Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment signs MoU with Central University of Punjab for the establishment of Dr. Ambedkar Centre of Excellence (DACE) and the Dr. Ambedkar Chair in the university
Bathinda : Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MoSJE), signed MoU with the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB) for the establishment of Dr. Ambedkar Centre of Excellence (DACE) and the Dr. Ambedkar Chair at CUPB campus with the goal of uplifting marginalised communities and conducting research on bridging “socio-political and economic inequalities.
The announcement came when Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment and Chairman of the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation (DAF), Dr. Virendra Kumar, launched DACE at 31 central universities and Dr. Ambedkar Chairs at 24 universities/institutions during the launch event held at Banaras Hindu University last week. During this event, Prof. B.P. Garg, Controller of Examinations and Registrar (Officiating), signed the MoU on behalf of CUPB with Shri Vikas Trivedi, Director, Dr. Ambedkar Foundation. for the establishment of DACE and the Dr. Ambedkar Chair.
Under this MoU, CUPB & DAF, MoSJE will establish Dr. Ambedkar Centre of Excellence (DACE) to provide high quality free coaching facilities to the Scheduled Caste students for the Civil Services examinations, conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and other competitive examinations. Under the DACE Scheme, a total of 100 seats have been sanctioned for the coaching of SC students, of which 33% of seats will preferably be given to the eligible female candidates of Scheduled Castes. In this scheme, the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation (DAF) will fund the entire expenditure incurred on the establishment of the Dr. Ambedkar Centre for Excellence and will provide a grant of Rs. 75,000/-per annum/per student to the university for the coaching of 100 students (i.e. a total of Rs. 75 lakhs grant for 100 students).
Apart from this, Dr. Ambedkar Chair will be established at the Central University of Punjab with the aim of conducting advanced research to understand, assess and disseminate the ideas and thoughts of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The Chair would also conduct research on deprived sections of Indian society to provide justice and empower them. To accomplish the objective, DAF will provide a one time establishment grant of Rs 10 lakh for infrastructural set-up and a grant-in-aid of Rs 75 lakh to each Dr. Ambedkar Chair.
On this occasion, Vice Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari expressed his gratitude towards the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and stated that the establishment of DACE and the Dr. Ambadkar Chair at CUPB will provide additional opportunities for our SC students to actualize their dream of preparing and qualifying for the Civil Services Examinations and generate additional prospects for academicians and research scholars to conduct research for the effective implementation of Dr. Ambedkar’s ideas of social justice and to reaffirm faith in an equitable and inclusive society.
Dr. Vinod Arya, Nodal Officer-DACE, CUPB, mentioned that this is a moment of extreme pride that our university has been selected as a host centre for implementation of various schemes initiated by the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, MoSJE, and stated that all this is possible because of the persistent efforts of our Vice Chancellor.