SMVDU Katra: The Jammu & Kashmir office of Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY) will be showcasing a flute performance by Pt. Rajendra Prasanna - noted flute maestro, on 30th October 2017 at 5.30 pm in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, informed Dr. Sapna Sangra, Coordinator SPIC MACAY, Jammu & Kashmir. This would be the first ever presentation of a stand-alone performance under SPIC MACAY at SMVDU. Pt. Rajendra Prasanna hails from the renowned ‘Benaras Gharana’ and is a master of flute and shehnai both. He was groomed by his grand-father Pt. Gauri Shankar and father Pt. Raghunath Prasanna. At a young age, he was honored with many prestigious awards including ‘Surmani’ in Mumbai 1978, ‘Sangeet Pujari’ in Delhi 1986, ‘Nadratna’ in Ajmer 1994 and ‘Sangeet Saurabh’ in Delhi 1998. Pt. Rajendra Prasanna has given music in the famous tele-serial ‘Sanjha Chulha’ for which he received the Rose Award in 1994. He was the first shehnai and flute player honored with the Uttar Pradesh ‘Sangeet Natak Academy Award’ in 1995. He was also the recipient of the Life Time Achievement Award of the Sahara India in 2003. He performed at many European and Asian nations including France, Belgium, Poland, Germany, U.K, Switzerland, Russia, Norway, Japan, Mauritius, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and all Middle East countries. The event at SMVDU will be coordinated by Dr. Varun Kumar Tripathi, President Board of Cultural Activities and Mr. Omkeshwal Shukla, the Student Coordinator.

NSS at SMVD University along with SMVD Narayana Super Specialty Hospital organized voluntary blood donation camp at the Medical Aid Center of SMVD University Katra on October 15, 2017 from 11 am onward. Students of different disciplines participated in it included B.Arch. in Architecture and Landscape Design and B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering etc.

The event was coordinated by volunteers of NSS, namely, Ms. Medha Singh, Ms. Aruna Pandita, Ms. Harshita Anand, Ms. Shubhangi Suri, Ms. Shreya Pandita, Mr. Dhanraj Singh and Mr. Ajit Kumar under the supervision of Mr. Sumanta S. Sharma (Faculty Coordinator, NSS) and Dr. Rita Kumari (Associate Consultant, Blood Bank).

It is pertinent here to note that NSS at SMVD University is encouraging students to donate blood to the serious patient or when required by the Blood Bank of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Super-specialty Hospital. Faculty, Staff and students of SMVDU have donated blood from time to time or when required. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor, SMVD University, appreciated the efforts of the NSS Team for organizing such events which could help save lives and inculcate feeling or responsibility in students towards society and expressed his desire to conduct more such events in the coming semester for the welfare of the people.

SMVDU Katra: Adjunct Professor A. K. Srivastava from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, visited School of Mathematics of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University and delivered a series of lectures in Topology. On the first day of the lecture series Dr A. K. Das, Head, School of Mathematics introduced Prof. Srivastava to the students, research scholars and faculty members of the School. Prof Srivastava delivered the lecture series in Compactness and related areas of Topology. The entire lecture series was attended by M.Sc. (Maths) students and research scholars of the School. Apart from taking classes, Prof. Srivastava spent time in the School and interacted with research scholars and faculty members. During this visit Prof. Srivastava also delivered a talk on Fuzzy Sets and its applications. On the last day of the lecture series, Prof Srivastava discussed various activities of the School with faculty members and provided valuable inputs for future activities. Prof V. K. Bhat, Dr Kuldip Raj, Dr. Sandeep Bhougal, Dr. Surender Singh and Dr. Sandeep Sharma were present during the discussion. Dr. A. K. Das thanked Prof. Srivastava for his visit to SMVDU.

Chennai, 13 October: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Katra J&K is participating in India International Science Festival inaugurated on 13th October by the Hon’ble Minister of Science and Technology, of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and of Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh Vardhan on the campus of Anna University Chennai. Dr. Harsh Vardhan highlighted in his address the govt’s initiatives and financial support for startup India and standup India endeavours. He also called upon Indian scientists and innovators to come up with solution to the problems of rural India, which according to him is a challenge for science. The inaugural session was also elevated by the presence of Sh. K. P. Anbalagan, S&T Minister Govt. of Tamil Nadu, Sh. Abdul Lateef Roshan, Higher Education Minister Republic of Afghanistan and Sh. Yeapesh Osman, S&T Minister, Govt. of Bangladesh. The festival is jointly organized by Ministry of Science & Technology GOI, Ministry of Earth Science, GOI, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Vigyan Bharati, Anna University and Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

