Bathinda : The Central University of Punjab commenced a one-week National Workshop on ‘KOHA OSLS – An Open-Source Library Management System’ on Friday in hybrid mode. The Department of Library and Information Sciences is conducting this workshop under the patronage of Vice-Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari FROM August 4—8, 2023. During the inaugural session, Prof. Roshan Lal Raina, Vice-Chancellor of Jaipur National University, Jaipur, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, while Prof. Jagtar Singh, Chairperson of HRDC at Guru Kashi University, participated as the Guest of Honour. The inaugural ceremony was attended by faculty members, students, and librarians from various universities and institutions across the country.

At the outset of the workshop, Dr. Bhaw Nath Pandey, Workshop Coordinator, and Head of the Department of Library & Information Sciences, and Dean School of Information and Communication Studies, extended a warm welcome to the participants and emphasized the significance of the event. He informed that a total of 85 faculty and research scholars from different parts of the country have registered for the workshop, reflecting the widespread interest and enthusiasm among academicians to explore KOHA OSLS.

During the workshop, eminent experts in the field of Library and Information Sciences delivered insightful sessions on various aspects of KOHA OSLS. Prof. Roshan Lal Raina, as the Chief Guest, delivered an eloquent speech emphasizing the importance of advancements in Library Sciences and the role of open-source technologies in promoting knowledge dissemination. Prof. Jagtar Singh, the Guest of Honour, elucidated the advantages and applications of KOHA software, emphasizing its potential to revolutionize library management and information organization.

In his presidential address, Prof. R.K. Wusirika, Dean InCharge Academics, expressed his belief that the workshop would provide an excellent platform for participants to enhance their understanding of open-source library systems and equip them with the necessary knowledge to effectively implement KOHA OSLS in their respective institutions.

Additionally, during the plenary sessions, participants had the privilege to interact with experienced professionals in the field. Shri Vinod Kumar Mishra, Assistant Librarian from NIT Rourkela, and Shri Hemant Kumar Biswal, Assistant Librarian from IIT Kharagpur, shared their practical experiences and provided valuable insights into successfully implementing KOHA OSLS in their respective institutions.

The workshop content will encompass a wide range of topics, including KOHA installation, configuration, cataloging, circulation, and reporting. Participants will be given hands-on training by experts on the usage and customization of the software. Over the course of the next six days, eminent experts will impart knowledge about the KOHA software to the participants. The valedictory session of this workshop will be organized on August 8, 2023.

Lamrin Tech Skills University Punjab is first of its kind skill university in India incubated by IBM as an anchor partner, TATA Technologies & Ansys as industry partners. The University is established by Govt. of Punjab under state act No 22 of 2021 and is recognized by UGC, New Delhi. LTSU is located in foothills of Shiwalik Range on the bank of Satluj River near Ropar in the sprawling campus of 100 acres.

The objective of the university are to make India a global leader in the skill based workforce, to design various programs in collaboration with global Tech giants, to frame & structure the curriculum, mentored by leading industry experts, practitioners and academicians, to make students industry ready through training in skill based courses. To achieve these Objectives Lamrin Tech Skills University Punjab has successfully launched cutting edge job oriented unique skilling Programs in B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering backed with IBM, B.Tech Mechanical Engineering with specialization in Design and Manufacturing in collaboration with Employability.life. The uniqueness of these 4 year B.Tech courses are: Strong emphasis on Live Projects through Project Based Learning (PBL) and its program structure (2.5 years+0.5 years+1 year) in which student will be studying core and high end technologies in 2.5 years followed by Live projects from Industry in next semester and one year on the job deployment in Industry. All other programs launched by LTSU will empower the youth to fulfill their professional passions and achieve success in a globalised world with highest level of excellence and standard in all programs across the broad range of trades.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sandeep Singh Kaura, Chancellor, Lamrin Tech Skills University, Punjab said that these collaborations in industry –academia partnership will result in building a learning ecosystem which aligns with Hon’ble PM Modi’s vision for industry 4.0, leading India as a skill capital of the World by providing a platform for honing global level skills to youth of India and enabling them to be employable in domestic and overseas market. Dr Kaura further shared that the focus is on practical output and on job deployment in the industry.

