Satinder Kaur Ramdev Memorial Trust for the Advancement of Librarianship (SATKAL) established by Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev (A Sikh Intellectual, NRI of Chicago) in memory of his late wife in April 2000 organised its Annual Function of 2005 at the intellectual hub of India- the India International Centre, New Delhi on December 20, 2005. The function was inaugurated by Hon'ble Shri Jagmohan, Former Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, Government of India, the chief guest of the function, amidst the exotic ambience of the dignitaries. Dr (Mrs) Devinder Kaur, President, SATKAL delivered the welcome address. The message of Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev, Founder Patron, SATKAL who could not join from Chicago was read by Mr Buta Ram Kashyap, the Vice-President of SATKAL. More than 150 library and information science professionals from different parts of India attended the function.
The SATKAL Awards for the year 2005 were also conferred during the function. Dr Rajwant Singh Chilana USA, Associate Professor of Library Administration and South Asian Studies Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign was awarded with the Punjab National Librarian Award, Mrs K C Ramola, Chief Librarian, State Central Library, Chandigarh received the Best Women Librarian Award and the Young Librarian Award was given to Mr Rajesh Kumar Chandrakar, Scientific and Technical Officer, INFLIBNET, Ahmedabad. On this auspicious occasion, the festschrift volume in honour of Professor Jagindar Singh Ramdev, Founder Patron, SATKAL entitled "Digital Information Resources and Networks on India : essays in honour of Professor Jagindar Singh Ramdev on his 75th Birthday" was also released by the Chief Guest, Hon'ble Shri Jagmohan. The volume is a collection of twenty six research papers and a number of tributes contributed by several friends, professionals and well wishers of Professor Jagindar Singh Ramdev who is a well known Librarian, teacher, renowned author, researcher and philanthropist besides a pioneer in establishing SATKAL. The Feshscript was received by Prof. Prem Avtar Raina,cousin and close friend of S.Jagindar Singh Ramdev.
Mr Jagmohan in his address greatly applauded the efforts of Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev in establishing SATKAL to promote librarianship and urged the LIS community to accept the challenges of the changing times to provide the better and efficient services to the users. Mr Jagmohan opined that it is a rare oppportunity to find a Trust which is run by the contribution of a sole person, he was greatly impressed by the philanthropist work being done by Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev. The SATKAL Annual Lecture was delivered by Dr H K Kaul, Director, DELNET- Developing Library Network, New Delhi. He spoke on "Librarians as Knowledge Workers in the 21st century" and emphasised on the need to train the current day Library professionals who can act as Knowledge Workers. A panel discussion on "Library Services : a myth or Reality " was also organised. Prof. P B Mangla, Former Head, Dept of Library and Information Science, University of Delhi chaired the session. Prof. Rajwant Singh Chilana USA, Dr T A V Murthy, Prof. Roshan Lal Raina and Dr S P Singh. Ms Sangeeta Kaul, Network Manager, DELNET and a member of SATKAL trust was the Organising Secretary for the SATKAL Annual Function 2005.