Amidst a large congregation of more than 4000 people from academic institutions, research organization, industry and corporate, many non-govt. organizations are also participating. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University has put up its stall and will be displaying during the four days its various research activities, innovation promotion and details about the study opportunities and fellowships offered in all programs. Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain, who was an invited guest in the inaugural session presented a memento to Hon’ble Minister S&T Sh. Harsh Vardhan and also met the SMVDU team of faculty, staff and its alumni from Chennai and congratulated them for their enthusiasm. Dr. Hari Govind Mishra Director DQA, Dr. V.K. Tripathi Dean Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Mr. Samir Vohra Assistant Registrar Academic Affairs are representing SMVDU. Mr. Bhupendra Singh from C-DAC, ACTS Pune is also part of the team. Prof. Pawanesh Abrol, Professor Dept. of Computer Science & IT, University of Jammu and Mr. Nikhil Mishra from Satyabama University also extended his services to the team. The festival will continue till 16th October and the Vice-President of India Sh. M. Venkaiah Naidu will be the chief guest in the valedictory.

SMVDU Katra: 25th Finance Committee Meeting held at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on 26th Oct, 2017 under the chairmanship of Prof. Sanjeev Jain Vice Chancellor SMVDU. Mr. Romesh Singh (KAS) Finance Officer SMVDU welcomed all the esteemed members of Finance Committee present in the meeting hall as well as attending through video conferencing from Srinagar. He expressed in his maiden address on behalf of the chair that he was delighted as well as blessed by Maa Vaishno Devi to be part of this prestigious Institution and thereby to the august gathering.

Mr. Romesh Singh commenced the proceeding of 25th Finance Committee Meeting Agenda-wise which was appreciated by all the committee members. The committee further suggested the University authority to prioritize the projects as per requirement of the University to make the budget more development-oriented. At the end, Prof. Jain thanked all the members of the Finance Committee, especially to Sh. Umang Narulla (IAS), PS to Hon’ble Governor, J&K, Dr. M.K Bhandari, Div. Com. Jammu, Mr. Jitendra (IAS) CEO, SMVDSB, Mr. Hemkant Prasher, Chief Account Officer, SMVDSB, Mr. Ravi Mangotra, retd. Director General Finance, Prof. V. K Bhat, Registrar SMVDU, for sparing the valuable time to attend the meeting.

Amidst global challenging factors like, slow world economic growth and changing global business environment where media is talking about IT slump, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University opens its Campus-2018 Recruitment program with global IT Companies TCS and Wipro. A team of Technical and HR Panellists headed by Narender Chandel, Regional Head (TA) from TCS conducted the Campus Drive for 2018 passing out students on 8 – 11 October 2017. 118 students from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University appeared in this campus drive. After passing through a rigorous campus selection process consisting of Online Test, Technical Interview and HR Interview, 43 students from B.Tech., M.Tech. & MCA from SMVDU, Katra, were declared finally selected by the TCS Recruitment Team.

Narender Chandel, Regional Head, TCS also met Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Jain, Vice- Chancellor, SMVDU, to understand and deliberate on challenges for and expectations from technical institutions. Dr. Jain and Mr. Chandel both discussed & agreed upon various strategies and initiatives required to be taken in the current scenario of automation, artificial intelligence, digitization and low economic growth, for providing better employment opportunities to the students. Earlier, TCS had offered 06 students and Wipro had selected 07 students of the same batch. SMVDU has placed so far 56 students from the batch passing out in 2018.

Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Jain, Vice-Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, congratulated all the final selects and advised them to be sincere, hardworking and honest to their work after joining. He also asked the students to stay at least 3 to 5 years with their campus recruiters so that they get specialization in their field which will also be helpful for their juniors at the university.

SMVDU Katra: Mr. Taranvir Singh, MD, TVS Filter Industries held an interactive session with students of B.Tech. and M.Tech. (M&A) in School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. It is pertinent to mention here that TVS Filter Industries is a recipient of Rajiv Gandhi National Award for quality. The invited lecture was organized to sensitize the students about the various challenges in industry and how good work practices help in overcoming the challenges. The lecture focussed on “Good Work Practices Leading to all round Excellency and Customer Delight”. The speaker spoke at length about his personal experience from his beginning struggling stages to a successful industrialist. The key points which the speaker stressed upon were proper utilization of resources, developing a sense of belongingness amongst employees, consistently meeting customer satisfaction and recognition of good work. The speaker was welcomed by Head, School of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Balbir Singh. Prof I.K. Pandita was also present in the session. The talk ended with an interactive session.

