Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 11: A two-day national conference, titled “Co-Building an Inclusive New Social Order: Reflections from COVID-19”, is being organized by the Department of Social Work, Central University of Jammu from today.
The conference, in collaboration with the Save the Children foundation and the UN Refugee Agency, set over 13 technical, two plenary, and one valedictory sessions.
In the inaugural session, Dr Nancy Mengi, Head, Department of Social Work, CU Jammu, highlighted the importance of documenting experiences of pandemic-related trauma.
Mohammad Sharif Bhat, State Head (J&K and Ladakh), Save the Children, spoke about the importance of social harmony and sympathy. Another guest, Prof Ankur Saxena, Department of Social Work, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, underlined the importance of entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility in social work.
Rajinder Singh, ADDC, Samba was chief guest on the occasion. He shared his experience as an administrator of mitigating loss of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prof Dev Anand, Dean, School of Basic and Applied Sciences and Head, Computer Science and Information Technology, CU Jammu, addressed the event with a presidential remark. Dr Yashwant Singh, Registrar, CU Jammu, and Prof Rasal Singh, Dean, Student’s Welfare, CU Jammu were also present for the event.
Dr Bhat Iqbal Majeed concluded the inaugural session with a vote of thanks.
The first technical session began with a keynote lecture by Dr Manu Arora, Head, Department of Psychiatry, GMC Jammu on the topic, “An Overview of Emerging Challenges in Post-Pandemic World: Mental Health Perspective”. He shared his valuable insights and experiences of dealing with mental health issues during a global pandemic.
Four parallel technical sessions of the day dealt with “Children and Adolescents as Vulnerable Group”, “COVID-19 and Differently Abled”, “Health and Well Being During Pandemic” and “Worker’s Identities and Formal-Informal Divide”.
The plenary session was chaired by Dr Vandana Sharma, Head, Department of English, CU Jammu. The panel included Prof Dipankar Sen Gupta (University of Jammu), Prof Ankur Saxena (Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda), and Dr Romesh Sharma (Directorate of School Education, Jammu). A concluding vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Vinay Kumar and Nidhi Singhal from the Department of Social Work, CU Jammu.