Professor R.B. Singh (1955-2021), an Icon of Indian Geography: A Passage on the Path of Lineage, Legacy and Liminality

Professor R.B. Singh (1955-2021) had been the first Indian Geographer to have the dual distinction of holding the position of the IGU Secretary General and ICSU Scientific Committee Member. He was the first Indian and second Asian Secretary General and Treasurer of the IGU (2018-2022). Professor Singh was a distinguished geographer of 21st Century India who had made distinct academic contributions over the last five decades, illustrated with publishing 16 books, 40 anthologies, and around 260 research papers. He has covered and profusely published researches in 11 fields—Environmental Studies, Geoecology; Land resources, Land use/ Land cover; Water issues, Hydrology; Disaster, Natural Hazard; Quality of Life, Livelihood; Climatic Change, Air Pollution study; Urban Environment, Health, and wellbeing; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Environmental Monitoring; Geography, Development Studies R-U; Mountain Studies, Forestry, Tourism; and RS, GIS, Recent trends appraisal. He had supervised 39 PhD and 81 MPhil dissertations. This paper presents an appraisal of his life journey on the path of Lineage, Legacy and Liminality—a type of biographical highlights in the frame of his practising geography, while also emphasising various niches, distinctions, networks, and collaborative programmes.


Introduction
Geography is basically rooted in the spirit of place (genius loci), which one experiences, understand, memorises and further expands in one's lifeworld. I remember the saying by a great Irish geographer, Anne Buttimer (1938Buttimer ( -2017, that "in each person's life echoes the drama of his or her times and milieu; in all, to varying degrees, the propensity to submit or rebel. Through our biographies we reach toward understanding, being and becoming" (Buttimer 1983, p. 3). On this line, the present appraised paper attempts to describe the journey and contributions of (late) Professor Ram Babu Singh (known popularly as R.B. Singh/RBS) with a supplement of proving overall view and enlisting all his publications (see Appendix 1) and the doctoral dissertations (see Appendix 2) supervised by him.
Since 1989 after having 6-months training under UNITAR/UNEP-GRID and EPFL (Switzerland), Professor R.B. Singh had followed the path what once Jack Dangermond (b. 1945-), an American billionaire businessman and a long-time member of the National Geographic family and the CEO of ESRI, said: "[o]ur world is evolving without consideration, and the result is a loss of biodiversity, energy issues, congestion in cities. But geography, if used correctly, can be used to redesign sustainable and more liveable cities" (see, Dangermond 2019, ref.). This is profusely represented in RBS's publications, mostly together with his doctoral students to whom he insisted and inspired to work on such contemporary and multidisciplinary themes; he had lived over three decades (1990 onwards-) of his geographic life, creating geography what the proverb says "Geography is what geographers can do".
In a National Geographic Bee competition, held on 24 May 2012, US President Barack Obama, participated and has exposed his perception of geography: "The study of Geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together" (see, Tau 2012, ref.). This image was part of the life-long journey by R.B. Singh, who was perceived 'an Icon of Indian Geography' in this quarter of the 21st Century, which was disseminated and received popularity at the global level through his colossal mass of publications and networking, and several international projects (see, Tables 1 and 2).
Professor R.B. Singh's sense of understanding village ecology goes back to his earlier days of courses in master's class with the collaboration of his teacher and elder brother (myself), illustrated with a study of their native village, Majhanpura (Bihar), and resulted in a monograph publication, viz. Singh and Singh Changing Frontiers of Indian Village Ecology (1981). In his foreword, Professor Walther Manshard (Secretary-General IGU) has remarked, "I hope that this study will reflect a new direction for an interdisciplinary approach and inspire fellow workers for the detailed investigation of the micro-level rural habitat. With this objective, I wish for its success and wide dissemination" (Singh & Singh 1981, p. 9). Another noted American geographer, Professor Brian J. Murton (University of Hawaii, Honolulu), has opined: "[i]t is an excellent statement of how rural geography should be carried out, and where it should be directing its findings: not only to the theoretical realm of formal geography, but to the real world of rural problems and their solutions" (Singh & Singh 1981, p. 11). Professor R.L. Singh (1917, the Dean and father of modern geography in India has noted, "I am sure that this study will promote a greater interdisciplinary approach in integrated rural development programmes in the developing countries with similar environs; at the same time, fellow workers and country-planners will not be slow to pursue similar research, and also to implement the measures suggested by the authors in village level planning" (Singh & Singh 1981, p. 10).   Environmental Studies, Geoecology 1 9 2 5 5 3 2.
