An International Webinar on the theme Social Cost Benefit Analysis of Projects has been organized jointly by the Department of Commerce, Dibrugarh University, India and the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom under the aegis of UGC-UKIERI Joint Research Programme in Collaboration with the Dibrugarh University SPE Student Chapter from 27th July to 1st August, 2020.
The webinar was inaugurated by the Honourable Vice Chancellor of Dibrugarh University, Prof. Ranjit Tamuli. In his inaugural speech he emphasized upon the fact that though considering any social project at the initial stage the cost may be more than the benefit. However, in the long run the trade off between the cost and the benefit can be achieved. Earlier in her welcome address by the Coordinator of the webinar Prof. Ajanta Borgohain Rajkonwar who is also the Co-PI of the UGC -UKIERI Programme has put forwarded the objective and purpose of the webinar. “Social cost cannot be ignored at any cost, the benefits need to be mapped properly to access the success or the failure of any project”, she added. In her address, Prof. Subrata Borgohain Gogoi – the Indian Principal Investigator of the UGC-UKIERI programme explains about the formation, functions, developments so far as well as the expected outcomes of the UGC-UKIERI projects.
Mr. S. K. Barua, the Managing Director of Numaligarh Refinery Limited and Mr. Reep Hazarika, the Managing Director of Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited graced the occasion with their elucidated speeches on the steps undertaken by their respective companies towards the analysis of the Social Cost Benefit for the various projects undertaken by them. Prof. Xianfeng Fan, the Principal Investigator of UK in the UGC-UKIERI programme has also delivered an informative talk related to the theme. Apart from them the Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Management Science, Dibrugarh University Prof. Ashit Saha; Head Department of Commerce, Dibrugarh University Dr Chimun Kumar Nath; and Faculty Advisor of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Dibrugarh University Student Chapter Dr Borkha Mech Das have graced the occasion with their words of appreciation and wishes for a fruitful deliberations and meaningful outcome from the webinar.
In total 52 selected papers were presented in the webinar out of 197 papers received for presentation dwelling over the various facet of Social Cost and Benefit Analysis in various projects as case studies. After a very informative deliberation and discussions on the papers presented by the participants from Seven countries of the globe marks the successful conclusion of the webinar on 1st August, 2020 with a vote of thanks offered by the Head, Department of Commerce as well as the Coordinator of the International Webinar. The technical host of the webinar was Tapan Jyoti Gogoi and the technical sessions were compared by Nazrana Yasmin and S. Puzari, all are members of DU SPE Student Chapter.
