Central University of Punjab celebrated its 14th Foundation Day

Bathinda, February 28: The Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB), under the patronage of Vice Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, celebrated its 14th Foundation Day on Tuesday by recognising the contributions of scientists, faculty, staff and students in their respective fields. The Chief Guest of this programme was Prof. Sarabjit Singh Chahal, Former Vice-Chancellor, Khalsa University, Amritsar; Former Vice-Chancellor of Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur and Professor (Retd.), Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

On this occasion, the Chief Guest, Prof. S.S. Chahal, congratulated the CUPB fraternity on completing fourteen glorious years in the field of education and research. Prof. Chahal delivered a foundation day lecture on the topic of "Significant developments and international cooperations in Indian Food Production System". He stated that India has the strength and environment to grow any kind of crop, along with a good irrigation and water system. He emphasised that, despite the introduction of agricultural education and research in India in the 1870s, our country became an agricultural surplus state in the 1960s when the government prioritised agriculture and introduced several high-yielding variety crops. He emphasised that with the excessive utilisation of pesticides over a period of time and too much dependence on cash crops, our farmers are currently facing a productivity gap in their crops. Therefore, we need to employ new technologies in agriculture and develop improved varieties to enhance agricultural production and meet our future needs. He advocated the inclusion of millets, the food of our ancestors, in our daily diet and encouraged farmers to focus on millet farming. He also encouraged CUPB scientists to work on developing innovative agricultural solutions to boost our agricultural economy.

In his presidential address, Vice Chancellor Raghavendra Tiwari expressed his gratitude towards former Vice-Chancellors (Prof. Jai Roop Singh and Prof. R.K. Kohli) of CUPB for laying a strong foundation on which the university can accomplish greater heights in near future. He stressed that during this 14-year journey, the Central University of Punjab has made remarkable progress in the various aspects of teaching and learning, research output, per capita research grant, and innovation. This is evident from the fact that the university has marked its place among the top 100 universities in India in the NIRF Ranking consecutively for the last four years. Prof. Tiwari stated that the faculty, staff, students and alumni of the university have grown over a period of time, and with the efforts of the whole CUPB fraternity, this university is ready to take the leap to represent our country on a national and international level. He mentioned that our ancient civilization and knowledge traditions have always promoted the message of university brotherhood and Global Science for Global Wellbeing, which is the theme of this year's National Science Day 2023. He concluded his talk by stating that the ultimate aim of education is to become wiser and wiser and to become relevant in fast changing scenarios and relevant in every aspect of human indulgence. Therefore, the faculty and staff members of our university need to put their best efforts into providing learner centric education through experiential learning, which will inculcate necessary skills among youngsters and create a skilled workforce for Industry 4.0.

During this ceremony, special awards and appreciation certificates were conferred on university students, research scholars, faculty, and staff members based on their annual performance. The Chancellor’s Award for best PhD student is shared by Mr. Sahil Arora (Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Natural Products) and Ms. Shivani Thakur (Dept. of Environment Science & Technology). The Vice-Chancellor’s Award for the best PG Girl and PG Boys students went to Taniya Gupta (Dept. of Pharmacology) and Himent Jatav (Dept. of Physical Education) respectively. Dr. Puneet Kumar (Dept. of Pharmacology) got the best Teacher Award. Dr. Shahila Zafar (Dept. of English) and Dr. Uma Shankar (Dept. of Pharmacology) got the appreciation certificates for obtaining second and third place in student feedback as the best teachers. Ajay Kumar, Dr. Prachi Srivastava, and Subhash Chandar obtained the best non-teaching employees awards in the administrative category, technical category, and supporting category, respectively.

On this occasion, Kumari Prajapati from the Dept. of Biochemistry received the best research scholar award. The CUPB Outstanding Research Award in the sciences and social sciences stream was conferred on Dr. Shashank Kumar (Dept. of Biochemistry) and Dr. Sandeep Kaur (Dept. of Economics), respectively. Prof. Anjana Munshi, Dr. Vikas Jaitak and Dr. Sachin Kumar got the Role of Honor Award for getting five commendation certificates. A total of eighteen scientists got the Research Award for publishing in a high impact journal, and their names are as follows Dr. Shashank Kumar, Dr. Aklank Jain, Dr. Uma Shankar, Dr. Sachin Kumar, Dr. Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, Prof. Anjana Munshi, Dr. Krishna Kant Haldar, Dr. Yogalakshmi K.N., Dr. Ashok Kumar, Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh, Dr. Suresh Threja, Dr. Pritam Chand, Dr. Achchhe Lal Sharma, Dr. Hari Krishna Reddy, Dr. Vinod Kumar, Dr. Vikramdeep Monga, Prof. Raj Kumar and Dr. Bawa Singh. Dr. Felix Bast received the appreciation certificates for being elected as a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and Dr. Pardeep Kumar received an appreciation certificate for commendable research work.

During the cultural programme, students showcased spectacular singing, dancing, and other performances on topical issues of great relevance. Towards the end, Prof. B.P. Garg, Controller of Examinations and Registrar (O), gave a formal vote of thanks. The ceremony was attended by faculty, staff members, and students of the university.