Department of Geography

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY

Prof. Kiran Kumar Maltiar laid the foundation of Department of Geography when he joined B. N. College as a lecturer in Geography on the 16th April 1980. After three months, Prof. Sudeepto Adhikari was transferred from Patna Women’s College and took over as the head of this department. Since then the department has been making a steady progress in teaching and research. The opening of this department was the result of the sincere efforts of Late Prof. S. K. Bose, the then Principal of the college. Initially the department, which was opened under the 5th five year plan of the UGC, had two posts of lecturer and one post of cartographer sanctioned by the UGC. The State Government sanctioned a third post of lecturer in the year 1981. Later, the post of cartographer was converted into the post of Laboratory-in-charge, as per the State Governments directives. Dr. A. R. K. Sinha was appointed on this post as laboratory-in-charge. Unfortunately he left for his heavenly abode in August 2016. He was very dedicated and very sincere to his work. The sudden demise of Dr. A. R. K Sinha was a great blow to the department of Geography, B. N. College. His loss can never be compensated. Sri Ram Bhajan Sharma who was appointed as Lab Bearer since the opening of the department was also a very dedicated and sincere worker. He retired from Patna University service on 31 st August 2014.

Prof. (Dr.) S. Adhikari

Prof. S. Adhikari was appointed Head of the Dept. of Geography, B. N. College on 18 th July 1980 and continued till 9 th November 2006. After serving for about 26 long years as the Head of the Dept. of Geography, B. N. College, Prof. S. Adhikari was appointed as Head of the Department of Geography, Patna University in November 2006. He also served as Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Patna University. Under his leadership the Dept. of Geography, B. N. College flourished and developed to a great extent. Two UGC sponsored National Seminars were conducted during his tenure in November, 2004 and March, 2006. Prof. Adhikari reached the climax of his career when he joined as Vice-Chancellor of Patna University in January, 2011. Prof. Adhikari is a Geographer of international fame. He has presented many papers in various seminars and conferences not only in the different universities of India but also outside in many countries like USA, Israel, Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, etc. He has also published the number of research articles in various reputed journals of National and International repute. Besides he has also supervised successfully many research scholars to obtain their Ph. D degree.

Prof. (Dr.) K. K. Maltiar

Prof. Kiran Kumar Maltiar is the founder Head of the Dept. of Geography, B. N. College. Prof. Maltiar was appointed Head of this Dept. four times. The first tenure of his Headship was from 16 th April 1980 to 17 th July 1980. The second tenure of his Headship was from 10 th November 2006 upto 13 th May 2011. Further the third term of his Headship was from 21 st March 2012 till 21 st July 2015 and again the fourth and last term of his Headship was from 19 th April 2018 to 5 th August 2018. Prof. K. K. Maltiar is an eminent Geographer of national and international fame. He has presented a number of research papers in different universities of India and has also got published a number of research articles in various journals of the country. A number of research scholars have been awarded Ph. D. degree under his successful supervision. He earned international fame when his research paper on Agro-calorimetric Triangle was accepted for presentation at the 25 th ICA Conference in Paris (France), 2011. He presented this paper in Paris in July 2011. Later he visited Dresden (Germany) in August, 2013 on an invitation to participate in the 26 th ICA Conference. Prof. Maltiar is also the member of the prestigious ICA commission on Map Projections since July 2011. He was nominated chairman of the Indian National Cartographic Association(INCA) Patna Branch in 2010. Prof. K. K. Maltiar has also authored many books both for the school and university / college level along with Prof. (Mrs.)Shanta Rani Maltiar, Professor of Geography, Patna College, Patna University. The school books based on ICSE and CBSE curriculum written by them are very popular throughout the country. Recently Prof. K. K. Maltiar with Prof. S. R. Maltiar as the co-author has got published a book entitled Concepts of Cartography, Remote Sensing and GIS which is a very important contribution in the field of Cartography, Remote Sensing and GIS. Prof. K. K. Maltiar has also served as the Principal of B. N. College. He joined on this post on 14 th May, 2011 and continued till 20 th March, 2012. He reached the climax of his career on 6 th August, 2018 when he was appointed Head of the Dept. of Geography, Patna University and remained there till his retirement on 30 th September, 2018. He also served as Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Patna University from 1 st September 2018 to 30 th September 2018 when he superannuated from Patna University service.

Prof. (Dr.) Ratan Kumar

Prof. Ratan Kumar joined this department in January, 1997 when he was transferred from Patna Women’s College where he joined initially as Assistant Professor in Patna University Service. Prof. Ratan Kumar joined as Head of the Department of Geography when Prof. K. K. Maltiar was appointed as Principal, B. N. College on 14 th May, 2011 and remained as its Head till 20 th March 2012 as Prof. Maltiar returned to this department on 21 st March, 2012. Again Prof. Ratan Kumar became the Head of the department of Geography, B. N. College under the scheme of rotational headship on 22 nd July 2015 and remained as its head till 18 th April 2018 when he was transferred to the Post Graduate Department of Geography, Patna University. He is the co-author of many books on Geography written by Prof. S. Adhikari. He has also presented many papers in various seminars and conferences held in different universities of the country. He has got published a number of research papers in various journals.

Dr. Nagesh Kumar

Dr. Nagesh Kumar was appointed Assistant Professor in Geography in PU service on the recommendation of the Bihar Public Service Commission. He joined the Department of Geography, B. N. College, in January, 2018. Dr. Nagesh Kumar has also presented many papers in various seminars and conferences held in different parts of the country and has got published many articles in different journals. At present he is the only teaching staff in this department and now serving as its head.

At present the department has only one teaching staff, Dr. Nagesh Kumar and one peon Sri Rajendra Prasad Kushwaha who joined this Dept. on 1 st September 2014 after the retirement of Sri Ram Bhajan Sharma.

The beginning of geography teaching in B. N. College in April 1980 gave the students more opportunities to interact with their teachers to develop their skills and knowledge. Provision of better infrastructure facilities in the department such as computer with internet facilities has resulted in the improvement of teaching and research. Many students of this department are now occupying important positions in different fields such as teaching, research, banking sector, administration etc.