Manipur doctor nominated as expert member of NWC

Our Correspondent

Imphal, Feb. 14 (EMN): Dr. Vishwanath Waikhom, former dean, School of Life Sciences, Manipur University has been nominated as an expert member (Fisheries) of the National Wetlands Committee (NWC) along with four other experts on a rotational basis for two years.

The four other members are Prof. Rajiv Sinha of dept. of earth science, Indian institute of Technology, Kanpur as an expert in Hydrology), Prof. Sanjay Deshmukh of dept. of Life sciences Mumbai University in Ecology, Dr. Surabhi Mehrotra of dept. of Architecture and planning, MANIT Bhopal in Landscape Planning, and Dr. TV Ramachgandra of Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangaluru in Socio-Economics.

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The ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Wetlands Division) issued an office memorandum in this regard on February 10. The National Wetlands Committee was constituted under the chairmanship of secretary, ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Dr. Vishwanath was a member of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s freshwater fish specialist group, guided the researchers. So far, Dr. Vishwanath's team has discovered nearly 100 freshwater fish species since the discovery of Puntius jayaremi locally known as Heikak Nga in 1986 adding to more than 200 fish species in Manipur alone.