A two-day national seminar on “Recent Trends in Theoretical and Applied Statistics-I (RTTAS-I)” under the UGC SAP DRS – II was organized by the Department of Statistics during 11 – 12 March, 2016. In the inaugural session, Prof. Jiten Hazarika, Coordinator, SAP-DRS-II briefly outlined the history and development of Department of Statistics and presented the objectives of the Seminar. Professor Alak K. Buragohain, the Vice-Chancellor formally inaugurated the Seminar. He highlighted upon the use and importance of statistics in diverse disciplines from Governance as it initially started with State Governance to the study of extremely large data sets of Genomic era in modern Biology. Professor K.K. Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, as a guest of honour, in his brief but very illuminating address urged upon the heterogeneous audience of the inaugural session to use Statistics very carefully in their respective fields. Prof. Singh explained how Statistics can be misused in the hands of persons having little knowledge of the subject. Referring to the point made by Prof. Singh, Prof. D.C. Nath of Gauhati University reemphasized in his Keynote Address that a Statistician must feel the Data and the Subject matter for proper and correct interpretation in any study involving Statistical Analysis. Prof. S. C. Kakaty, Chairman of the inaugural session, in his address summarized precisely all the deliberations and remarked that the statistician should be always honest in communications with Social Scientists, Physicists, Engineers, etc. Prof. B. Gogoi, Head of the Department offered vote of thanks.
The seminar started with a Special Session on “Students Paper Presentation and Competition” Chaired by Dr. G. L. Sriwastav, Retd. Professor of the Department. Professor K. K. Singh, BHU, Varanasi presented the invited talk entitled “Study of Heterogeneity of Risk of Child Death Using Stochastic Models”. Altogether 13 (thirteen) students from different departments/ centres of studies of the University and affiliated colleges under Dibrugarh University participated in the Session.
There were 5 (Five) Technical Sessions held in 3 (three) different venues during the two day programme. Apart from the Technical Sessions, a Plenary Session on the topic “Addressing Communication Gaps between Statisticians and Social Scientists” was held at Vikshan, the conference hall at Vishranta.
The seminar ended with a valedictory session Chaired by Professor B. Gogoi, Head of Department. Professor M. N. Dutta, Registrar, Dibrugarh University as a Guest of Honour of this session congratulated the department for the successful completion of this programme. Dr. Manash P. Barman, in his vote of thanks expressed gratitude to the Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor and other members of the University authority for their support and suggestions.