Ecological Impacts of Stone Mining: Assessment and Restoration of Soil, Water, Air and Flora

Dr Gulshan Kumar Sharma, Ph.D., did his M.Sc. and Ph. D. from division of Environmental Sciences, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Campus, New Delhi and currently posted as scientist at ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water, Conservation, Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan. Dr Sharma has more than 9 years' experience on research work related to algae mediated wastewater treatment, Groundwater Quality Assessment, Air Pollution Monitoring, Impact Assessment of Stone Mining, Rehabilitation of Degraded Mining Areas, Land Resource Inventory etc. Dr Sharma received various prestigious fellowships and awards in his career like Pradeep Memorial Award for best M.Sc. Student, qualified ICAR and UGC National Eligibility Test, DST-INSPIRE for Ph.D., NESA Green Technology Innovative Award 2022, NESA Scientist of the year award-2023, SCO Young Scientist Award by Department of Science and Technology and International Travel Scheme Award (ITS) and Young Scientist Award from DST for attending conference on 9th International conference on algae biomass, biofuels and by-products at Boulder, Colarado USA from SERB. Dr. Sharma published more than 80 publications which includes articles in prestigious International and National journals, technical bulletins, and book chapters.

Dr I. Rashmi, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist (Soil Science &Agricultural Chemistry) at ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan (India). She has fifteen years of experience in soil science research, training and extension work in Soil Chemistry & Fertility, soil and water conservation, watershed programmes. Her major work includes developing P saturation indices for environmental and agricultural threshold values for crop productivity and water pollution, use of nano porous zeolite, development of Mridaparikshak or rapid soil test kit which is suitable advisory programme developed for addressing soil health issues of the farmers of India. Her research areas also include soil erosion studies under cover crops; stone mine challenges and minespoil restoration, assessing impact of soil amendments on nutrient and sediment loss in eroded areas, natural farming, conservation agriculture projects etc. She has handled more than ten projects at institute level and external funded as Principal investigator and Co-PI; published more than 30 research papers in national and international journals; more than 15 book chapters; participated in 22 national and international conferences/ symposia; attended six professional trainings; organised training programmes of national importance for farmers, various stakeholders of state and central government, NGO.

Dr. Shakir Ali, Ph.D., is presently Head and Principal Scientist (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering) in ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC), Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan, India. He has brilliant academic record, and obtained his B. Tech (Agricultural Engineering) degree from Allahabad University, M. Tech (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, AMIE (Civil Engineering) from The Institution of Engineers (India) and Ph. D (Hydrology) from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He started his career in ICAR as a Scientist (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering). He has vast and varied experience in the field of land degradation, artificial groundwater recharging, small watershed hydrological modelling, rainfall-runoff modelling, evaporation modelling, climate change and drought analysis. He has more than 132 publications to his credit which include research papers in journals of international and national reputes, books, book chapters, technical bulletins, popular articles and reports. He is recipient of many professional awards and is fellow of The Institution of Engineers(India), Indian Association of Soil and Water Conservationists and Indian Association of Hydrologist.

Dr. S. KALA, Ph.D., is presently working as a Senior Scientist (Forestry) at ICAR - Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research centre, Kota (Rajasthan). She was born in 1982. She completed B. Sc., (Forestry), M. Sc. (Forestry) and Ph. D (Forestry) at FC&RI Mettupalyam-Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore-Tamil Nadu. In that, She was ranked Topper of the batch for highest OGPA i.e., (9.25/10.00) in the Year 2009. She has joined in ICAR - Agricultural Research Scientist (ARS) in November, 2009. She has more than 14 year of experience in the field of natural resource management (NRM) for degraded land improvement and management of gullies /ravine land systems through agroforestry, forestry, plantation development towards environmental restoration. She has published more than 38 research papers in reputed journals of national and international. Also, published more than 25 book chapters, two edited books 25 popular articles and three bulletins exclusively from her research findings and experiences in the field of forestry and agroforestry sciences. Her work also recognised by several societies and received an outstanding women scientist award in forestry science by Venus International Foundation during 5th Annual Womens Meet - AWM 2020 at Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Agro Environmental Development Society (AEDS) Lucknow, India conferred "Young Scientist Award-2020". Recently, She was recipient of Women Agroforestry Scientist Award-2021 from Indian Society of Agroforestry.

Dr. Ashok Kumar, Ph.D. is Principal Scientist (Agricultural Economics) at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan. He did his B.Sc. (Ag) degree from Rajasthan University with the first rank in merit and subsequent M.Sc. and Ph.D. dairying with a specialization in dairy economics from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. He has more than 29 years's research experience in natural resource economics. He receives training from organizations like IRMA-Anand, IIM-A, LBSNAA, Mussoorie, ASCI & MANAGE Hyderabad, the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture Cairo, etc. on various socioeconomic and scientific issues. He has completed nine research projects as a leader and more than 20 as an associate, apart from two consultancies funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. He has evaluated many rural development programs, such as IRDP, watershed development projects, vaccination programs for animals, and technologies developed for reclamation of degraded lands. He has also played an important role in developing two watershed projects in Bundi and Baran districts of Rajasthan state (India) in a participatory mode to demonstrate the impact of soil and water conservation technologies in real-world field conditions. He has 45 research papers, five books, three technical bulletins, 39 book chapters, and more than 40 technical and popular articles. Besides, he has delivered a number of lectures on various socio-economic issues in more than 180 training programs organized by the Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation and other organizations. He is a life member of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, Bombay, and many other reputed scientific societies, and he is on the panel of referees for various national and international journals of repute.

