Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 12: A three-day national webinar series, organized by Department of Social Work, University of Kashmir on the contemporary issues of `Intimate Partner Violence, Drug Addiction and Suicide Prevention during Covid-19, concluded today at KU.
The webinar series, which started on Monday, was inaugurated by Prof Shakil Ahmad Romshoo (Dean Research, University of Kashmir), Dr Nisar Ahmad Mir (Registrar, University of Kashmir , and Prof Bashir Ahmad Khan (Dean School of Social Sciences, KU).
Prof Shakil Romshoo deliberated on the sudden steep rise of the intimate partner violence incidents during the current pandemic throughout the country and suggested for the need of research on this serious issue and its dissemination to the masses.
Dr Nisar Ahmad Mir, in his address on `Drug Addiction’, stressed on the conceptual frame work of deviance and the values and norms of the society. He emphasized on the steep increase in the number of incidents pertaining to drug addiction during the current pandemic and the importance to educate masses about these social problems.
Prof Bashir Ahmad Khan while highlighting the suicide and its precipitating factors, talked about the role of the religious institutions in minimizing the problem.
The convener of the national webinar series, Dr Aadil Bashir (Coordinator, Department of Social Work) shared the implications of COVID-19 and upsurge of various social problems in the society.
A large number of research scholars, PG students and helping professionals across the country participated in the series. Prof Neelam Sukhramani (Department of Social Work, Jamia Milia Islamia), Dr Arpit Parmar (Assistant Professor, AIIMS Bhubaneshwar), Dr Yasir Rather (Associate Professor, IMHANS Srinagar), Dr Priya Sreedaran (Associate Professor, Saint John’s Medical College Banglore) and Dr Anish V Cherian (AssistanY Professor, NIMHANS Banglore) were the keynote resource persons.
The speakers accentuated the unprecedented increase in the episodes of intimate partner violence, drug addiction and suicide since the beginning of the pandemic and lockdown, the need to identify the persons who are the victims of such problems, sensitize masses about the warning signs of these issues and then providing a helping hand by linking them to the concerned support services to prevent such issues to happen.
The webinar series was moderated by Dr Javaid Rashid and Dr Sarfaraz Ahmad. Vote of thanks was presented by Dr Saima Farhad.