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 Ninth Annual Function of 2008 at the Guru Nanak Bhavan Hall of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar on 3rd October, 2008. The function was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prof ( Dr) Jai Rup Singh Ji , Vice Chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University , Amritsar the chief guest of the function, amidst the exotic ambience of the dignitaries. Dr ( Mrs) Kalpana Das Gupta, Chairperson , National Knowledge Commission was the keynote speaker on the occasion. Dr (Mrs) Devinder Kaur, President, SATKAL welcomed all to the ninth annual function. She briefed the activities of the trust and also thanked Prof Jagindar Singh Ramdev for his kindness to establish a trust for the librarians. Dr H S Chopra, Head, Library, Guru Nanak Dev University was the organising secretary of this ninth annual function. Sh B R Kashyap , Vice President of the trust read out the message of Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev, Patron-in-Chief, SATKAL. More than 200 library and information science professionals from different parts of India attended the function. Four eminent personalities from library profession were honoured for their commendable contribution in their field .The SATKAL Awards for the year 2008 were conferred by Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Prof (Dr) Jai Rup Singh Ji. Dr Harish Chandra, Librarian, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras was awarded with the Punjab National Librarian Award. Dr (Mrs) Neela Jagannathan a former librarian of Indira Gandhi National Open University received the Best Women Librarian Award and the Young Librarian Award was given to Mr Kishor Chand Satpathy , Librarian , Indian Institute of Management, Indore. Mrs Renu Bala Dosanjh , Librarian, SKV Delhi Administration, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi received the School Librarian Award.
Prof Jai Rup Singh in his address greatly applauded the efforts of Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev in establishing SATKAL to promote librarianship. He felt the need to increase the sensitivity among the people so that they can contribute to the growth in the society. He was greatly impressed by the philanthropist work being done by Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev. He said they would implement all the recommendations of the University Grants Commission for the library professionals.
The SATKAL Annual Lecture was delivered by Mrs Kalpana Das Gupta , Chairperson , National Knowledge Commission . A panel discussion on the topic “ Information and communication Technologies and the Indian Libraries” was also held in the second session of the function. Dr Davinder Kaur, Dr H R Chopra, Dr V K Anand, Dr Amritpal Kaur, Dr H S Chopra, Dr Asha Narang, Ms Sangeeta Kaul and Mr Naresh Nanadan also participated in the panel discussion. Dr S S Chahal , Director ( Research ) and Dr Raghubir Singh, Dean ( Academic Affairs) also expressed their views. Dr H S Chopra Delivered the vote of thanks.
