SMVDU Katra: The first cultural event from the State of Jammu & Kashmir under ‘Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat’ mission of Govt. of India began from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University when the Minister of State for Education, Culture and Tourism, Smt. Priya Sethi flagged it off yesterday. ‘Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat’ is a mission for cultural exchange among various States and Union Territories of India launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The State of Jammu & Kashmir is paired with the State of Tamil Nadu. The yesterday’s event was specially designed to showcase some folk art forms of Jammu & Kashmir to the students of Tamil Nadu already studying in Jammu & Kashmir. 50 students from 14 different Kendriya Vidyala’s from the state of Tamil Nadu also participated in the event. There was overwhelming response from Kendriya Vidyalaya 1 Jammu, Kendriya Vidyalaya 1 Udhampur & Army Public School Jammu Cantt.

Smt. Sethi highlighted in her address the rich cultural heritage of our country. She further emphasized on more such events across different states. Noted folk artist of Bhakh, Ms. Asha Keshar and her team, presented mesmerizing performance on the occasion which took the audience to a new world. Vice Chancellor felicitated the chief guest Smt. Priya Sethi, the guest of honour on the occasion Dr. M. K. Kumar Additional CEO of SMVDSB and the performer of the day Ms. Asha Keshar. Dr. V. K. Tripathi, the Nodal Officer of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat’ mission of SMVDU, welcomed the Guests and introduced the event. Prof. V.K. Bhat, Registrar, Dean of Students Dr. Yugal Khajuria, faculty, staff and teacher in-charges of various participating schools were present on the occasion. The Vice President Board of Cultural Activities delivered vote of thanks. Mr. Rishab Raina conducted the show.

The event was assigned to SMVDU in a meeting convened by the Department of Higher Education J&K on 25th October in Srinagar. Other Universities were also assigned a range of activities that will follow, creating a range of opportunities for cultural exchange among the youth of both the States. SMVDU is likely to host more visiting students from Tamil Nadu in the coming months for academic exchange, and also, activities are scheduled for students’ exchange through NSS.

The School of Philosophy and Culture of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra organized a special on “Research Ethics” by Prof. Gӧran Collste, Professor Emeritus, Department of Culture and Communication, Linkӧping University, Sweden. Prof. Collste is also Chair of the Centre for Applied Ethics, Linkӧping University, Sweden. In his presentation, Prof. Collste highlighted the frauds happening in scientific experiments as well as social science researches and cited many recent examples which showed the use of humans as means for experimental research.

In case of social science researches, unethical and also sometimes illegal conduct of researchers relate the data manipulation to support their thesis. Research misconduct and unethical behavior are rampant in modern day Research Institutes and Universities. Hence, research ethics has become a necessary ingredient in any higher educational programme to create ethical awareness among researchers. Prof. Collste finally outlined a tentative method to safeguard these misconducts. The students from different streams of PG and PhD programme and faculty members were present in the event. The discussion was followed by an interactive session. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Anil K. Tewari, Asst. Prof., SoPC.

SMVDU Katra: DST-NIMIT sponsored 4 week long entrepreneurship development programme inaugurated at Entrepreneurship Development Cell Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra. More than 25 students of Science and Technology stream are participating in this flagship programme of department of Science and Technology under NIMIT project. During the inaugural function Chief Guest Mr. Gurmeet Singh, Factory Manager, Dabur Pharmaceutical Ltd. highlighted the relevance of regular technological improvements and maintenance of the quality standards for successful entrepreneurial ventures. Moreover he reflected that managing the human resources is always the task to be handled by entrepreneurs for rapid and sustainable success. During the function, Guest of honor Mr. Annil Suri, CEO AV consultants emphasized the essentiality of generating new business ideas and dedication in the initial 2-3 years for revival of the business plans. Dean, Faculty of Management, Prof. D.Mukhopadhyay congrulated the students and praised the team. He mentioned that these types of programme can contribute in designing of the career of the students excellently. Earlier Dr. Supran Kr. Sharma, Chief Coordinator, EDC described the 4-week long programme including behavioral inputs, managerial inputs and technical inputs to be given to the participants. This programme is going to invite expert resource persons from different institutes including experts in solar energy as this is the focus of the one of the modules of technical training during the programme. The pedagogy of EDP includes lecture sessions, business games, hands-on training, industrial training, interaction with the entrepreneurs and formulations of business plans in the areas of interest. Dr. Sanjeev Anand, Head, Department of Energy Management gave the vote of thanks. Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Sanjeev Jain, wished success to the programme and participants. Dr. Sushil Mehta, Head, School of Business was also present in inaugural ceremony.

