30th Annual Report 2017-18

28 Prakash Javadekar gave an engaging address focusing on the need for innovation and research, particularly in the context of contemporary Indian society. He highlighted educational schemes such as Swayam which are benefiting from both technological development as well as partnership with private entities, and are now reaching lakhs of students as well as teachers with high quality educational and training content. Science and technology, Javadekar said, are therefore enriching the educational sector, which in turn will enrich society and make it prosper. In this context and atmosphere, he pointed out, the IUCs play a key developmental role by providing platforms for the University sector to engage in collaborative and innovative research together with scientists. There were presentations by the four Directors: Somak Raychaudhury, IUCAA, Pune; Dinakar Kanjilal, IUAC, New Delhi; Ajit K. Sinha, UGC-DAE CSR, Indore; and Jagdish Arora, INFLIBNET Centre, Gandhinagar. Each of them gave a report on the facilities available at the respective Centres, and how the university community has been using these. There were presentations by Dipankar Bhattacharya from IUCAA, on Major Facilities at IUCAA: Present and Future; N. Madhavan from IUAC, on Renaissance in Accelerator based Research and Development; and Vasudeva Siriguri from UGC- DAE CSR, on Research using Mega-Projects by Universities and Institutions in India. Selected users of three IUCs made presentations: (i) Harinder Pal Singh, from the University of Delhi, presented on IUCAA- Universities Interaction: An Associate's Perspective, (ii) S. Chauhan, Chairperson, UGC; and Kewal K. Sharma, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, MHRD, Government of India, andmany distinguished academicians. There were more than 400 participants, primarily consisting of users and potential users of these IUCs, representing more than 120 universities and higher education institutions across the country, andwhich included about 25 private universities. The programme started with the felicitation of the special guests and the Directors of the four IUCs. Virander S. Chauhan welcomed the participants and gave a brief address highlighting the motivation behind the meeting, which was to get to know the functioning of the IUCs and discuss how to make their facilities accessible as widely and seamlessly as possible, as well as to bring together current users and those who have not yet used the IUCs for a fruitful exchange. In his presentation, Jayant V. Narlikar, Founder Director, IUCAA, recounted the tale of IUCAA which was created in 1988, when Yash Pal was the Chairperson of the UGC, in response to the need of the time. Like the other IUCs, IUCAA was established as an autonomous institution whose purpose was to rectify the (then) lack of an organic relationship between research institutes and universities. Narlikar described Yash Pal’s many expectations of IUCAA, which included that IUCAA become a world class centre for excellence that provides a quality of academic and experimental environment not easily available to the university community in their own place. Narlikar argued that IUCAAhas succeeded in meeting all of these challenges. ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18 30 th