SMVDUKatra, 29^thSept. 2018: With an aim to educate people about heart disorders and associated health issues, each year ‘World Heart Day’is celebrated on 29th September. Following that, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi College of Nursing organised a special session for staff of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on World Heart Day, 2018. Team of students from SMVD College of Nursing under the supervision of Ms. Neha Bharti, Nursing Tutor, Mr. Vijay Singh and Mr. Raghuvir Singh participated in a role play session. The students demonstrated the ill effects of smoking, diabetes mellitus, alcohol, stress, unhealthy food, sedentary life style,and alike on healthy heart which leads to many diseases, fatal attacks and untimely death. The event was coordinated by Mr. Surinder Kumar, Chief Security Officer, SMVDU. Dr. Balbir Singh, Associate Professor, SMVDU also spoke on the pre-emptive measures to ensure good physical & mental health so that one may serve longer to family, society and the nation.

SMVDU Kata, 23^rdSept.,18. Taking an inspiration from nationwide “Swacch Bharat Abhiyan” and Prime Minister’s campaign “Satyagrah se Swachhagrah” in reference to Gandhi's “Champaran Satyagraha”, Shri Mata VaishnoDevi University started Swacch Bharat 2018 on 22^ndSept,18. A ten-day event culminating on 2^ndOct,18, commemorates the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Under this, SMVD University is going to organize various events to sensitize residents of nearby villages against open defecation and contribute to the cleanliness of university and surrounding areas, as reported by Mr. Sumanta S. Sharma, Faculty Coordinator, NSS & Dr. Anil K. Tewari, Nodal Officer, Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan. More than 100 students participated on the inaugural day where they cleaned various areas. The student coordinators of the event were Mr. Dhanraj, Mr. Saransh, Mr. Akhil, Mr. Prabhakar, Mr. Neel Kamal, Ms. Neha, Ms. Simran, Ms. Aruna, Ms. Shubhangi, Ms. Saloni and Ms.Sanya.

SMVDU Katra, 28^th Sept. 18. The School of Languages and Literature conducted a series of extension lectures (24^th-28^thSeptember 2018) by Dr. N D R Chandra, Professor at Central University, Nagaland who is also an Adjunct Professor of Shri Mata VaishnoDevi University, Katra. The eminent professor delivered lectures on distinctive themes, such as Tradition and Individual Talent, Post Structuralism, Deconstruction, Death of the Author, Intentional and Affective fallacy, and alike. The insightful conglomeration of criticism, theory and its practice was quite beneficial for the students and provided them an impetus to delve into future research further. Prof. Chandra has also served as Vice Chancellor, Bastar University, Chhattisgarh and has many prominent books to his credit, includingModern Literary Criticism: Theory and Practice, Multicultural Literature in India: Critical Perceptions, Postcolonial Indian English Fiction: Critical Understanding and alike. Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi, Head, School of Languages and Literature thanked the delegate for delivering interactive and enriching sessions.

SMVDU Katra, 23^rdSept.,18. Keeping safety at priority and educating students, hostel staff, and others, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University organised a short training capsule on operation of fire fighting on 22^ndSept,18. MrBalwant Singh (Retd) of M/s CIS Bureau Facility Services Pvt. Ltd, Jammu addressed the gathering regarding several classes of fires, its causes and consequences, along with preventive and safety measures. He also explained various methods one must adopt to extinguish each type of fire. There was a demonstration session as well, where how to operate a fire extinguisher and its associated do's and don'ts as a combating mechanism were explained. The session was informative and beneficial, and students and staff members appreciated it a lot. Prof. Rajeev Garg (Head, School of Architecture and Landscape Design), Mr. Surinder Singh (Chief Security Officer), Mr. Jai Singh (Security Supervisor and the event coordinator) and Mr.Sumanta S. Sharma (Faculty Coordinator, NSS) SMVD University, expressed their gratitude to the speaker, while looking forward to more interactive and demonstrative sessions in future.

SMVDU Katra, 28^thSept. 2018. With an objective to stimulate the young minds for entrepreneurship activities, the Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University organised a three-day Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp sponsored by DST-NIMAT Project.The eventcomprises number of training sessions by resource persons, interaction with the successful entrepreneurs to gain hands-on experience for inculcating entrepreneurial traits/competencies and enhancing confidence amongst the participants. Furthermore, the camp is also going to organise industrial visit for the participants during the eventwith an objective to provide field exposure. The EAC is also going to indoctrinate skills to develop business strategies and articulate vision for competitive excellence. The event has evidenced huge participation from the students of B Tech, M Tech, B Arch, MBA, and alike. The prime objective of the camp is to sensitise the students in the domain areas of entrepreneurship management and related tools, as briefed by Dr. Suparn Sharma, Chief Coordinator of the Camp. Dr. RashiTaggar of the School of Business believes that this event will be immensely useful for budding entrepreneurs as the participants will get motivated by the live story of successful entrepreneurs, such as Mr. Sujat Mahajan and others.