Dr Kaura also highlighted that meritorious students with a minimum 70% marks will be eligible to join the IBM program, while minimum 60% marks eligibility criteria to admission in the Employability.life program and we will make sure that fee does not become the handicap for the meritorious but aspiring students with humble background. We have tied up with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for easy, collateral free financing to meet the requirements of the students. Infrastructure is ready with state of art facilities. The entire process will be undertaken to help the youth for not wasting huge resources in the hands of agents. The University is aiming to admit Six thousand students this year combining all the courses together. This will provide a boon to the young students to fulfill their dreams and choice of the course they aspired for bright career. Majority of these programs will be residential for which excellent hostel facilities are being provided in the University campus.

Stating about the university intake capacity Dr. Kaura said University has 1360 intake under various program of Centre of Excellence (CoE), under Centre of Specialized Training (CoST) 3500 seats are offered and Govt. funded 4000 seats are offered under Centre of Vocational Training (CoVT) and 1000 seats under Learn & Earn are also offered.

Mr. Supriyo Chaudhuri, CEO, Employability.life stated, while talking about the alliance, that we are delighted to partner with Lamrin Tech Skills University (LTSU) to deliver the ground-breaking employer-engaged Agile-projects-based Engineering degree, the first of its kind in India. The students undergoing this programme will participate in team-based projects solving real-life problems and will interact with industry and subject matter experts to prepare for the world of work while studying at the university. Alongside achieving mastery in their domain, students will master professional skills for the global digital economy through Employability.life’s 5 Digital Economy Capabilities (5DEC) model. Also, as they achieve their degrees from LTSU, the students will earn globally recognised experiential micro-credentials (XPMCs), backed by our global strategic partner, Federation University Australia. Together with LTSU, we will be preparing professionals whose skills are relevant to local job markets but equally equipped to become global business leaders.

Mr Sanjiv Mehta, Advisor & Head- Program development IBM, who provide information on the new age industry focused programs by IBM asserted that no Indian university had previously offered world-class skill programs created by the industry to train the next generation of industry experts. The distinguished quality of the program is their emphasis on best in class understanding of emerging technologies. For the duration of the course IBM industry professional will lead workshops and lab sessions. The most in-demand skills not only in India by around the world are Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI & ML), Data Science, Cyber Security and Internet of things (IoT). By 2027, 15 lakh jobs in these hi-end technologies are anticipated.

Prof. B. S. Satyal, Registrar LTSU detailed the collaboration of LTSU with NSDC National Skill Development Corporation. He further stated that IBMs B.Tech CSE 1000s of Candidates have already applied for entrance test conducted by IBM from 27 states of India. 300+ selected candidates from 15+ states have visited the campus and got admission letter and loan approved within 4-5hrs process without any collateral guarantee. Meritorious candidates are only shortlisted for the program after that they need to go through an Entrance Exam conducted by IBM and based on the merit they are offered admission in B.Tech CSE with specialisation program. Similarly, we apply the same approach at the campus for candidates interested in BTech Mechanical, specialized on Design & Manufacturing with Employability.life.

Bathinda : On a momentous occasion of the 4th National Water Awards Ceremony held at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on Saturday, Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, the Vice Chancellor of Central University of Punjab was honoured with the prestigious Water Award by the Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The Honourable Vice President of India, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, graced this programme as the Chief Guest and awarded prizes to winners in various categories. During this programme, the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB) has been conferred with the Water Award for obtaining the third rank in the ‘Best Institution for Campus Usage’ category.

The Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources (DWR), River Development (RD), and Ganga Rejuvenation (GR) organized the Award Distribution Ceremony to honour 41 winners, including joint winners, who have been selected for the 4th National Water Awards, 2022, covering 11 categories in the field of water resources conservation and management.

It is worth mentioning here that the Central University of Punjab has taken various initiatives aimed at tackling the water challenges faced by the state of Punjab. The university administration, over the years, has established state-of-the-art infrastructure for water resource conservation, management, and judicious use of water on the university campus. As a result, the Central University of Punjab has secured a place on the list of National Water Award winners.

