One week Science Motivational Program for students of meritorious school inaugurated at GNDU

Amritsar, April 22, 2015: The Department of Botanical & Environmental Sciences of the Guru Nanak Dev University in collaboration with Punjab State Council for Science & Technology (PSCST) is organizing one week Science Motivational Program for students of meritorious school, Amritsar on the theme, "To inculcate scientific temper and promote basic sciences amongst Punjab youth” under a project of DST, GOI, New Delhi. This programme would be concluded on April 24, 2015. As many as 30 students of class 11& 12 of science stream will be exposed to new areas of research, careers in basic sciences by introducing them to various research activities in science departments/labs and interactions/lectures with university scientists etc during this programme.

Prof. A.K. Thukral of the department inaugurated the programme and briefly traced the main developments of science with special emphasis on scientific heritage of India. He opined that ‘men of society including the ancient sages, litterateurs and naturalists who keenly observed the world at large were real scientists’.

Dr. Adarsh Pal Vig, coordinator of the program welcomed the guests and Dr. Satwinderjeet Kaur, Head of the Department, gave a brief introduction to various courses and infrastructural facilities of the department. In his expert lecture, Prof. Jagbir Singh, Department of Zoology & Environmental Sciences exhorted the young students to pursue science with religious fervor and total commitment. Dr. Neelam Gulati Sharma, Director, Division, Popularization of Sciences of Punjab State Council of Science and Technology, Chandigarh informed the audience about the genesis and progress of the motivational programmes in Punjab. Prof. Avinash Nagpal, Director UGC- Human Resource Development Centre, proposed a vote of thanks.

The Science Teachers from Meritorious School and Manisha Thakur from Govt. Sen. Sec. School, Town Hall were accompanying the students. Arpan Sidhu, Project Associate from PSCST, Chandigarh facilitated the student about motive of the program & distributed registration & feedback performas.

In the afternoon session Dr. Rajinder Kaur included hands-on training on the instruments of environmental testing and analysis. The students evinced keen interest in lectures and lab exercises. Prof. Renu Bhardwaj (Prof-in charge- Examinations), Prof. Saroj Arora, Dr, A.S. Soodan, Dr. M.S. Bhatti, Dr. Kiran Dhami, Prof Sajid Hussain of Microbiology and research scholars and students from the department were also present. / (SK Vyas, Jalandhar)