Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, VP Singh Badnore on Saturday urged the universities and colleges to adopt at least 5 villages around its vicinity to support its development into model villages and ensure inclusive growth in the rural areas as a part of their University Social responsibility.
In his presidential remarks on the first ever Conference of the Vice Chancellors held here, the Governor said that divide between urban and rural India has to be be bridged. He said there was an urgent need to involve the educational institutions especially the Universities in the Nation’s development agenda.
Badnore said it is important for students of institutions of higher learning to remain connected with their roots and the societies they come from. It is for this reason that he suggested that each and every college in Punjab should adopt at least one to five villages around its vicinity to support its development into a model villages.
In his exhaustive presentation on the implementation of National Schemes in the Universities, J.M. Balamurugan, Secretary to Governor emphasised on ensuring the implementation of National Flagship Programmes envisaged by the Prime Minister, in both letter and spirit.
To encourage a spirit of excellence amongst the institutions, the Annual Governor’s Award for excellence will be given in the University Governance on Swachhta, Smart Governance, Green Campus, Community Programs and social enterprise development etc.
Prominent amongst others who addressed the august gathering included S.K. Sandhu, ACS Higher Education, Arabinda Mitra, Scientific Secretary Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Pankaj Mittal, Additional Secretary UGC, New Delhi, Tanu Kashyap, Joint Development Commissioner Punjab.