In addition to Central University of Punjab, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, J&K, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, Telangana also obtained the Water Award in the ‘Best Institution for Campus Usage’ category for obtaining 1st and 2nd rank, respectively.

During this ceremony, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari accompanied by Dr. Sunil Mittal (Dept. of Environment Science and Technology), was bestowed with a citation, trophy, and cash prize of Rs 1 lakh in acknowledgment of remarkable efforts in promoting sustainable water practices in the university campus.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Vice President of India Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, congratulated all winners for doing commendable work in water conservation and management. He appealed to all citizens to make conservation of water an integral aspect of their daily lives, so that the spirit of Jan Andolan can accelerate the cause of Jal Andolan.

While expressing his gratitude towards the Hon’ble Vice President of India and Hon’ble Union Jal Shakti Minister for the conferment of the Water Award, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Tiwari stated that this award is a testament to the dedicated efforts of the CUPB fraternity in promoting water conservation practises. He added that the university remains committed to continuing our efforts to adopt and promote best water usage practises in attaining the vision of a ‘Jal Samriddh Bharat’.

On this occasion Prof. Tiwari appealed to entire CUPB fraternity, urging both students and employees, to embrace the mission of safeguarding every single droplet of water in order to promote sustainable living.

Bathinda : The Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB) achieved the 100th Rank in the “University Category” in the Ministry of Education (MoE)’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) India Rankings 2023. The University has made significant progress in “Pharmacy Rankings” by obtaining the 19th rank, compared to last year’s rank of 26.

On Monday, Honorable Union Minister of Education Shri Dharmendra Pradhan released the NIRF 2023. Notably, the Central University of Punjab has secured a position among the “Top 100 Universities of India” category in NIRF India Rankings five times consecutively in the last five years. In a tough bid, the CUPB improved its score in the “University Category” from 42.64 (NIRF 2022) to 42.93 (NIRF 2023). Vice-Chancellor conducted a review meeting regarding NIRF Rankings with HoDs and Deans.

The NIRF team ranked higher educational institutions across the country by evaluating their performance on five parameters, i.e., Teaching Learning and Resources (TLR); Research and Professional Practices (RPP); Graduation Outcomes (GO); Outreach & Inclusivity (OI); and Peer Perception.

The university has secured its place in the “Rank-band 100-150” in the Overall Category of NIRF India Rankings 2023.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari has congratulated all faculty members, officers, non-teaching staff, and, most importantly, the students, including research scholars and other stakeholders of the university, for their hard work and contributions leading to this achievement. He applauded the commendable work of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences and the Department of Pharmacology, which contributed to the improvement in Pharmacy Rank. He further emphasizes on the university’s commitment to strengthen its performance in all parameters in the forthcoming years. He urged the entire CUPB fraternity to work with renewed vigor and zeal for better performance in the future.

Bathinda : The Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB) organised a special session of the Youth Parliament at its campus on Tuesday for the final round of the 16th National Youth Parliament (A University Level Competition) conducted under the aegis of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

The objective of this competition is to strengthen the roots of democracy by instilling democratic values among the youth and enable the student community to know about the practices and procedures of the Parliament.

The event, which was conducted under the patronage of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, had eminent panellists consisting of Shri Bratin Sen Gupta, former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Shri A.B. Acharya, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and Dr. Avon Kumar Vaid, Founder Principal, Amritsar Law College. The jury members praised the vibrant and spectacular performances of the students.

It is worth noting that the CUPB stood as the champions of the 15th National Youth Parliament held in FY 2019-20 and the runners-up of the 14th National Youth Parliament held in FY 2017-18.

In the session of 54 minutes, CUPB students showcased excellent oratory and elocution skills by presenting 13 agenda items related to parliamentary proceedings, such as Oath taking, Obituary, Introduction of New Ministers, Question Hour, Zero Hour, Breach of Privilege, Laying of Papers, Message from Upper House, Message from President Office, Introduction of Bill, Considerations and Passing, Welcoming Foreign Delegates, and Legislative Process.

