Professor Jagindar Singh Ramdev is a well known legendary personality of the library profession, and is very popular figure for his outstanding cotribution in the estlablishment of SATKAL. Professor Ramdev is certainly an exceptional librarian and a teacher who has been involed in different activities that often went beyond the domain of his profession. Mr. Jagindar Singh Ramdev, the Founder of SATKAL TRUST, is the husband of late Mrs. Satinder Kaur Ramdev, in whose memory the Trust has been established. He was born on September 17, 1930 at Emanabad, District Gujranwala, West Punjab (Now in Pakistan) to parents S. Arjan Singh (Post Master) and Smt. Ravel Kaur. He passed his Matriculation from R.B.Sunder Das High School in First Division. After Partition of India, he came to Jalandhar in 1947 with his parents. He had a narrow escape while crossing the border; his two brothers, sister and sister-in -law were killed in riots. He started his career as a lecturer in Punjabi in Hans Raj Mahila College, Jalandhar. Thereafter, he joined Panjab University Library in March 1960 and later became the first Deputy Librarian before migrating to U.S.A. in June 1970 along with his family. During his ten years tenure at Panjab University, he taught P.G. Diploma in Library Science Course, published books and contributed a lot to the profession of librarianship in different capacities. While in U.S.A, he worked as a Librarian in I.I.T. Library, Chicago.
In addition to a number of research papers, Mr. Jagindar Singh Ramdev has authored, edited, compiled and translated as many as 9 books in English and Punjabi languages. Various newspapers, media persons, journalists, academicians and authorities in the field of librarianship have appreciated and praised these works and their reviews have been published in dailies and journals of national/international repute.
He has been not only a good teacher and researcher in Punjabi Literature and Library Science, but also an excellent guide for research in Library Science. He has been an able librarian and a good administrator. He held offices in professional associations, literary and academic organizations at regional and national level. He has organized and attended several national and international conferences seminars and symposia. He is a widely traveled person, having visited entire European and Asian continents.
Mr. Ramdev is a known philanthropist and has donated liberally. To cite a few examples, he donated lac of rupees Cheshire Home for the handicapped children in Dehradun, to Desh Bhagat Board, Jalandhar, to orphanage in Amritsar; to Gurudwara Rajouri Garden, Delhi; to Gurudwara Shahid Bunga at Village Tanda near Taran Tarn (in the memory of his mother at her birth place). He has instituted three gold medals i.e. one in Lib. & Inf. Sc. At G.N.D.Univ, Amritsar (in memory of his wife-Mrs. Satinder Kaur Ramdev); and in Lib. & Inf.Sc. at Panjab University, Chandigarh (in the memory of his father); and one in M.A. in Punjabi., (in memory of his mother). He has donated about Rs 30 lacs to the 'Satinder Kaur Ramdev Memorial Trust for Advancement of Librarianship' (SATKAL) in the memory of his beloved late wife. Mr. Jagindar Singh Ramdev is a contended, God-fearing, humble and kind-hearted human being, well settled in U.S.A and enjoying retired life in the company of his children and grandchildren. SATKAL wishes him a long, happy and healthy life.
