Tag Archive for: chandigarh

Chandigarh July 5, 2019 

A 3-day long Workshop on “INDO-UK Workshop on Waste Water treatment: 
Approaches, Management and Capacity building” at Department of CIL/SAIF/UCIM, Panjab University, Chandigarh concluded successfully, here today. 

The workshop was a joint collaborative effort of PU and University Of Hull, UK. Prof. S. K. Mehta, Director, SAIF/CIL, PU, the Indian Coordinator of the workshop delineated the main objectives of the workshop focusing on the approaches, methodology, management and capacity building for dealing with the waste water treatment processes. He presented the brief idea of the workshop alongwith highlighting the instrumentation facilities available at the SAIF/CIL, PU. 

 The workshop was presided over by Guest of honour, Dr. S. K. Vasudeva, 
Scientific Consultant Defence technologies, Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to Govt. of India. He expressed his satisfaction over the idea of the workshop that is a current alarming issue. Moreover, he also shared the highlights of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan for water conservation and water security, a campaign initiated by the Govt. of India owing to motivation from our Honourable Prime Minister, Sh.Narendra Modi where the main focus will be on water stressed districts and blocks in India. The 
campaign will run through citizen participation. 

Dr.Vasudeva expressed his content that the workshop is fulfilling one of the 
purpose by involving academia, industry for creating awareness and dealing with the water reclamation issues. 

Prof. Devinder Mehta, Dean Sciences, PU welcomed the UK participants, 
representatives of academia and industry. 

Prof. S. S. Marwaha, Chairman, Panjab Pollution Control Board, also the Guest of Honour, explained the importance of accurate water sampling which is the backbone for the concept of the waste water treatment. Dr. P. Dalai (IFS) highlighted the need for a sensitive balance between the academia and the industry in dealing with the global problem of water scarcity. 

 Prof. Alex o. Ibhadon, UK coordinator of the workshop stressed on the need for the awareness and the capacity building for the wastewater remediation applications. He also thanked the Indian Coordinator for the hospitality and organisation of the workshop. 

Mr. Atin, a representative of the British Council expressed his satisfaction 
over the organisation of the workshop and enquired the audience with the various fellowships and the grants/funding sponsored by the British Council On the various social causes. Prof. Gang Pan, Nottingham Trent University, UK presented a plenary lecture sharing his expertise on the ecological restoration and waste water remediation processes. He thanked the organisers for this opportunity. Additionally, among the workshop participants, the major proportion is constituted by the private 
National and International Companies viz., Smart Storm Pvt. Ltd. UK and Ecological Concepts Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. 

The main aim of this workshop was to create awareness by bringing the academia and industry altogether at one platform regarding the alarming issue of the waste water treatment and develop effective management and capacity building in the related field. The workshop consisted of three phases, in the first phase the participants were exposed to basic approaches of treating the waste water viz., physical, chemical and biological methods. In the second phase, special techniques and problems in management 
of the issue were emphasized. In the third and the final phase, the effective measures to develop capacity building for the stricter governance and allocation of resources for dealing with the issue of the wastewater were discussed.

In the Valedictory function, the workshop was presided over by Guest 
of honors, Mr. Harish Saini, Executive Engineer and Mr. Shailendra Singh, 
Superitending Engineer, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh. They highlighted the efforts of Panjab University in bringing this problem to the front alongwith the suggestive solutions that can be practiced in dealing with the global problem of wastewater treatment.

The valedictory address was delivered by Dr. P. Shanmugan, Senior Principal Scientist, CLRI, Chennai who expressed satisfaction over the active participation of the academia and industry followed by the successful completion of the workshop. He emphasized that such research workshops on such a topic need to be organized very often and the outcomes should be documented to generate an action plan. He also pointed out about 
the deliberations achieved and key points discussed during the workshop. 
Dr. A.O. Ibhadon, UK Coordinator, felt contented, happy, fulfilled, and said that he thoroughly enjoyed this workshop, the lectures, presentations and interaction during the workshop. He thanked Prof. S.K. Mehta and the organizing team for organizing such a wonderful and informative workshop.

The participants also provided their feedback on the content, usefulness and other aspects of the three day workshop. As many as 90 participants, mainly early career researchers and scientists of various academic institutes and industries from both India and UK participated in the workshop. The participants were seen highly enthusiastic and interactive during whole time span of the 3-days long workshop and lot of deliberations were done during the workshop. 

