Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Lecture: II

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Tribute
I am indeed very happy to have been chosen to deliver the Second Pandit
Gobind Ballabh Pant Lecture of the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and
Development (GBPIHED). According to Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Pt. Pant, like the
Himalaya itself, was a colossus in every sense of the word. He was among the greatest
men that the country has produced. All his life, Pantji, shone on the Indian scene like
the Himalaya peaks. Another reason for me to be happy is that it gives me great
satisfaction that the GBP-IHED, after having been conceptualized and formulated during
my tenure as the Secretary to the Government of India, is now taking shape.
Prelude
Looking at the continent of Asia from space, one of the most striking features is the
2500-km long Himalayan belt occupying an area of about 236,000 sq km in India. The
Himalaya alongwith Hindukush is like a battlement (Fig. 1). The long middle portion
extends from north- westerly (longitude East 73 o and Latitude North 37 o ) to southeasterly
(longitude East 97 o and latitude North 27 o ) direction. The middle portion is not
straight but has a bulge in the Nepal- Bhutan area. The flank on the western side
extends into Afganistan in a south-westerly direction. The eastern flank extends into
Myanmar in a south- easterly direction. The eastern flank extends into Myanmar in a
south- easterly direction. The whole range when viewed from space gives the
impression of being protective to Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and
Myanmar. The Himalayan ranges are between 240 to 340 km wide and rise from lowlying
Indian plains to over 8000 m. Himalaya is a complex system and separate the
northern part of the Asian continent (Tibet, China, Siberia and contiguous countries)
from the southern part (Afganistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and
Myanmar). The latter, in common parlance, is known as the Indian subcontinent, which,
due to Himalaya, is a discreet geographic and ecological entity with its own climate(s).
Fig. 1.
The birth of Himalaya is related to a cataclysmic event of the breakup, some 140
million years ago, of the peninsular part of today’s India (Deccan Plateau) from a
super- continent Gondwanaland. The peninsular Indian Plate was located somewhere
near the present day Madagascar and South Africa. The plate started drifting about
15cm per year northwards, across, what is now known as, the Indian ocean. Finally, it
crashed about 15 million year ago into what was an northern Asian continent, at a
place where the present Assam region is. Such a collision of the peninsular plate under
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