The students of Department of Architecture & Landscape design (DoLAD) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), Katra, have visited the Bhimgarh fort, Reasi, on September 18th, 2017. The fort, situated on the top of a hillock near Reasi town, is a state protected monument in the Indian state Jammu and Kashmir as officially declared by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). This educational tour had been organised to instil field measurement techniques, observational qualities and to inculate teamwork among the 21 participants from fifth semester of B.Arch. program. The on-site data collected by students will be further used for preparing measure drawings and documentation which will enhance their academic capacities. The activities at the tour were handled by Ar. (Dr.) Rashmi Kumari, Assistant Professor (DoALD), SMVD University, Katra.

SMVDU Katra: School of Languages and Literature, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University is organizing an Expert Lecture series being delivered by Prof. Manju Jaidka from Punjab University, Chandigarh during 26-28 October 2017. She is also an Adjunct Professor of the School of Languages and Literature. She has delivered a Lecture on John Milton's Paradise Lost and she shall deliver four more lectures on various topics of literary and research importance. The lecture was attended by the faculty members, research scholars, and PG students of the School and was very interactive and interesting. The speaker will also interact with research scholar and faculty of the School during her stay on the University campus during the above period, informed Dr. Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi, Head of the School of Languages and Literature.

SMVDU Katra, 10 October: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Technology Business Incubation Centre (SMVDU-TBIC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited (J&K Bank) on October 10, 2017. The main objective of the MoU is to support the Startups as well as provide one stop platform to access various schemes available with J&K Bank to promote entrepreneurship. The MoU is expected to support the Startup community and potential entrepreneurs in the state keeping in view, the enormous capabilities especially in sectors of Engineering (Electronics, Robotics, E-commerce, GSM/GPRS based Technology, Alternative Energy Management, Biosensors), Information Technology, Architecture, Biotechnology, Health care, Agriculture, Horticulture, Handicrafts Hospitality & Tourism etc. The focus is on fostering entrepreneurial environment in the State of J&K. On behalf of SMVDU-TBIC, Dr. Swarkar Sharma, Interim CEO, SMVDU TBIC and on behalf of J&K Bank Sh. Rakesh Gandotra, Vice President, Strategy & Business Development Division, J&K bank, signed the MoU. The ceremony took place in Administrative building, SMVDU in presence of Chairperson SMVDU-TBIC (GC & MC) and Vice Chancellor SMVDU Dr. Sanjeev Jain; Sh. Rakesh Magotra, Executive Manager J&K Bank and other members from J&K Bank and SMVDU.

Sh. Rakesh Gandotra also visited the SMVDU-TBIC office and met the Staff of SMVDU-TBIC. Ms. Nikita Jain, Manager SMVDU-TBIC appraised Mr. Gandotra about the various achievements of SMVDU-TBIC and introduced him to various SMVDU-TBIC incubated startups. He was impressed by the progress made by the startups and appreciated the efforts and endeavors of SMVDU-TBIC. For the facilitation of all, SMVDU-TBIC has kept its online application portal open 24x7 at www.smvdutbic.org as receives preliminary applications through out the year.

SMVDU Katra, 24 October: Former Chief Justice of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, Justice T. S. Thakur (retd.) visited the campus of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Katra on 24th October. He visited all prominent laboratories of various departments like Mass Array lab and Bioinformatics Lab of Dept. of Biotechnology, 5G IOT Lab in the Dept. of Electronics and Communication Engineering, deferent other laboratories in Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Dept. of Computer Science etc. where he also interacted with research scholars. He was also briefed about the activities and initiatives of Technology Business Incubation Center, which he appreciated a lot. He was also escorted to the newly constructed C&D Block of Basoli Hostel Building. He was extremely delighted to see the facilities made available in the hostel like common rooms, state-of-the-art building, dining area, sports facilities, and mess facilities etc. He applauded the efforts put in by the Vice Chancellor, faculty and staff of the University. Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain felicitated Sh. Thakur by presenting a memento. It is pertinent to mention that Sh. Thakur was the member of the Executive Council of the University and had attended the very first meeting of it on 30th September, 2000, which was chaired by the then Chairman and Chancellor of the University and the Governor of the State Sh. G. C. Saxena.

SMVDU Katra 5 October: A training session on EBSCOhost Business Source Premier, which is an online data provider for research, held at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on 5th October and was attended by all members of faculty and research scholars. EBSCOhost is a leading aggregator of data and provider of more than 100 databases which are available on ABSCO host platform. With the help of the platform a researcher may find case studies world-wide, research data related to industries and in any other field. The training session focused on how to access the online collection, advance search tips, basic and advance search strategies, navigating through search results, prioritizing the data etc. All the aforesaid search functions are designed on Boolean Operations on the platform. There are also available on the platform hundreds of leading magazines like Fortune, Forbes, PC World, Entrepreneur, Money etc. that any user can freely download articles from.