The concluding remarks of the valedictory function were delivered by Prof. S. K. Mehta, at PU Chandigarh. He discussed about the achievements of the workshop, the success of the present workshop, and the initiative of Panjab University in joining hands with the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh for providing real solutions to the engraving problem of waste water in Chandigarh. 

The main aim of this workshop was to create awareness by bringing the academia and industry altogether at one platform regarding the alarming issue of the waste water treatment and develop effective management and capacity building in the related field. The workshop consisted of three phases, in the first phase the participants were exposed to basic approaches of treating the waste water viz., physical, chemical and biological methods. In the second phase, special techniques and problems in management 
of the issue were emphasized. In the third and the final phase, the effective measures to develop capacity building for the stricter governance and allocation of resources for dealing with the issue of the wastewater were discussed.

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Chandigarh July 5, 2019 

The Department of Defence and National Security Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh organised a special lecture on the theme ““Deterrence and Decision making for war in the Indian Context: An analytical study” by Lt. Gen. J. S. Cheema (Retd.) on July 5, 2019. He has retired as Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Information System and 
Training). Prior to that, he was Director General of Infantry in Integrated 
Headquarters of Ministry of Defence. In the lecture, he highlighted the close linkages between deterrence and decision making. He amplified that the deterrence prevents war while decision manifest in employment of military force to wage a war. The failure of deterrence leads to decision to war.

To drive his message home, he analyses four war fought and Operation Parakram undertaken by the Indian military forces. He points out the 1947-48 war was chiefly driven by the British strategic interests where in Lord Mountbatten, the governor general assumed the chairmanship of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, which is the prerogative of the PM. The 1962 war was impacted by serious military civil disconnect and lack of adequate military capabilities. China’s decision for war was driven by 
personnel interests of Mao Tse Tung to claim the Asian leadership and downplay PM Nehru. The Indian political leadership in 1965 displayed the resolve to take the war into Pakistan, however it did not employ Navy and restrictions were placed on the Indian Airforce. Still the Indian Armed forces achieved remarkable victory though more was achievable.

He particularly said and emphasized that 1971 war the masterpiece of Indian political and military decision making. This was the result of India’s astute decision making that displayed political resolve and military capability.  By postponing the military operations to December 1971, India very assiduously won perception battle at the world stage and provoked Pakistan to launch airstrike on December 3, 1971. Thereafter the 
Indian Armed Forces executed the meticulously planned military operations with great acumen thus securing the surrender of Pakistan Army on December 16, 1971. While taking about Kargil war, the decision of not crossing the LOC was intended to win the international community but it impacted the conduct of tactical operations by both the Army and the Airforce.  Finally, on the Parakram operations, he said it was 
an emotional decision carried out without cost benefit analysis and exploring various alternatives. He summarised by saying that India needs empowerment and coherence in the Civil-military leadership to have effective deterrence and efficient decision making in case of any eventuality. 

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Chandigarh July 5, 2019 

 In the true meaning of Industry-Academia collaboration and innovation, Dr. Rohit Sharma, Chairperson, Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh was successfully granted a patent entitled “Lipase/esterase- catalysed synthesis of alkyl esters by trans esterification for a term of 20 years in accordance with the provisions of the Patent Act, 1970. 

 Dr. Rohit Sharma and his research group has been working on the enzyme, lipase for 15 years that has led to another achievement in the name of the University and the scientist. Lipase as an enzyme is extremely flexible with regard to its applications and market value, which is huge. Lipase is used for the production of biofuels and a large number of other products like edible flavours, intermediates for pharmaceuticals having massive societal impact. It also has large industrial applications ranging from healthcare to food industry. 

He further informed that they have developed and designed a process that 
synthesises esters (for Biofuel) and flavouring agents using this novel enzyme that trans-esterifies the substrate into a useful molecule, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters. 

The invention provides a novel bacterial strain useful for producing methyl 
esters and the process for same.” said Dr. Rohit Sharma.  

 He has been very working in collaboration with the industry for over a decade now. He also has a number of national and international linkages and recognitions in the field of Microbial Biotechnology. 

  Promoting innovation and the importance of intellectual property among the students of the University Dr. Rohit Sharma is also heading BioNEST (Bioincubator) at Panjab University. Panjab University is amongst the lead University in being granted the pre-incubation and incubation space. He has also been awarded the Pfizer-IIT Intellectual Property award 2018. Ms. Jasjeet Kaur, Dr. Vishal Thakur, Nils Kare Birkland and Mr. S.K Rana were part of the research group.       

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