ICSSR North-Western Regional Centre PU organised interaction of Padam Shri Professor Jatinder K Bajaj

Chandigarh, November 25, 2022: The ICSSR North-Western Regional Centre, Panjab University, Chandigarh organised an interaction of  Padam Shri Professor Jatinder K Bajaj, Chairman, ICSSR New Delhi at ICSSR Complex on “Directions of Social Science Research for India” today. Professor Sanjay Kaushik, Honorary Director, ICSSR Regional Centre welcomed Professor Bajaj and Prof. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, P.U. Chandigarh who presided over the function.   Professor Kaushik elaborated the role of regional centre in promoting the social science research in the region.

Professor Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, P.U. Chandigarh stated  that Prof. Bajaj is one of the ‘gem’of the Panjab University who is representing the Panjab University globally. He stressed the need to take more and more research on core social science issues.
 
Professor J. K. Bajaj recalling his reminisces  of Panjab University Campus, while he was a student and remarked on the changing spatial character of the campus. He felt worried about the increasing number of vehicles, the changing floura and founa on the campus. He further moved on to describing the richness of India as a land in terms of its geography, history, culture,  and archaeology.  He felt that these areas need the focus of social scientists in the process to become a part of resurgent India’s success story. He viewed that the ancient knowledge with the rural people in Punjab is remarkable with quotes of  Gurbani which denotes the great Sanatan India. The change of dynamics is visible today after 75 years in social, economic and cultural spheres. He further elaborated how in 19th century the USA had resources but had no special place globally as compared to India which had great natural resources as evident in available literature.  Let us be on the side of India and make efforts  to make it number 1 globally. The plight  of migrants of Indo-Pak division needs to be taken up on priority to find out , how they suffered, rehabilitated and settled themselves with hard work and how BHARAT helped them to make self reliant.

The methodology that social scientists need to focus is observation  particularly in the fieldwork.  Another area he believed is understanding and documenting the impact of changing landscapes on people’s perspectives and behaviours. He believed that quantitative data which formed the basis of all research should be understood and analysed in a very incisive manner so that the numbers reveal meaningful stories, mere statistical tests would not reveal much. 

During the interaction,  the faculty and research scholars raised many meaningful observations on cultural issues with regard to research. The importance of working on transforming landscapes, cultural transformation, writing people’s histories and geographies was highlighted by the faculty members. The  sciences and social sciences must work hand in hand as their interests are interwoven with creation of knowledge with Indian ethos on agenda. Professor Bajaj was alive and sensitive to the needs of social science research.

Professor Sanjay Kaushik, thanked the teaching fraternity and research scholars for attending the programme and participating in lively discussion.