INSA Geography Report, & related 3 4 ----------ALL 16 40  RBS was careless about his health and more involved in his image-making and trying to be unique and distinct as the tallest figure in Indian geography, which he succeeded in achieving to some extent, but he paid its price. Since the last eight years, RBS has been suffering from Nephrotic syndrome (damage of the kidneys' filtering system, resulting from removing too much protein from the blood), resulting in more dependency on strict dietary habits and regular dialysis. Resultantly he was admitted in a severe condition in the ICU in Jaipur Gold hospital, where passing two weeks, he departed from this world on 22 July 2021 at 03:50AM IST (that is, Thursday, Ashadha Shukla 13th Samvata 2078). We all family members, friends and students are thrown into the painful ditch of shock, sorrow, suffering and devastation; however, one has to accept this hard truth as the curse of destiny.
The serene environment of the Sarayu riverfront, the sacred groves and gardens in the surroundings, small monastery of a Vaishnavite saint in the vicinity and beautiful lush trees and shrubs in the surroundings, and also the allaround scattered green fertile fields -altogether made an environmental setting where innocent childhood mind of RBS developed deep attachment to the spirit of places and the village ecology that flourish and sustained throughout his life journey.
Having primary education up to 5th grade in the village school, he had received education up to 8th grade in a junior high school at Revelganj (now named Gautam Sthan, at a distance of 5km), followed with his further studies (9th to 12th grade: four years) in the Rejendra College at Chhapra, lying 15-km from the native village. Together with other classmates, he was attending the college by using local bus service, or some time with the help of some friends using bicycle. This was an arduous journey, however, he learnt the field observations and importance of walking and travelling in the countryside, which helped make his future journey easy and enjoyable. In 1973 he passed his 12th grade (see Table 3), under the guardianship of his teacher Professor B.L. Sinha, who taught him the first geography lesson. That was the crucial period when the family was in favour of getting RBS to join a job and support the family's sustenance. However, with support, encouragement and assurances for all the supports from his elder brother (myself; see Figure 1), he followed him, and in the first week of July 1973, together with me, he took the train to his destination for making the future career at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.   Table 3).

Settling Down in the University of Delhi and Achievements There
In  Table 3).
His professional services, and membership to scientific committees (see , Table 1 The department of geography had provided him with a solid and potential platform for operating several of the projects, sponsored by national and international institutions, started from 1994 and coming close to 2014 (see, Table 1).   Table 2). The six categories of his publication (see , Tables 4 to 9, and Appendix: 1) are appraised here in short.
List of the R.B. Singh's books (16) to be classified into three categories, that is, (i) independent, consisting of two such books (research monographs), of them is his memorial lecture, a small piece on "Urban Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing and Disaster Risk Reduction" (2020), and another one his revised doctoral dissertation on Geography of Rural Development: a case study of Siwan district, Bihar (1986). Three other categories included are report-based books (5), co-authored books (4), and the revised doctoral dissertations of his students published as co-authored books (5) (see Table 4).
He was actively involved in preparing a huge mass of collected thematic papers in the form of anthologies; this list covers 40 publications from 1990 through 2021. This may be broadly categorised into three types, viz. self-edited (20), co-edited (7), and multi-editors' volume (13); all under the ten broad themes. Of course, among the 40 books, 29 books covered the four thematic groups, that is, Environmental Studies, Geoecology; Land resources, Land use/ Land cover; Climatic Change, Biospheric study; and SDGs, Environmental Monitoring (see, Table 5).
The list of research papers published in the peerreviewed journal and research series reached 64 (during 1979-2021, see, Table 6), covering eleven themes. Out of theme papers only 12 are independent, and the rest 52 are co-authored; the major themes were three: Water issues, Hydrology; Climatic Change, Air Pollution study; and Mountain studies, Forestry, Tourism, covering 38 entries. The follow-up group of papers refer to 'papers published in Indian Journals/books' during 1980-2020, counting to 62 (see Table 7), again to be classified into two: individual (23), and co-authored (39). These entries broadly covered the four thematic groups (enumerating 39 papers), viz. Land resources, Land use/ Land cover; Water issues, Hydrology; Disaster, Natural Hazard; and RS, GIS, Recent trends appraisal (see, Table 7).
The papers published in international anthologies and proceedings reached 58, and as usual categorised into two: individual (20) and co-authored (37). Most individual papers are like encyclopaedical entries or popular descriptions/notes on a theme or based on reports. The primary focus covered three categories: Land resources, Land use/ Land cover (13), Mountain studies, Forestry, Tourism (9), and SDGs, Environmental monitoring (7) (see Table 8). The last group of papers covers 'papers in Indian Books and Proceedings' (1980-2022), covering 76 entries, categorised into two: individual (21) and co-authored (55); and discussed the two broad themes, that is, Mountain studies, Forestry, Tourism (20), and Disaster, Natural Hazard (14) (see, Table 9).  Quality of Life --1 --1 6.