Delhi, 9th Nov.: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University is participating in a Three-Day Higher Education Summit being organized by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce (FICCI) being held at India Exposition Mart Greater Noida from 9-11 November in collaboration with Ministry of Human Resource Development GOI, Ministry of Commerce and Industry GOI and SEPC. Speaking on the opening ceremony Mr. Rajan Saxena laid down the theme of the Education Summit and Global Conference on ‘Leapfrogging to Education: Student at the Core’ and emphasized that students are to be made the epicenters of today’s education. The education 4.0 is about flexibility in education, about interdisciplinary learning and melting of the disciplinary boundaries. Technology has to hone it according to the contemporary need of education and focus upon solving the students’ problems and provide solutions to the problems of society.

Dr. Hari Govind Mishra Director Quality Assurance, Dr. V. K. Tripathi Dean Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and a team of students and staff Neeraj Singh, Abhishek Panday, Mrinali Langer, Nitika Singh and Om Prakash is representing the University. The team interacted with delegates and visitors from Sudan, UK, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan and many reputed institution of India. A number of alumni of SMVDU also visited on the occasion.

Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, celebrated the Constitution Day of India on 26th November 2017. On this occasion, a panel discussion on the topic “Article 21 of Indian Constitution and Passive Euthanasia” was organized. The panelists included Dr. Varun K. Tripathi, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. Anil K. Tewari, Mr. Sumanta S. Sharma, Dr. Ashoka K. Tarai, Asst. Profs., School of Philosophy & Culture, Mr. Sushain Raina, PhD student of Philosophy, Mr. Gaurav Sharma, 2nd year M. Tech student of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mr. Aagman Joshi, 3rd year B. Tech student of Electronics and Communication Engineering, and Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, 2nd year B. Tech student of Computer Science and Engineering. The discussion began with a brief presentation on the theme by Dr. Anil Tewari. In his delivery, he highlighted the relevance of Article 21 which guarantees the Protection of Life and Personal Liberty so that the State cannot not deprived anyone of his or her life or personal liberty arbitrarily without following the procedure established by law. He mentioned certain leading cases through which the meaning of “right to life” is gradually evolved through judicial decisions. In this context, the discussion on passive euthanasia (giving terminally ill patients the right to withhold or withdraw medical treatment to herself or himself and allow nature to take its own course) was introduced. The concepts such as active and passive euthanasia, whether the right to life includes the right to die or be killed, living will, moral and non-moral considerations on these matters occupied the central point of discussion. Faculty members and students of different schools of the University participated in the discussion. The event was concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Varun Tripathi.

The School of Philosophy and Culture of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra organized a special on “Research Ethics” by Prof. Gӧran Collste, Professor Emeritus, Department of Culture and Communication, Linkӧping University, Sweden. He is also Chair of the Centre for Applied Ethics, Linkӧping University, Sweden. In his presentation, he highlighted the frauds happening in scientific experiments and social science researches. He cited many recent examples which showed the use of humans as means for experimental research. In case of social science researches, unethical and also sometimes illegal conduct of researchers relate the data manipulation to support the their thesis. Research misconduct and unethical behavior are rampant in modern day Research Institutes and Universities. Hence, research ethics has become a necessary ingredient in any higher educational programme to create ethical awareness among researchers. He finally outlined a tentative method to safeguard these misconducts. The students from different streams of PG and PhD programme and faculty members were present in the event. The discussion was followed by an interactive session. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Anil K. Tewari, Asst. Prof., SoPC.

SMVDU Katra: School of Languages & Literature (SoLL) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University is organizing a Two-Day National Seminar on Applied Linguistics and Literary Studies (ALALS) on 06-07 December 2017, and a Two-Day Workshop on stylistics and the Study of Literature on 08-09 December 2017. The seminar will be an educative event consisting of invited talks and panel discussions. Each panel discussion will have expert speakers. The Workshop will deal with the conceptual, general, and methodological issues related to the teaching of literature, particularly the pedagogic, i.e., teaching, classroom, and educative-roles of literary texts. Dr. Rajnish Kumar Mishra, Professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Prof. Anima Chakraverty President Awarded English Language Teaching (ELT) expert will be the Keynote Speakers and Expert Members for the Seminar and Workshop respectively. Last dates for registration is November 30, 2017; however for abstract submission is November 20; through email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; for full paper submission November 30; once abstract is selected. For the workshop, participation will be based on first come first serve basis. Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi Head SoLL is the Organizing Secretary and Dr. Anurag Kumar Asst. Prof. SoLL is the convener of both the events.

Volunteers registered for VIKALP – a students’ initiative at SMVDU have been doing a great job since the onset of these initiatives in the university. These students realize their social responsibility and try their best to offer it to the destitute and needy. Despite hectic academic schedule, volunteers at Vikalp reach to fulfil their duties towards the society. They are the real life heroes in the lives of those they have helped and still helping. Their efforts cannot be paid in pennies and pounds but have already gathered a lot of love and goodwill. They realize that every drop of their sweat will go towards nation building as they are engaged in giving basic education to the under-privileged children of nearby places.

