association for Social Sciences and Health (IASSH) was the Indian Chapter of Asia-Pacific Network (APNET) of International Forum for Social Sciences and Health (IFSSH) At the 6th Asia Pacific Social Science & Medicine (APSSAM) Conference held in Kunming, China in August 2002, and organized by the Asia Pacific Network (APNET) of the International Forum for Social Sciences and Health (IFSSH) it was recommended that member countries should open chapters of APNET to strengthen the organization and to carry the mission of APNET and IFSSH far and wide. Dr. P. K. B. Nayar, a member of APNET Steering Committee, on return from Kunming, mooted the idea of an Indian unit of APNET to some like-minded social scientists and health professionals, including some of the Indian delegates to the 6th APSSAM Conference and on their enthusiastic support publicized the idea through available networks.
The first conference of the members who signed up for membership was held in Tirupati on, 14th &15th November, 2003. The theme of the conference was Poverty & Health. 100 members attended the conference. 79 papers were presented

At the conference a resolution was passed recommending the formation of the Indian Association for Social Sciences and Health (IASSH) and entrusting the work of taking further steps in the formation of the Association to Prof. PKB Nayar, Dr. K.E. Vaidyanathan and Dr. KA Parvathy.

The second conference of the Association was organized in Mumbai in November 2004. Dr. S Sivaraju, Professor at TISS and Dr. C.P. Prakasam, Professor at IIPS were the Organizing Secretaries for this conference. The theme of the conference was Globalization & Health Equity & Health Situation in India and there were over 150 participants in this conference and they represented a wide range of disciplines.

At the Mumbai Conference, a resolution was passed recommending the registration of the association under the Charitable Societies Registration Act with registered office at Tirupati. Dr. P. K. B. Nayar was elected as President, Dr. K.E. Vaidyanathan as Vice President and Dr. KA Parvathy as Secretary cum Treasurer. An Executive Committee of 8 members with due representation to the different regions of the country was also constituted. Accordingly, Dr. S. Sivaraju (Mumbai), Dr C.P. Prakasam (Mumbai) Dr. Gita Bamezai (New Delhi), Dr.U.V Somayajulu ( New Delhi), Dr. N.K. Mahakud (Sambalpur), Dr. Chura Giri (Assam), Dr. Usha Rao (Bangalore) and Dr. Audinarayana (Coimbatore), were elected as members of the Executive Committee. Dr. Parvathy, Secretary-Treasurer of ISSSH was entrusted with the work of registration of the Association.

The third Conference was held at National Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIHFW), New Delhi from 16-18, March 2006. Prof. A M. Khan was the organizing Secretary. The main Conference theme was: Health Situation in India - Present State and Future Prospects.

Dr. Parvathy informed the members that IASSH was registered on 2nd June 2006, in Tirupati under the Societies Registration Act with Reg. No. 218 of 2006 and with office located at Room No.123 of 2006, Humanities Block, SPMVV, Tirupati.

The fourth conference was held in the South .Gujarat University, Surat from 26-28, February 200. Dr. Suguna Pathy, Professor of Sociology was the Organizing Secretary.
The theme was “Health policies and programmes: Contribution of Social Sciences”.

The current, 5th, IASSH Conference is being held at XIMB with Prof. S. Peppin as Organizing Secretary. The theme of the conference is Millennium Development Goals and Heath. 116 Abstracts of papers have been received for this conference.

The selected papers of the Bombay conference have been edited by Professors Sivaraju and Prakasam and brought out as a book: Adolescent Health Perspectives, published by B.R.Publishing Corporation, New Delhi.2006. Selected papers of the New Delhi conference are being edited by Professor A. M. Khan fore publication

Dr. Parvathy then presented the Treasurer’s Report. She informed that in spite of various difficulties and financial constraints IASSH has accomplished five Conferences within a span of 5 years since its inception.
The Life Membership which was only 23 in the first year rose to 149 as on 31 March 2008. The association which started with an initial membership contribution of 23,000 has a fixed deposit of Rs.1, 78,531 as of today. This includes the subscription made by Life Members and annual members and some amount contributed by the Treasurer to round up the Fixed Deposit amount, less expenses met by the Secretary and President

The General Body paid homage to 2 departed life members of the Association, Dr.Damodaram Siva Kumar and Dr Natarajan and observed two minutes silence to mourn their demise.

