The Governor of Punjab and Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, V.P. Singh Badnore today urged the vice chancellors of the universities of Punjab to rope in the affiliated colleges to adopt 5 or more villages around its vicinity to support its development into model villages and ensure all round development and inclusive growth in the rural areas as a part of their University Social responsibility.In his presidential remarks on the 2nd Conference of the Vice Chancellors and directors on the Universities social responsibilities and implementation of the National Flagship Schemes, held here in Chandigarh, the Governor appreciated the innovative work done in adopting the villages in their vicinity and ensuring overall development thereby bridging the gap between the urban and rural divide. "A lot more needs to be done in this direction", he added.The Governor urged the universities to give shape to the desire of hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narendra Modi to have several activities to be conducted in the villages focusing on the 100th Year of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and 550th Anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. He also said adequate stress should be laid on the elimination of drug addiction and stubble burning by involving the gram panchayats. On the implementation of Government of India’s Flagship programs, the Governor said Universities campuses have to be the role models of these schemes for others to emulate.
The pioneering schemes introduced by the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi such as Start-up India, Digital India, Skill development programs for youth, Ayushman programme, the LPG programme-Ujjwala, the Jan Arogya Scheme and Fit-India Abhiyan for a healthy India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for a clean India, Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Climate- Change mitigation, Solar energy, electric powered transport programs etc for a sustainable India, the list of such visionary programs are indeed long and growing, said Mr. Badnore.The campuses should be opened to the public especially the students of rural areas for organised visits. Employment Oriented training should be imparted under Entrepreneurship development programs, and students should be become job providers rather than job seekers, he added. He also said that Chancellors’ Emissionaries would be appointed who would visit the institutions to interact with the faculty and students for better coordination.He also said that there should be a district level coordination committee formed under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner to have a synchronised approach with the rural development department and the universities for better and timely execution of the schemes.Prominent amongst others who participated in the conference included the representative of the University Grants Commission, Mr. Dev Swarup and Principal Secretary Higher Education Punjab Mr. Anurag Verma and Mr. B.L. Sharma Secretary Education U.T. , Chandigarh.Various Universities and educational institutions gave detailed presentation on the execution of developmental work and implementation of the national flagship schemes initiated by them.