 

SMVDU Katra, 21stSept,.18. Knowing that the ability to communicate in multiple languages is becoming more and more important in the increasingly integrated global business community, the School of Languages & Literature at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University started a certificate course in French. A qualified French researcher (NET-JRF), namely Mr. Chanda Vishwas from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Banaras, has been appointed for this purpose who will stay on campus for three months, reported Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi, Head, School of Languages & Literature. Considering that, language impacts the daily lives of members, a huge number of participants applied for the course, including B. Tech. Students, MA & PhD Students, Faculty & Staff Members, and their kids. Further, Dr. Dwivedi informed that weekly tests would be conducted to tap the progress of the students, and accordingly the students would move from basic certificate to advance, based on their performance. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, the Vice-Chancellor, believes that intelligence and mental capacity of bilingualsis more thanmonolinguals. Also, he wishes that SMVDU students should learn foreign languages so that they will be successful entrepreneurs, doctors, scientists, engineers, or whatever influential job they choose in this globalised world.

SMVDU Katra, 27^thSept,18. To promote creative arts & aesthetics, the Hindi Cell of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, in association with the Jammu-Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture & Languages, Jammu organised a Kavi-sammelan in the Matrika Auditorium on 26^th Sep. 2018. This event was a part of Hindi Pakhwada celebrations on Campus, as reported by Dr. Anil Tewari, the Nodal Officer of Hindi Cell, during his welcome address. The poets from Jammu division as well from SMVDU recited their poetry, namely Prof. Nirmal Vinod (also the Chair of the event), Dr. Aruna Sharma, Dr. Veena Sharma, Shri Keval Kumar Keval, Smt. Babita Rani, Km. IshaBalgotra, Smt. Rashmi Gupta, Dr. Saurabh (from School of Business), Dr. Amitabh Dwivedi (Head, School of Language & Literature), Dr. MadhuMangalChaturvedi (from School of Philosophy & Culture), Shri Anurag Sharma (B. Arch), Shri Nikhil Khajuria (B. Tech), Km. Shagun Gupta (B. Tech), Shri Mohit Chaudhary (B. Tech), Shri Paras Dubey (M.Sc. Economics). The poetry event was conducted by Smt. ReetaKhadyal (I/C Editor, Sheeraza Magazine), and culminated with poets’ felicitation by Dr. YugalKhajuria, Dean of Students. Dr. Arvinder Singh Aman, Additional Secretary, JK Academy, expressed his sincere gratitude to all poets, and presented a vote of thanks toaudience and organizers.

SMVDU Katra, 21^stSept.,18. Mr. Rohit Kumar Maurya, an alumnus (2011-15) of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, is visiting MIT Cambridge, USA. Mr. Maurya is currently pursuing M.Tech.in Mechanical Engineering with specialization in Thermal and Fluids Engineering from IIT Bombay. As a Tata Fellow, he is currently working on an agricultural project, titled“Energy Efficient Jaggery Maker”, which is aimed to enhance the efficiency of Indian jaggery industry and make it more profitable. This project is funded by Tata Centre for Technology and Design, IIT Bombay. As a part of the Tata Fellowship, he will be visiting MIT Tata Centre, Cambridge, USA, a sister organization of TCTD, IITB, for 2 weeks from 25 September, 2018 onwards. The objective of this visit is to understand the approach and methodology used by researchers at MIT for any particular social problem. In this series, he will be attending MIT Tata Centre's Symposium and Workshops, visiting labs and research centres along with meetings with social entrepreneurs. He has also served as Junior Research Fellow at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, BARC Mumbai and had worked in the broad area of agriculture for his major project. He understands that there is a huge gap between available technology and existing problems which motivates him to steer his work in the agricultural field as he himself comes from an agrarian background. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, the Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU congratulated Mr. Maurya, and wished him a bright future ahead.

SMVDU Katra, 26^thSept.,18. To give exposure in emerging fields to students, Mr. Brajesh Kumar, Senior Manager with his team from Pneumatic (India) Private Limited, world leader in Pneumatic, conducted theoretical and practical sessions on 'Latest Development in Pneumatic System for Automation Industries' for students of B.Tech and M.Tech (Manufacturing & Automation) in the School of Mechanical Engineering, SMVDU. Dr. Balbir Singh, coordinator for this event, discussed the importance of Pneumatic systems as a main drive using in robotic and automation industries, considering that automation industries are growing at rate of 25% with a tremendous potential for jobs in future industries. Dr. R. K. Mishra, Head, School of Mechanical Engineering, encouraged students to work in the latest field and secure a placement in the emerging technologies.

SMVDU Katra, 20^thSept., 18. Ms. HeenaShoket, Researcher, School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, presented a paper entitled “Novel Genome Stability Regulators” in the 13th Edition of the International Levures, Modèles et Outils Conference at Musikinsel, Rheinau, Switzerland from 11^th-14^thSept., 18. Ms. Shoket also interacted with eminent researchers, scientists and experts across the globe working in the field of Autophagy, DNA Damage and Repair, Cell signalling and Ribosome Assembly. Significantly, Ms. HeenaShoket has been working in the understanding of the genome stability regulation using S. cerevisie as model organism, reported her supervisors Dr. Narendra Kumar Bairwa and Prof. V.Verma, Head, SoBT, SMVDU. Prof. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor, congratulated the candidate and wished her a bright future ahead.

