GANDERBAL: Central University of Kashmir (CUKashmir) Vice-Chancellor Prof. A Ravinder Nath has expressed satisfaction over the participation of varsity’s Design and Innovation Centre (DIC) in the successful organisation of two-day 4th All India DIC Meet held at IIT Hyderabad.
The meet was jointly organised by five DICs including, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, CUKashmir, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar. Twenty DICs from across the country including DIC CUKashmir and their spokes demonstrated their innovative prototypes in the exhibition, which was inaugurated by Shri K. Sanjay Murthy, Secretary HE, Ministry of Education, GoI, in the presence of Smt Neeta Prasad, Joint Secretary P & ICC Ministry of Education, Shri B.V. R. Mohan Reddy Chairman Board of Governors IIT Hyderabad, Prof. B.S. Murty, Director IIT Hyderabad and Directors of DICs of the partnering institutions.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sanjay Murthy underscored the need to expand the scope of DIC initiative to bring more and more institutions within its ambit. He emphasised the concerted efforts of several agencies such as the Atal Tinkering labs, IICs, AICTE to strengthen the innovations, entrepreneurship and designs ecosystem in the country. He urged the DICs to come forward to improve the quality of content for the Swayam Portal so that the institutes and students benefit from the emerging sectors. The Secretary paid a visit to all the stalls and inspected the innovative prototypes.
During the review of performance of DICs by Secretary Higher Education GoI, the Director, DIC, CUKashmir, Prof. Fayaz Ahmad Nika gave a detailed account about the DIC functioning and the mandate with which the DIC was established. He detailed the role of DIC CUKashmir in preservation and development of Arts and Crafts and herbal medicines in which J&K has competitive advantage.
Prof. Nika also participated in the panel discussion held during the Annual Meet. Three parallel workshops were also held to sensitize the participants in the area of design development and start-up culture.

KR Desk