This is to acknowledge the unstinting efforts put forward by Ms. SALONI SETH (17BCS045), pursuing B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering along with Ms. SAMRIDHI SAJOTRA (17bec049), Mr. NEEL KAMAL (17bec038) with Ms. SHRIYA JAMWAL (17bec054) pursuing B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering as the best volunteers of Vikalp for the month of October 2017. They were responsible, rendering overall counselling, lessons on general health and hygiene, and imparting basic education to the children. As freshers they participated in every initiative taken forward and are still offering commendable services. Their contribution to Children Day celebration was phenomenal. Vikalp family extends their cordial gratitude towards these volunteers and wish them the very best for all future endeavours. We also wish that they can inspire other students and take this altruistic effort to the next level.

SMVDU Katra: 2-day External Architectural design Jury for the Semester Design Portfolios of Various batches in School of Architecture & Landscape Design, SMVDU conducted successfully. The Works of Semester–V students were evaluated by the 2-member external jury panel comprising of Ar. Sanjay Tickoo, Senior Architect; Govt. of J&K and Ar. Anil Tickoo-Asst. Professor at School of Architecture; MAM College, Jammu. The students of Semester-V prepared the design proposal of group housing scheme at a proposed site near Chandigarh. Semester III students’ works were evaluated by 2-member external jury panel comprising of Ar. Brajendra Nandan Panda- Senior Designer at Times of India Group and NID-Ahmedabad alumnus along with Ar. Vishal Abrol, Practicing Architect; Jammu. The students have prepared 02 design portfolios for design of Play center cum café along Jammu-Srinagar NH near Nandini and Proposed scheme for a high-end mansion for a leading industrialist at Jammu.

The Semester-I design work was evaluated by Ar. Hariender Arora-Senior Architect; Govt. of J&K and Ar. Vivek Sagar-Architect, Jammu. The external examiners also gave their valuable feedback to the students pertaining to their work and corresponding market challenges. The special talk and presentation were also given to the students by Ar. Brajendra Nandan Panda and Ar. Anil Tickoo. Overall the students work was appreciated by the jury and coordinating faculty of the department comprising of Ar. Dinesh Nanda, Ar. Abhimanyu Sharma, Ar. Vinod Kumar, Ar. Romesh Sharma, Ar. Navin Gupta, Ar. Anoop Sharma, Ar. Abhiney Gupta, Dr. Rashmi Kumari and Ar. AasthaThappa. Dr. Sanjeev Jain Vice Chancellor of the University and Prof. V. Verma Dean Faculty of Engineering congratulated the faculty and students of School of Architecture for successful Design Jury.

SMVDU Katra 5th Nov.: Annual Technical Festival – Titiksha 2017 and the 4th International Conference on ‘Recent Trends and Advancements in Engineering and Technology’ (ICRTAET-17) was concluded at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on 5th November. Students of the University as well as the participants from more than 30 other institutions participated. The events like Robo-war, circuit-maker, catapult, hurdle-race, robo-relay-race, exploring-DNA, cypher-trivia, hydraulic-arm etc. engaged participants into different challenges. The technical festival ended with an EDM night in the evening.

The chief guest for the valedictory function was Dr. Yugal Khajuria who congratulated all the participants and gave them his best wishes. Winners of the Mega events included Nakhshatar, Apurv, Sunil, Pranav, Harshit, Piyusha, Muskan and Aakanksha. Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Jain congratulated all the participants on the occasion. Dr. Rakesh Jha President Board of Professional Activities congratulated the organizing team for the successful completion of Titiksha. The organizing team comprised of Vaibhav, Ratandeep, Rakshit, Karuna, Neha, Sahil a number of volunteers.

SMVDU Katra: Human Resource Development Cell (HRDC) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in collaboration with School of Business is organising One Week Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on “Research Methodology” from 4 - 8 December 2017. The FDP would be of immense benefit for the research scholars, teachers of colleges, university departments and other academic institutions who are engaged in research, or are planning to undertake research. The details of the program are made available on www.smvdu.ac.in under HRDC. Maximum of 20 participants will be shortlisted for this programme. Participants from Jammu & Kashmir State are required to get registered by sending the duly filled registration form available on website along with the registration fee in favour of Registrar, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, and Payable at Jammu.

Participants from outside Jammu & Kashmir State are required to send the advance copy of registered form available on website, duly endorsed by Head of Department, Director or Principal of institution along with scan copy of Demand Draft. Last date for receiving application is 20th November, 2017. Dr. Deepak Jain Assistant Director HRDC is the Program Coordinator of the FDP.

