The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children and Youth & Sports today began its study tour here and interacted with various educational and bank heads to get feedback with regard to its subject matter.The Parliamentary Standing Committee is on a two-day tour to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir where the members from both the houses of Parliament (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) would meet several stakeholders to receive feedback on the subject matter of the committee.At National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, Director NIT, Prof (Dr) Rakesh Sehgal gave a presentation on the background of the premier educational institute while briefing the committee members about its academic & research capacities, hostel, and health facilities, center of excellence, collaborations & MOUs at national and international level, besides sports facilities for students and ongoing infrastructural projects being created under PMDP.Besides, Dr Sehgal informed the visiting study group about other activities vis-a-vis innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship development centre, social and community outreach through programs like Unnat Bharat Program, Atma Nirbhar Bharat, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India, Start-up India etc.He also presented various initiatives taken by the UT Administration during the COVID-19 pandemic for the last two years with respect to the innovation of low cost ventilators, PPE Kits, and carrying out safety audit of oxygen plants of two major medical colleges and hospitals in the Kashmir division.On the occasion, chairman of the standing committee, Rajendra Agrawal appreciated the institute for raising the bar of quality education with respect to technology and its interventions in the region.He also enquired about the fellowships and schemes along with other fundings available to students at NIT Srinagar.The session was also attended by Deans and HoDs of various departments and centres of the institute.The committee also held an interactive session with National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) and deliberated upon the issues while discussing the scope of imparting trainings to the students at its different centers in the UT.Also, at J&K Legislature Complex here, the committee held an interactive session with Vice-Chancellor of Central University and Incharge VC Kashmir University and Deans and heads of various innovation and research centers of these universities.At the outset, Kashmir University Incharge VC gave a brief overview of the academic courses and degrees in the university, besides highlighting the academic side of research, collaborations and MOUs and also informed the meeting about the steps being taken to further strengthen the research ecosystem at the varsity.The parliamentarians were informed about different sports activities and the sporting courses being offered in the university.The representatives of the two universities briefed the committee about different educational activities with respect to different innovations and on research front like research programs, scholars and supervisors.The sessions were chaired by the Member of Parliament of Lok Sabha, Shri Rajendra Agrawal.Later, MD & CEO Punjab National Bank and Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) J&K Bank also delivered their respective presentations over the amount of loans disbursed among various beneficiaries under several schemes available for women, children and students.