On this occasion, Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor, expressed his gratitude towards the jury members. He stated that this initiative of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs will spread awareness of the democratic value system and inspire youngsters to play an important role in the smooth implementation of parliamentary procedures.

Prof. Tarun Arora, Programme Convener and Group Coordinator of Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, congratulated participants for their illustrious performance and expressed hope that, like previous years, CUPB students will make a mark in the 16th National Youth Parliament Competition and bring laurels to the university.

Towards the end, jury members shortlisted the 8 best speakers out of 55 for special appreciation by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, including Gracy Sharma, Anuj Pratap Singh, Rashi Sharma, Vyapti Prateek, Saurabh Sharma, Nisha Ojha, Kumar Abhinav, and Kunal Singh.

Well known educationists of the Bathinda region including Mr. Jatinder K. Saini, Principal, Delhi Public School, Bathinda; Shri Suraj Setia, Principal, Lord Rama Public School; and Shri Anil Kumar, Principal, KV IV, Bathinda graced this event with their benign presence.  Prominent among the others who attended this programme were Prof. R.K. Wusirika, Dean Incharge Academics; Prof. B.P. Garg, Registrar and CoE; Prof. Monisha Dhiman, Director IQAC.  Faculty, staff, and students attended this programme.

India’s G20 Presidency took centre stage at Khalsa College, Amritsar, where IIT Ropar under Ministry of Education hosted a seminar on ‘Strengthening Research and Promoting Innovation through Richer Collaboration.’
The event brought together delegates from the G20 Education Working Group to discuss the future of work and innovation, with a focus on building bridges across nations for equitable development.
In today’s meeting countries like Australia, France, India and the United Kingdom shared pertinent insights on the role of various stakeholders to promote research on the emerging innovations, their impact on education systems and society in general.
Another panel discussion on ‘Research in Sustainable Development Goals’ saw panelists representing China, Oman, South Africa , UAE and UNICEF laying importance on enhancing the capacities of universities being the core of research.
The seminar focused on bridging the gap between government-academia-industry linkages for designing solutions for addressing global challenges.
The seminar concluded with an address from Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He welcomed the delegates and invited the participants to try Punjabi food and experience the rich culture of the State.
He also expressed his gratitude to the Government of India for giving Punjab the opportunity to host the G20 2nd Education Working Group meeting.

The Punjab Education Collective, brings together the Punjab State Education Department (Sarkaar), Mantra4Change, Samarthya, Sanjhi Sikhiya and ShikshaLokam (Samaaj) and philanthropic organizations like Ford Foundation, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives, United Way Delhi and market players like Deloitte and McKinsey (Bazaar). The Collective is working to enable every single stakeholder in the education ecosystem of the state, working across 19000 schools, to make meaningful decisions and undertake sustainable efforts, to continuously enhance student learning outcomes. The Collective’s multidisciplinary, co-creation approach – designing, orchestrating, and evangelizing change, has made it the winner of the first such Collective Social Innovation Award instituted by the Schwab Foundation.

The key outcomes of the Collective’s work have been reflected in the Performance Grading Index (instituted by Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, India) ranking where the Punjab state moved from an overall ranking of 13 in 2019 to number 1 in 2020 and in 2021. The state’s ranking in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 (again conducted by the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education, India) moved to the first position. The Collective’s work since 2019, has helped the state develop clarity and build shared understanding of the roles and contributions of different stakeholders and has since then influenced policy decisions and budget allocations for a slew of activities from infrastructure and teacher education to action research and exposure visits.

Khushboo Awasthi, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer – ShikshaLokam, said, “Bringing change in the state’s education system at scale, with speed and sustainably meant co-creation and collaboration. The Collective has always strived to together understand the key educational challenges in the state, ideate, innovate and design approaches and solutions that will work at scale and then implement these solutions leveraging open technology. Our journey began in 2019 where we decided to work together to leverage our diverse knowledge and experiences in order to drive exponential change using Societal Thinking. This recognition is extremely encouraging and will accelerate our collective efforts and more importantly I hope it creates a call to action for others in the ecosystem to join hands, drive collective action and metamorphose into a social movement. A call to action to other actors to join hands to enhance student outcomes across the country.”

