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Dear Friends,
At the outset, I wish to share with the readers of JNU News a sad news that the
former Vice Chancellor of JNU (1978-1982) and a distinguished scientist, Dr. B.D.
Nag Chaudhuri(1914-2006) passed away at the age of 89 years after a period of
illness at Kolkata. The University held a condolence meeting and adopted a
resolution. May his soul rest in peace.
As the
JNU News reaches your hand, I would have completed a year since I took over the
reigns of the University. During this period we have initiated a lot of
activities in respect of academic, infrastructure and development about which we
have briefed you from time to time. We have accomplished some of them, but a lot
more remains to be fulfilled. Meanwhile, the Government has initiated a move to
enlarge the student in-take to accommodate more students from backward
communities. By the time the next issue is printed we may know the concrete
proposal on this, and I shall report to you our preparedness to implement the
proposal.
The University without a din or a fuss conducted the test as part of the
entrance examination for various programmes of studies for academic year 2006-07
in 68 centres (including two overseas centres: Kathmandu and Colombo) including the
master's level and doctoral level programmes in biotechnology for 39
participating universities in the biotechnology programme. For some programmes
where the viva-voce is part of the entry to JNU, they are in progress and as
scheduled the results would be out in the next couple of days, i.e. middle of
July 2006. When I look
back at the events that took place during the last one year, I have to mention a
few.
During the reporting period foundation stones for the Food Court and the School
of Physical Sciences were laid in April and May 2006 respectively.
Besides the
above, the University received a few distinguished academics and persons of high
public life. Worth mentioning are: the visit of a delegation led by the New
Zealand Minister of Economics Development; a delegation led by Professor John
Dearlove, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Sussex; an Australian
delegation from the Department of Education and Training visited JNU in May 2006
and delegation from Poland visited JNU in June 2006. The Centre of Indian
Languages organized special lectures on "Mass Communication" in April 2006. Dr.
R.K. Sahu's Hindi version of Rabindranath Tagore's Geetanjali was
released in May 2006. A symposium to felicitate Professor J. Subba Rao was held
in May 2006.
Another major development is that consequent to the acceptance of a proposal
from the University for development of infrastructure facilities, classrooms,
construction of new buildings, etc. and the University Grant Commission has
released funds. The whole machinery in the University set up has been
geared to take up this challenging work and ensure that not only the University
meets the time frame and other parameters laid down by the University Grants
Commission, which has been liberal towards JNU as always.
On the eve of
commencement of new academic session, I welcome the new students who are
stepping into JNU with ambitions and others who are continuing to have a
academically fruitful and beneficial year. Some faculty have stayed back to
carry on their research and other administrative chores, while some have
returned after a brief summer break. I welcome them back and convey my greetings
and good wishes to them for a productive academic year.
With the
onset of monsoon, the campus as in the past looks more green. My officers and
staff have done a great deal of work to sustain the services of the University
and I convey my greetings to them and look forward to having their continued
support in making this institution better in terms of facilities and services.
Jai Hind!
B.B. Bhattacharya
Vice-Chancellor |
