Khagol- 134 (Oct 2024) - ENG

| 13 | KHAG L | No. 134 - OCTOBER 2024 Science, Astronomy and Society A workshop on the theme of Science, Astronomy and Society, was organized from 3rd to 5th September 2024 by the Maharashtra State Faculty Development Academy (MSFDA) and the Astronomy Centre for Educators of IUCAA at MSFDA, Pune. The objectives of these workshops which are often held in smaller towns of Maharashtra are to bring the excitement of as t ronomy and sc i ence to facu l t y members across disciplines and also discuss broader issues related to science and society such as inclusiveness and non- discrimination. On the first day of this workshop Jameer Manur gave an overview of the nearby Universe, Moupiya Maji spoke on exoplanets, Sanjit Mitra introduced them to gravitational waves and LIGO while Prakash Arumugasamy conducted a hands-on session on understanding the changing sky. The participants visited the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) on the 4th of September where GMRT scientists Kaushal Buch and Shubendu Participants of the Science, Astronomy and Society workshop at GMRT Joardar, and Jameer Manur spoke to them on the telescope and showed themaround. On the final day, Vaidehi Paliya introduced them to the Universe at high energies, Sudha Rajamani from IISER Pune spoke on the chemical origin of life and Dhruba J. Saikia gave a glimpse of astronomy and the Moon. The participants enthusiastically took part in all the events. The workshop had about forty participants including resource persons and organizers. This was organized by Suraj Babar and Ganesh Bhise fromMSFDA andTeamACE, IUCAA. National Education Policy (NEP) Orientation and Sensitization Programmes: 2024 September An NEP Orientation and Sensitization Programme under the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme was held online from 16th to 30th September 2024. For this programme, the resource persons were Vasant Shinde, CCMB Hyderabad and former Vice-Chancellor, Deccan College Deemed to be University, and Purnima Bhatt, Hood College, Maryland, on Indian knowledge systems; Parth P. Chakrabarti, former Director, IIT Kharagpur and Sudha Rajamani, IISER Pune, on research and development; Asmita Kabra, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, and Shubhangi Vaidya, Indira Gandhi National Open University, on holistic and mu l t i d i s c i p l i n a r y e d u c a t i o n ; N . Sathyamurthy, Founding Director, IISER Mohali, and Somak Raychaudhury, Vice- Chancellor, Ashoka University, on academic leadership, governance and management; Akalesh Kumar Verma, Cotton University, and AmmanMadan, AzimPremji University, on higher education and society; Virginius Xaxa, former Deputy Director, TISS Guwahati, and Nandini Manjrekar, former Dean, TISS Mumbai, on student diversity and inclusive education; SantoshMehrotra, Jawaharlal Nehru University on skill development; and Yogendra Pal, NIIT