Geography, Rural Development

Supervision of Doctoral & M.Phil Dissertations
Professor R.B. Singh was an outstanding mentor, guide, and life-long advisor to his students. In his 29 years career of supervising PhD and MPhil (1992-2020), like his excellent mass of papers, he had guided 39 doctoral dissertations and 81 masters of philosophy (see , Table 10, and Appendix: 2). Half of the doctoral dissertations dealt with Environmental Studies, Geoecology (11), and Land resources, Land use/ Land cover (7). The predominance of these topics was associated with the similar projects where these students worked and, on those themes, submitted their dissertations. Thus, it served the dual benefit: completing the projects and awarding the degree to the associated students. In the case of MPhil's dissertations, the major topics covered include four broad themes, viz. Climatic Change, Biospheric study (16); Disaster, Natural Hazard (11); Mountain studies, Forestry and related issues (11); and Environmental Studies, Geoecology (10)-altogether these covers around 60 per cent of the total. He had also taken the initiative to start a 2-yr alternate IGU-India Conference, already four such meets held at different centres and were attended by selected IGU EC Members and its associated. Many of the proceedings of such conferences were published in his own series editorship under Springer Nature. This was an attempt at his own image-making, making IGU related conferences at the national level. In a way, this was an attempt to Indianise the IGU in projecting the image of Indian geography at a global level, of course, succeeded only marginally, primarily due to Indian politics and regionalism.
In 2015, Professor R.B. Singh had played an instrumental role as the then Vice-President of the IGU Executive Committee meeting held during the IGU Regional Conference at Moscow, Russia, 17-22 August 2015 (see Figure 3)   However, Professor RB Singh had successfully mobilised and used his dignified position and international links to develop and enhance the following notable contributions, what he had visioned and proposed for his candidacy to Vice-Chairman and later as Secretary General of the IGU, which included: organizing annual IGU and IYGU events in South Asia for benefit to various cross sections of the society; initiating a Global Open Day for Geography at National Level, especially in developing countries with emphasis on interdisciplinary discourses and promoting joint research projects; promoting IGU as a platform for global understanding, contemporary concerns, prioritization and help in making policies and promotion of leadership; improving academic orientation of IGU through series of publications and start of new thematic publication series, while maintaining professional standards and the global ethics (e.g., Advances in Geography and Environmental Science series under Springer Nature, which is already publishing since 2014); and developing and maintenance of close linkages with UNO and its major branches for promotion of the good causes of IGU. And, (v) Accomplishing Science-Policy Interface (SPI) within IGU Regional Conferences and Congresses on one hand and National committees/Commissions on the other.

Memorials and Messages from the IGU
Here are a few (selected) reminiscences of the IGU senior associates: I first came into contact with Professor R.B. Singh -I knew him affectionately as 'RB' -when he visited me at the University of Cape Town in the mid-1990s, and I had the pleasure of taking him on a tour of our magnificent peninsula and to the lighthouse at Cape Point.
He always mentioned this excursion whenever we met -which of course, was often following his election to the Vice-Presidency of the IGU. Our encounters became even more regular from 2018 when he took over from me as Secretary-General, and we worked together very closely on IGU business and more. 'RB' was a softly spoken and compassionate person who thought deeply about the subject that he loved so much. His contributions to the discipline -through his indefatigable endeavours in research publications, education and outreach -led to his being considered, quite rightly, as a true 'Giant of Geography in India' and beyond. He inspired generations of younger students to pursue our distinguished discipline and has served the global geographical community with great dignity.
His countless followers, particularly in his home country, clearly adored him -as the innumerable 'likes' of his Facebook posts attest. 'RB' will be remembered as a placid, calm but tireless champion of global Geography and will be sorely missed by all who came into contact with this gentle soul. We all in the IGU, are devastated, and our hearts go out to his family, colleagues, students and close friends. May his soul rest in peace.