The session was conducted by Mr. Ritesh, Senior Training Specialist, North India Zone of EBSCO Information Services India Pvt. Ltd. and was accompanied by Mr. Arun Kumar Kalia, Business Manager of EBSCO Delhi and North India. Dr. Suparn Sharma, Associate Professor School of School of Business and Faculty In-Charge Central Library organized the session and briefed the participants that SMVDU has already subscribed the EBSCO platform and now with the added value of the Training Session, it is going to be ready-to-use for the faculty members and research scholars. Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain congratulated Dr. Suparn Sharma for organizing the session. All the Staff Members of the Central Library also attended the session.

A week long yoga training session for beginners began at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in the early morning on Tuesday. The program aims to sensitise first-year students of various schools about holistic approach of yoga towards life. The program is being jointly organized by Yoga and Fitness Club along with NSS of SMVDU in collaboration with Bharitya Yoga Sansthan, Jammu. Yoga Sansthan has kindly agreed to conduct the program from 24-31 October. Dr. Suresh Chandra Gupta, Mrs. Suman Gupta and Mr. Vinod, from the Sansthan began the session. Dr. Gupta informed the students about the benefits of yoga for the body and mind. He initiated them into yoga through simple and easy sukshma kriyas, asanas and pranayams. At the end, students were taught five steps of meditation for enhancing their mental and spiritual well being. Mrs. Suman Gupta and Mr. Vinod skilfully demonstrated all the kriyas to students. Mr. Sumanta Sarthi Sharma, Faculty Coordinator, NSS, Ms. Simran Chaudhary student volunteer, NSS and Dr. Madhu Mangal Chaturvedi, Faculty Coordinator, Yoga and Fitness Club were present during the session. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, is the inspiration behind the organization of the program, who not only emphasized the need for such a program for young students but also ensured all the logistic support needed for the program.

This is to acknowledge the diligent efforts put forward by Ms. SANYA NEGI (17BCS046) and Mr. SHIVAM SHARMA (17BCS048) both pursuing B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering as the best volunteers of Vikalp for the month of September 2017. They joined Vikalp as a part of NSS and were regular, disciplined, cooperative and have also taken initiatives on their own. As fresher they participated in every initiative taken forward and are still offering commendable services. Vikalp family is happy to be associated with them wish the very best for future. We require more students like them who can help us to reach our goal of ‘education and training to all’.

12th Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India sponsored Innovation in Science Pursuits for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) – a Five Day Science Internship Camp organized by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University jointly with 14 Corps of Indian Army and District Administration, Leh, was inaugurated by Brig. M.M. Masur, Brigadier Administration 14 CORPS at Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre in Phayang, Leh. This is the 4th time SMVDU is hosting this academic event at Leh in Ladakh region of J&K State. This Science Camp is being attended by more than 170 participants from Leh and Kargil districts. The uniqueness of this Camp is the participation of 117 girls. The eminent scientists from premier institutions have been invited to mentor the interns during next five days. After the inaugural session, a talk on “Tunneling Phenomenon and its impact on modern Electronics Gadgets was delivered by Bhatnagar Awardee Prof. Pratap Ray Chaudhari from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. His session was followed by an excellent interactive lecture by a highly acclaimed scientist of international repute Ms. Nandini S. Harinath, Scientist (SG), ISRO Satellite Centre, Banglore. Ms Nandini highlighted the need of Mars Mission. All the sessions were followed by interaction with the students.

Highlight of the day was brief interaction of interns with Ms Avny Lavasa, Deputy Commissioner. It is pertinent to mentioned that Ms. Lavasa charged the interns to be honest and clear hearted and also asked the participants to choose the profession of their choice and follow their heart with great dedication while being respectful to everyone around them. Ms. Lavasa appreciated the efforts of the organizing team and assured full support of the administration in future as well and further expressed her gratitude to eminent scientist for spare the valuable time for this Inspire Science Camp. The Science Camp is being held at Leh under the leadership and guidance of Prof. Sanjeev Jain Vice Chancellor, SMVDU who has taken personal interest in this program to ensure that university plays an important role in providing the requisite exposure to the children of Ladakh region. The camp in Leh is being coordinated by Dr. Sunil Kumar Wanchoo, Dept. of Physics, SMVDU.