Dr M. Madhu, Ph.D. presently Director, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun, Uttrakhand, India. He completed Ph. D in Agronomy from University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka. He is a recipient of UAS Gold Medal during M.Sc and Ph. D, "Dr H.R. Arakeri Gold Medal" for the best Ph. D Student in Agronomy-1995, "ARIC Award for Contribution to Crop Research-1997", IASWC Young Soil Conservationists Award-2004 and IASWC Gold Medal-2010. He is recipient of prestigious USDA Global Research Alliance (GRA) Fellowship Programme-2011, Vasantrao Naik Award-2013, IASWC Gold Medal-2010, IASWC-Fellow-2014, ICAR-Team Research Award-2017 and Dr KG. Tejwani Award-2016-17. He visited USA, Nepal and Bangladesh on study and research assignments. Dr Madhu has vast experience of research, training and outreach in the field of soil & water conservation, watershed management, conservation agronomy, agroforestry, transfer of technology, HRD of field to senior level officers and other stakeholders. He was leader and associated in more than 20 consultancy projects related to Integrated Watershed Management and resource conservation-cum- livelihood programmes. He has to his credit more than 200 publications including research papers in reputed national and international journals, edited books, book chapters, manuals, technical reports and bulletins, symposium / workshop/ seminar papers, popular articles etc., and member of many professional bodies. He has wide work experiences in different capacities as a Senior Scientist and In-charge Head at ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, TN, India, Senior Scientist and Secretary of IASWC at ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun, UK, India.

Dr. Gulshan Kumar Sharma，博士，於新德里Pusa校區的ICAR-印度農業研究所環境科學部完成碩士和博士學位，目前擔任ICAR-印度土壤與水資源保護研究中心（位於拉賈斯坦邦科塔）的科學家。Sharma博士在藻類介導的廢水處理、地下水質評估、空氣污染監測、石材採礦影響評估、退化採礦區的復育、土地資源清查等研究工作方面擁有超過9年的經驗。Sharma博士在其職業生涯中獲得了多項著名的獎學金和獎項，如最佳碩士生的Pradeep紀念獎、通過ICAR和UGC國家資格考試、獲得DST-INSPIRE博士獎學金、2022年NESA綠色技術創新獎、2023年NESA年度科學家獎、由科學與技術部頒發的SCO青年科學家獎，以及SERB資助的國際旅行計劃獎（ITS）和DST青年科學家獎，以參加在美國科羅拉多州博爾德舉行的第九屆國際藻類生物質、生物燃料及副產品會議。Sharma博士已發表超過80篇論文，包括在國際和國內知名期刊上的文章、技術公報和書籍章節。

Dr. I. Rashmi，博士，現任ICAR-印度土壤與水資源保護研究中心（位於拉賈斯坦邦科塔）的高級科學家（土壤科學與農業化學）。她在土壤科學研究、土壤化學與肥力、土壤與水資源保護及流域計劃方面擁有十五年的經驗。她的主要工作包括為作物生產力和水污染制定環境和農業閾值的P飽和指數、使用納米多孔沸石、開發適合印度農民土壤健康問題的快速土壤測試工具Mridaparikshak。她的研究領域還包括覆蓋作物下的土壤侵蝕研究、石材採礦挑戰及礦山廢土復育、評估土壤改良劑對侵蝕區域養分和沉積物流失的影響、自然農業、保護性農業項目等。她在研究所層面和外部資助方面擔任首席研究員和共同首席研究員，負責超過十個項目；在國內外期刊上發表超過30篇研究論文；撰寫超過15篇書籍章節；參加22場國內外會議/研討會；參加六次專業培訓；為農民及各州和中央政府的利益相關者、非政府組織組織了國家重要的培訓計劃。

Dr. Shakir Ali，博士，目前擔任ICAR-印度土壤與水資源保護研究所（IISWC，位於拉賈斯坦邦科塔）的主任及首席科學家（土壤與水資源保護工程）。他擁有優秀的學術成績，獲得阿拉哈巴德大學的農業工程學士學位、印度理工學院卡拉格普爾分校的土壤與水資源保護工程碩士學位、印度工程師學會的土木工程AMIE學位，以及印度理工學院魯爾基分校的水文學博士學位。他在ICAR的職業生涯始於土壤與水資源保護工程科學家。他在土地退化、人造地下水補給、小流域水文建模、降雨-徑流建模、蒸發建模、氣候變遷及乾旱分析等領域擁有廣泛而多樣的經驗。他的學術成果超過132篇，包括在國際和國內知名期刊上發表的研究論文、書籍、書籍章節、技術公報、流行文章和報告。他獲得了多項專業獎項，並且是印度工程師學會的院士、印度土壤與水資源保護協會的成員。