27 August 2021. I worked with Professor R.B. Singh (1955-2021) closely for over two decades, first in IGU-LUCC (IGU Commission on Land Use/Cover Change) since the 1990s, then in a number of projects, meetings and publications in Japan and India related with land use/cover change, sustainability, disasters, environmental education, etc., while deepening our involvement in the IGU. In 2018 the IGU Executive Committee faced difficulty in finding a candidate for Secretary-General and Treasure for 2018-2022 because the workload of that post seemed hopelessly high. I, then President, was really saved when he said to me that he, then a Vice President, was prepared to take that difficult role if needed. It is my deepest regret that I failed to stop him from overworking for the IGU on top of the other also important duties when his health condition was not so good, then lost one of my best friends and unreplaceable comrade, Professor R.B. Singh on 22 July 2021. His kindness, high and wideranging academic expertise and zeal for education remain vivid in my mind forever. Let his soul rest in peace.  27 August 2021. I had known Professor R.B. Singh or 'RB-ji' as I affectionately and respectfully called him, for almost thirty years, and it is hard to believe that he is no more. Professor Singh and I interacted in many IGU conferences in different parts of the world, representing India and South Africa, respectively. He also invited me regularly to participate in conferences in different parts of India. RB-ji had amazing powers of persuasion and sometimes gently coaxed me to attend, even when I had a difficult schedule. I have also contributed chapters to his edited book series. … I believe that a hallmark of a good professor is how he treats his students. I have known many of RB-ji's students and followed some of their discussions on social media. I can safely say that RB-ji's students worshiped the very ground on which he walked. I have never heard RB-ji utter a harsh word against anyone, even when things sometimes did not go as planned in some conferences. In many respects he represented the epitome of simplicity and humility. In one of his last discussions with me, Professor Singh had discussed his IGU project with me which will have a huge global impact. He had mandated each of the 40 IGU Commissions to select a theme or sub-theme from one of the 30 SDGs for research. We must collectively ensure that this project continues. This will be a fitting memorial to Professor R.B. Singh.

The Vision that will Radiate
From carrying the past to channelising the future, country to country, group to group, all he handled with his power of attachment, sacrifice, intimate discourses and honouring other's domain through solid networking. This way, he succeeded to learn and practice self-guidance to universal outlook, regardless of what others believe, love or hate him. However, his own enlightenment had always been making geography in serving the causes of emerging society in collaboration and support of his own students, mostly his own doctoral and project associates. In a way, one can say it was RBS's centric approach; nevertheless, it radiated the world and got honour and recognition to Indian Geography through his distinct personality. That is how he was called as "icon of Indian Geography in the emergence of the 21st century". His passage on the road of geography be symbolised as spoken by Buttimer (1993, p. 26), "arboreal representation of a career journey that reveal[s] latent and manifest[s] consistencies as they unfold throughout an entire career". However, his march in diverse directions denotes the evoking of geographic awareness in search of infinite, putting critical reflections, discovery and creative contractions at the margin. Of course, the "RBS Era" is closed on the 22nd of July 2021 by his sad demise. Nevertheless, his messages, visions, signposts, pathways and the frontier lines would always be here what he left for the coming young generations to follow. However, his gamut of publications would hopefully "elicit curiosity and insight about relationships between humanity and the physical earth in themes such as culture and landscape, sense of place, nature symbolism, or the history of ideas" what Buttimer (1993, p. 15) had once envisioned. Let his students and companions pave the path of unification at the place of fragmentation, human service instead of empiricist narration, and making bridges through geographic blocks of cement in furthering geography as intimate knowledge of deeper human understanding. R.B. Singh's contributions should be taken as an enlightened frame -road to unification in the Indian Knowledge System (IKS)-Bharatiya Jnana Paddhati (BJP), what Matthew & Herbert (2004, p. 388) said "… that if greater emphasis is given to the unifying themes, Geography will make greater disciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions to knowledge and society, thereby fulfill its destiny amongst the constellation of disciplines". This was probably the message of R.B. Singh's life-long works.
Through his masses of research students, he followed the path that once Henry said it in his famous book, Die Empty (2013, p. 120): If you have an idea, perform it.
If you know, give it out.
If you have a goal, achieve it.
Love, share and distribute, do not keep it inside.
Naturally, the use of geography has to be judged by its degree of transparency, originality, shared consciousness and its acceptance by the society in terms of its services, and making sense for dignity and peace. RBS had tried his best to do this noble task by collecting flowers from the various wilderness, technocratic landscapes, cognitive works and their associated attributes, and all these illustrated in his colossal mass of publications. Remember what Yi-Fu Tuan (2002, p. 52) once said, "[t]ransparency is the goal of intellect rather than of culture. As for the culture, one might almost say that its purpose is obfuscation. It provides people with a comfortable habitat that lies in the sun, but not too much." Concerning the goodness and humbleness of RBS, I remember the saying of famous humanist American geographer, Yi-Fu Tuan (2008, p. 80), "[o]ne feels intuitively that goodness cannot be just one act, that it has to be an overall quality, almost innate, like a characteristic smile or tone of voice that is sustained over a life time". RBS had always maintained and kept alive that sense of goodness. RBS had started the run, spread the willpower and whatever integrity inside he had -all he transferred making himself "empty" at the end of his life, and now let his students and companions transform all those in service to the Global community; almost similar to what Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) has envisioned and popularised the message for 'Global Understanding', based on the Vedic teaching: Utīshṭhata Jāgrata prāpya Varanni Bodhayata, that is, , "Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is Reached" (Kaṭha Upanishad, 1.3.14). Let us realise and reveal this and follow and strengthen the path as homage and tribute to (late) Professor R.B. Singh.