SMVDU Katra, 26^thSept. 2018. An inter-hostel volleyball tournamentwas conducted by theBoard for Sports Activities today at ShriMata VaishnoDevi University, Katra wherenine teams from different hostels participated. The final match was played between Vindhyachal and Trikuta hostel, wherein Vindhyachal won the tournament by 3-1 set (out of best of 5 set). Mr. Balbir Singh from Trikuta hostel and Mr. Sahil Bhardwaj from Vindhyachal hostel performedoutstanding during the tournament. The winner and runner-up teams were awarded with the championship trophies. The tournament was officiated by Sports coach Mr. Sucha Singh and Mr.Sumit Sharma. The President of the Board for Sports Activities, Mr. Rajiv Kumar,congratulated the finalists. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor (SMVDU),appreciated the players’ sportsmanship and hoped that they would bring state and national level trophies as well.

SMVDU Katra, 19^thSept, 18. Following the mantra of “empowering women, empowering India” and taking a jibe from “BetiBacho, BetiPadhao”, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University has recently started a scholarship, namely “Shakti” through which performing & outstanding girls students of the B Tech program will be awarded with financial assistance for further studies. Notably, Dr. Ramesh Jolly & Ms. Irene Jolly provided funds for this family scholarship, who visited the university and presented the first Certificate of Scholarships to the two girl students, namely Ms. HarshitaAnand, B.Tech. (Biotechnology) & Ms. Saloni Seth, B.Tech. (CSE).The students were awarded with the scholarship based on their performance in December, 2017-May, 2018 semester in the presence of Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor; Dr. V.K.Bhat, Registrar; Dr. Rakesh Kumar Jha, Associate Dean (R&D);Mr. Vinod Sharma, Administrative Officer &Mr. Samir Vohra, Assistant Registrar(Academic Affairs). Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor, congratulated the students and wished them a bright future ahead.

SMVDU Katra, 25^th Sept,18. Following the Rigvedic hymns stating let noble thoughts come to us from every side, the School of Languages & Literature at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University today started a four-day lecture series (25^th-29^thSept.,18) where Dr. N. D. R. Chandra, Professor, Central University, Nagaland and Adjunct Professor, School of Languages & Literature, SMVDU will address the SMVDU students. Notably, Prof. Chandra also served two times as the Vice-Chancellor, Bastar University, Chhattisgarh. The eminent professor will deliver lectures on various literary themes, including Tradition & Individual Talent; Poststructuralism; Eco-criticism; Death of the Author; Sign, Structure and Play; Intention and Affective Fallacy; and Structuralism during his stay on campus, as reported Dr. Amitabh VikramDwivedi, Head, School of Languages & Literature. Significantly, the esteemed professor has authored many academic books and articles on literary theory & criticism, and this lecture series will be immensely helpful for the students and research scholars of the department. Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor, emphasised that such lecture series should be organised often, and it should become a regular feature of each school.

SMVDU Katra 19^thSept,18. The School of Languages & Literature organised one-day National Doctoral Students Conclave today at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra (SMVDU) where research scholars of J&K universities and other states, participated and presented their papers on various topics, including Dalit Studies, Queer Studies, Public Sphere, Western Pahari Languages, Management, Philosophy and Cultural Studies. Notably, the School of Languages & Literature is a leading research-oriented department in the university which organises academic events and activities on regular basis. During the inaugural session, Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay, Dean, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, SMVDU graced the occasion as a chief guest. He emphasised on the qualities of a good research and researcher, while enumerating that iteration process of methods, questions and data is important. On this occasion, the school also felicitated NET & SET qualified students of the school, Dr. Amitabh V. Dwivedi, Coordinator & Head, School of Languages & Literature reported. Many quality papers were presented, and based on their presentations three scholars, namely Ms. BhushanShamra, Ms. Ayushi& Ms. ParulPriya were awarded with cash prize and certificates, says Dr. Anurag Kumar, Convener. The organising committee thanked Dr. Ashok K. Tarai, Dr. Swarkar Sharma, Dr. Sadaf Shah, and Dr. VeenetTyagi for evaluating the presentations. The Conclave ended with a vote of thanks presented by Dr. SimranPreet Kaur & Dr. Ranbir Kaur. Prof. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor, conveyed best wishes to the School, and wished that such events should be organised often.

SMVDU Katra, 23^rdSept. 2018. Following the proverb that ‘a sound mind resides in a sound mind’, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, NSS wing along with Yoga & Fitness Club organized yoga sessions, which willcontinuetill November, 2018, as reported by coordinators, Mr. SumantaSarathi Sharmaand Dr. MadhuMangalChaturvedi. The free sessions are open for all, including faculty, staff and students, and going to be held on weekends and holidays. Thishealth program aims atsensitising people towards comprehensive nature of yoga, good life and well-being. Mr. Gurmel, a trained yoga instructor, informed students about the benefits of yoga for the body and mind before starting with the asanas. He initiated the participants into yoga through simple and easy sukshmakriyas, asanas and pranayams. The first session concluded with laughter exercise, which students enjoyed the most.