Republic Day celebrated at PU

Chandigarh: The unfurling of national flag marked the 72nd Republic Day celebration at Panjab University(PU) campus by Prof. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, PU as Chief Guest of the occasion at the parade ground. This was followed by the inspection of the Guard of Honour comprising of contingencies of PU Security in the presence of Prof. R.K. Singla, Dean of University Instructions, Sh. Vikram Nayyar, Finance & Development Officer and officiating Registrar and Prof. Ashwani Kaul, Chief of University Security.

              PU VC while felicitating the gathering, appreciated the faculty for making teaching possible in this tough time of Covid-19 Pandemic. He expressed that despite of all challenges, still the year 2020 emerged as the year of quantum leap where everyone learned how to switch over to technology. He further added that PU is continuously taking new initiatives to benefit research innovation and learning environment. During the testing time of Corona, around 400 national/international/webinar/FDP were organized by various teaching departments. PU VC also listed various achievements of PU with respect to rankings including academic and sports achievements. He informed that total 102 research projects to various funding agencies worth Rs. 93 crore approx. were submitted between April-December, 2020. Research Projects worth Rs. 5.43 crore were received along with a grant of Rs. 50 crores under Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).  

            Throwing light on the upgradation of SAIF/CIL lab, PU VC informed that lab facilities have been made available not only to PU but also to various R&D labs, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and industries PAN India. PU has analysed maximum number of samples out of 16 SAIF Centres in India. It was further informed that PU has started upto Rs. 40,000/- interest subsidy to students of Self Finance Courses who have taken Education Loan to get enrolled at the University. PU has created a Corpus of approximately Rs. 2 crore to help the students. Also, an amount of Rs. 60 lakhs has been approved for the students of the affiliated colleges of PU in various categories. Two new categories for Youth Welfare and Transgender have been added for the first time. PU VC urged all to work towards playing an important role in adopting the National Education Policy in true sense and right spirit which is focused at multidisciplinary approach.

            Earlier, CA Vikram Nayyar, in his welcome address appreciated the role of PU fraternity including the faculty, administrative staff, researchers, health workers, security personnel for devising strategies to carry on the show during that challenging times of lockdown. He urged all to continue with their good work unitedly, to take PU ahead on the road to success.

            Patriotic songs were sung by the students of B.Ed College, Chandigarh. The vote of thanks were proposed by Prof. Gurmeet Singh, Depart of Hindi, PU.

             Those who were present on the occasion included PU Deans, Senior PU Officials, PUTA President, faculty, staff and their families.