SMVDU Katra 5th November: The third and concluding day of Three-Day Mega Festival of Devotional Music - ‘Bhakti Utsav’ concluded at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on 5th November with reception of great applaud. The evening was embellished by the melody of Church Music presented by The Leprosy Mission Choir from Mizoram which has also been awarded as best choir from Mizoram, Baul Music by Sh. Purna Chandra Das and incredible Qawwali by Haji Aslam Sabri and team from Delhi. Vice Chancellor Dr. Sanjeev Jain conveyed his good wishes for concluding session and congratulated the organizing team. He also felicitated the officers and staff of Sangeet Natak Acadami, New Delhi. Prof. Shiv Nirmohi, a noted scholar and historian of regional culture of Jammu, Registrar Prof. V.K. Bhat and Dr. Yugal Khajuria, Dean of Students, felicitated the artists.

The evening events were introduced by Ms. Sameema, the conductor of the show from Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. Dr. A. K. Das, Associate Dean of Students, President Board of Cultural Activities, Dr. Rakesh Kumar Vice-President BCA, Dr. Rajeev Atri, President BSA, Dr. J. P. Singh and Dr. Shirish Doble from SMVDNSS Hospital, staff, faculty and students were present on the occasion. Mr. Bharat Bhushan from Sangeet Natak Acadami New Delhi was the main functionary and coordinator of the festival besides his team of Rakesh Batra, Gopi Chand, Harpal Singh, Dheerendra Vishwakarma, Ajay Kumar, Indrabhan, Ashu, Trilok, Harish and Jaswant Singh. Advocate Dharmendra from Jammu also extended his valuable support to the event. Mr. Gaurav Jamwal, Mr. O.S. Sidhu and Mr. Rakesh Magotra managed the technical logistics. Dr. V. K. Tripathi President BCA expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Chairman Sangeet Natak Acadami Sh. Shekhar Sen and Secretary Ms. Rita Swami Chaoudhari for considering SMVDU for presentation of the Mega Festival.

SMVDU Katra: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra conducted campus drives of Indian Navy, Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd. & Smartprix for Campus-2018 hiring. Indian Navy visited SMVDU for campus selection under University Entry Scheme (UES) 2018. Wherein students from all across Jammu & Kashmir appeared. Captain S.K. Singh along with his team conducted the UES campus selection process.

Mr. Sanjay Jha, Vice President HR, Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd. along with his other panel members conducted the campus selection process on 10th November 2017 and finally selected 04 students from SMVDU with annual CTC & Incentives worth Rs. 5.5 Lac. Smartprix campus drive is in process under the supervision of Vipul Kumar, Senior Manager, TAG wherein 50 students from SMVDU are competing to secure their employment for annual CTC of Rs. 10 Lac. and internship with stipend of Rs. 20,000 per month. After ePPT and Online test 06 students have been shortlisted on 11th November 2017.

Prof. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University congratulated all the students who have been declared final selects and gave his best wishes to the appearing students. It is pertinent to mention here that best employment opportunities to the graduating students are on top of the priority agenda of Prof. Sanjeev Jain.

SMVDU Katra 4th November: The second day of Three-Day Mega Festival of Devotional Music - ‘Bhakti Utsav’ was extremely charming and mesmerising. The evening was embellished by the Manipuri Nata-Sankirtana performance by Yumnam Bhumeshwor Singh and his team, Gurbani Sangeet by Kartar Singh and team specially chosen for Guru Purab occasion, and Odissi Music by Gopal Chandra Panda and Team. The typical Manipuri style of Nata-Sankirtana on the notes “hare-rama-hare-krishna” was the main charm of the evening. The evening events were introduced by Ms. Sameema, the conductor of the show from Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi.

Prof. Shiv Nirmohi, a noted scholar and historian of regional culture of Jammu, felicitated the artists. Dr. Yugal Khajuria, Dean of Students, Dr. A. K. Das, Associate Dean of Students, Dr. V. K. Tripathi, President Board of Cultural Activities, Dr. Rakesh Kumar Vice-President BCA, Dr. Rajeev Atri, President BSA, staff, faculty and students were present on the occasion. Mr. Bharat Bhushan from Sangeet Natak Acadami New Delhi is the main functionary and coordinator of the festival. Mr. Gaurav Jamwal, Mr. O.S. Sidhu and Mr. Rakesh Magotra managed the technical logistics.

The School of Languages and Literature organized an Extension Lecture on the topic of “Trends and Traits of 19th & 20th Century American Fiction” at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra on 10 November 2017.

Prof. Satnam Kaur from the University of Jammu delivered the Expert Lecture in which Prof. Kaur highlighted trends and traits of 19th & 20th Century American Fiction, particularly the peculiarities of American writers and their novels. She further explained how the American Literature influenced the world literature.

Prof. Kaur’s lecture was attended by the Faculty Members of School of Languages and Literature and other Departments, research scholars, and PG students. The lecture was very interactive and interesting. In the end, Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi presented the vote of thanks.