Simranpreet Singh Oberoi, Co-Founder, Sanjhi Sikhiya, said, “It is a great honour for our collective to have received such global recognition. My hope is that it will further encourage many more to form collectives to address a cause they deeply care about. We got on to this journey with a long-term commitment to the children of Punjab. We wanted it to be a movement which is collectively owned, collectively funded, and includes the voice of all those impacted. This approach not just ensures the sustainability of solutions, it also makes them more contextual and hence widely acceptable.”

Chandigarh Building strategic partnership, Chitkara University, Punjab, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tafe Motors and Tractors Limited (TMTL).
The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University; Nikhil Sinha, associate vice-president, TMTL, and the chief guest for the occasion; and Piyush Garg, vice-president, Chitkara University Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development (CEED).
Under the agreement, TMTL will provide CSR funding investment to Chitkara University ,which will encourage innovative technology startups and agritech startups that will benefit the society and the country. Another key initiative of this MoU is that TMTL will encourage IT startup by providing logistics, funding support and a 3D printing machine design space.
Students of Chitkara University will also get opportunity for internships and career opportunities in TMTL and benefit from their resources.
On the occasion, Madhu Chitkara, pro-chancellor, Chitkara University, said, “We, at Chitkara University, believe in providing our staff and students the perfect environment and opportunities to hone their skills and engage in ideas with each other. With such collaborations, we are able to bring inquisitive minds under one roof that motivate our students who are the passport to the future.”
Nikhil Sinha, associate vice-president, TMTL, said, “Tafe Motors has a strong presence in the retail, agro, telecom, and industrial segments, with more than 18 years of service. Hence, the MoU will serve as a comprehensive partnership for industry-academia collaboration, for the promotion of innovation, startups, and research with a special focus on CSR.”

Bathinda: To commemorate the 135th Birth Anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan and to spread awareness about the contributions of Indian mathematicians, the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Central University of Punjab, has organized series of competitive events and an invited talk under the Aryabhata Lecture Series on the occasion of National Mathematics Day 2022.

On this occasion, various activities like a poster-making competition, a speech competition, and a mathematical quiz were conducted on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Dr. Uaday Singh from IIT Roorkee graced the celebrations as Guest Speaker. He delivered a talk on “The Contribution of Indian Mathematicians: An Overview” on Dec. 22, 2022.

While addressing the participants, Dr. Uaday Singh stated that the roots of Indian mathematics are held within the Vedic literature, which dates back nearly 4000 years. Indian mathematicians contributed immensely to this discipline and have given us the concept of zero, the techniques of algebra, algorithms, geometry and the decimal system. He discussed the contributions of Indian mathematicians of the ancient, medieval and modern eras, viz., Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara, Sri Dharacharya, Srinivasan Ramanujan, P.C. Mahalanobis, C.R. Rao, D.R. Kaprekar, Harish Chandra and many others.

Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, the Vice-Chancellor, mentioned in his presidential address that India has a rich legacy of mathematical studies and that young scholars, while taking inspiration from iconic Indian mathematicians, need to accept the challenge to add more innovations in this discipline to further enrich this legacy. He urged teachers to teach mathematics in an interesting way to develop students’ interest in the subject.

During this programme, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Tiwari along with Dean Incharge Academics, Prof. R. Wusirika and HoD Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics, Dr. Deep Singh gave prizes to the winners of competitive events. Ms Abhipsa Mohapatra & Ms. Sneha Kumari from Department of Pharmacology and Ms. Seeta Prajapati from Department of Geology obtained first position in the poster making and speech competition respectively. The team of Mr. Anirban Mallick, Mr. Anuj Kumar & Mr. Vishal Prajapati from Department of Mathematics & Statistics emerged as winners of a mathematical quiz competition.

At the outset, Prof. R.K. Wusirika, Dean Incharge Academics, welcomed the participants. Dr. Anoop Kumar introduced the guest speaker. Towards the end, Dr. Deep Singh, Head, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics gave a formal vote of thanks. Faculty, scholars, university students and students from different schools attended this programme.