Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 9: Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah today called for collaborative arrangements between universities and the research institutions within the country and abroad for achieving the cherished objective of academic excellence.
Inaugurating a six-day international conference on `Triggering Discoveries in High Energy Physics', organized by the Department of Physics, University of Jammu at the General Zorawar Singh Auditorium Complex this morning, Dr Abdullah said wider exposure to the students on a larger canvass will place them in good stead in the fast developing world.
"Already much has been done in enhancing the quality of education at various levels, including in the higher education sector and still there is scope for doing more", he maintained.
Dr. Abdullah made a mention of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, saying this has been started in 2010 with an ambitious target of generating 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022. The project is aimed at reducing the cost of solar power generation in the country with generation of 1300 MWs by the end of this year, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor, JU, Prof MPS Ishar said that the basic objective of the Conference was to find ways and means to find answers to some of the fundamental questions regarding universe, discovery of the elementary constitution of matter and exploring the basic nature of space and time.
The Vice Chancellor called for coordinated efforts to carry out successful research in these frontiers. He urged the young scholars to come forward and prove their mettle.
Co-convener of the conference, Prof. Paul Newman presented the global scenario of the research being conducted in high energy physics at the University of Birmingham, UK. He gave an overview of the work done in the area in recent years.
Prof. Bikash Sinha of DAE Homi Baba Chair lauded the contribution of the Department of Physics in organising such conferences and providing a platform to scientists and scholars to share their views.
Earlier in her welcome address, Head Department of Physics and Electronics, Prof. Anju Bhasin gave a brief resume of the Department of Physics.
She said that the conference was being organized by the Department of Physics and Electronics and partly funded by the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) as part of the Innovation Partnership Strand. The University of Birmingham is working with partners at Jammu University particle physics experiment, including those at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the Europen Organization for Nuclear Research- CERN.
National and International experts in the field will be delivering talks to explore new areas of research in this field so that new breakthroughs can be made in the analysis of the LHC/RHIC data and future experiments. Around 150 students and faculty member from various high energy experiments throughout India and overseas will be attending this conference. Engineer Anik Gupta presented a common vote of thanks.
Among others present were Davender Rana (MLC), Divisional Commissioner, Shantmanu, Dean Academic Affairs, Prof Neelam Saraf, Registrar, Prof Manoj K Dhar, Dean Sciences, Prof SK Khosa, Jai Kumar Sharma. |