The Secretary concluded her report by saying that on looking back she had a sense of satisfaction in what was accomplished in such a short time and at the same time she hoped that the IASSH will grow in strength in the coming years and provide a forum for its members to express their views on health-related issues and help bring about the needed health reforms in India.

The President then took up the matter of a LOGO for the association for consideration of the General Body.
It was resolved to request Prof.S.Peppin to prepare the logo through a competition among the students and select three best logos and send them for the approval of the President and Secretary of the Association within three months.
It was resolved to increase the membership and to: start an e-Newsletter and Link it to APNET to make the association visible which would enable it to be seen as an important force for policy decisions by Government and other policy makers
It was also resolved to award a prize for the best paper submitted by a young scholar (30 years and below) at All India Conferences. The prize will consist of Rs.1000/- in cash and II A/C sleeper class train fare for the award winner to attend the conference
It was also resolved that the paper may be recommended for presentation at APNET conference and to help the scholar to get funding assistance from institutions.
To improve the quality of presentations it was recommended that discussants could be assigned to each session

The General Body also suggested that the recommendations of the Conference may be communicated to the Government agencies and various organizations working on related issues to make the Association more visible and to enable it to get access to policy making.
The General Body then considered the venue for the next conference. The participants from Pondicherry University, Dr.S.Prabakar, Ms.Vijayalakshmi and Mr.Satheesh Kumar offered Pondicherry University as the venue for the Next Conference. In case of any difficulty with Pondicherry, Dr.Diwakar Yadav from the Department of Social work, Lucknow University offered to host the conference in his university. The General Body approved both sites. It was also resolved to send a formal request for hosting the conference to the Vice Chancellor of Pondicherry University by the President and the Secretary.

The General Body resolved to create a Website for the Association. Prof.C.P.Prakasam agreed to take the initiative for the creation of the website. Prof. S.Peppin agreed to help Dr. Prakasam if needed.

The General Body resolved to place on record the Association’s gratitude to the Xavier Institute of Management at Bhubaneswar and the Director, Fr.Joseph, S.J. and its special thanks to the Organizing Secretary, Prof.S.Peppin, for the excellent arrangements for the smooth conduct of the Fifth Conference

At this juncture Prof. S.Peppin expressed his gratitude to the President Prof.P.K.B.Nayar and the Vice President Dr.K.E.Vaidyanathan for the constant support and encouragement he received in all the matters relating to the Fifth Conference.

The General Body resolved to initiate steps to bring about Amendments to the Bye Laws, separating Secretary -ship and Treasurer-ship under clause No 9.
The General Body then took up the matter of election of Office Bearers and Members of the Executive Council

Dr. P.K.B. Nayar, President, suggested the name of Dr.Vaidyanathan to succeed him as President, Dr.Parvathy to succeed as Vice President and Dr. Prakasam to be Secretary-Treasurer. Dr. P.K.B. Nayar suggested that the existing Members of the Executive Council continue. The General Body unanimously accepted Dr. Nayar’s suggestions. Nominations were then made by the General Body to the three vacancies in the Executive Council.

The new Office Bearers of the IASSH (2008-2010) are the following:

Dr. K.E.Vaidyanthan – President
Prof. K.A.Parvathy - Vice President
Prof.C.P. Prakasam - Secretary cum Treasurer
E.C. Members
Dr. N. Audinarayana (Coimbatore)
Dr.Vighnesh N Bhat (Karnataka)
Dr. Chura Giri (Assam),
Dr. N.K. Mahakud (Sambalpur),
Dr.Poonam Mehta (Jamshedpur)
Dr.S.Sivaraju (Mumbai)
Dr.U.V.Somayajulu (New Delhi)
Dr.Y.L.Tekhre (New Delhi)

Dr. P.K.B. Nayar thanked the Office Bearers, Members of the Executive Council and Members of the General Body for the unbounded support he received from them in running the Association very successfully in the last five years.
The meeting concluded with a motion of thanks by the General Body to Prof.P.K.B.Nayar, the Founder President and architect of the Association. The General Body also thanked Dr. Vaidyanathan, Vice President and Dr. Parvathy, Secretary-Treasurer for their valuable services to the Association.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair and came to a close at 8.00 P.M

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