Khagol _112 _October 2017

| KHAG L | No. 112 - OCTOBER 2017 | 02 relationship between research institutes and universities. Narlikar described Yash Pal's many expectations of IUCAA, which included that IUCAAbecome a world class centre for excellence that provides a quality of academic and experimental environment not easily available to the university community in their own place. Narlikar argued that IUCAAhas succeeded inmeeting all of these challenges. Prakash Javadekar gave an engaging address focusing on the need for innovation and research, particularly in the context of contemporary Indian society. He highlighted educational schemes such as Swayam which are benefiting from both technological development as well as partnership with private entities, and are now reaching lakhs of students as well as teachers with high quality educational and training content. Science and technology, Javadekar said, are therefore enriching the educational sector, which in turn will enrich society and make it prosper. In this context and atmosphere, he An event initiated by the MHRD/UGC, named, "Shodh Shiksha Sameeksha", was arranged on Sunday, October 1, 2017, at the Chandrasekhar Auditorium, IUCAA, Pune, to explore the impact of the Inter-University Centres (IUCs) of the UGC on Research and Teaching at IndianUniversities andHigher Educational Institutions. The IUCs involvedwere: The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune; The Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi; The UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research (UGC-DAE CSR), Indore; and The Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre, Gandhinagar. The event was graced by the presence of Prakash Javadekar, Hon'ble Minister of HRD, Government of India; Virander S. Chauhan, Chairperson, UGC; and Kewal K. Sharma, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, MHRD, Government of India, and many distinguished academicians. There were more than 400 participants, primarily consisting of users and potential users of these IUCs, representing more than 120 universities and higher education institutions across the country, and which included about 25 private universities. The programme started with the felicitation of the special guests and the Directors of the four IUCs. Virander S. Chauhan welcomed the participants and gave a brief address highlighting the motivation behind the meeting, which was to get to know the functioning of the IUCs and discuss how tomake their facilities accessible as widely and seamlessly as possible, as well as to bring together current users and thosewho have not yet used the IUCs for a fruitful exchange. In his presentation, Jayant V. Narlikar, Founder Director, IUCAA, recounted the tale of IUCAA which was created in 1988, when Yash Pal was the Chairperson of the UGC, in response to the need of the time. Like the other IUCs, IUCAAwas established as an autonomous institution whose purpose was to rectify the (then) lack of an organic