The two week interdisciplinary refresher course in Human Rights which had begun on 3rd March, 2022 culminated today at the University of Jammu. The course was conducted by the UGC- Human Resource Development Centre in collaboration with the Department of Home Science, University of Jammu. A total of 21 college and university faculty members of not only Jammu & Kashmir but also from Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala participated in the course.

Speaking on the occasion the Chief Guest Prof. Manoj K Dhar, Vice-Chancellor, JU congratulated and appreciated the Department of Home Science and HRDC for organizing the refresher course and covering various themes related to Human Rights. He said that the legacy, tradition and values hold a special place in the life of a person and one should continue to participate in various activities keeping in mind their roots. He also stressed the use of local dialect in the various programmes organized by JU.

 Prof. S.K. Pandita, Director, UGC HRDC, JU, welcomed the guests and apprised the audience about the relevance of various refresher courses organized by the HRDC, JU.

Earlier, in the program, the course coordinator Prof. Samridhi Arora (Head, Dept. of Home Science) presented a brief report and an overview of the activities and lectures delivered during the duration of the course. Some of the main themes covered included an overview of human rights, child rights, Women's rights, Disability Rights, Contemporary adoption laws and practice, intercountry adoption, rights-based perspective in the delivery of services to children and policies and programmes for the empowerment of women, gender-friendly environment In institutions of higher learning, Rights of the prisoners, police custody violence, environmental laws and rights, LGBT rights, mental health rights, Legal Aid, third gender rights, IT act and safeguards for women and children, Public Interest Litigation, mediation and dispensation of justice in India, Positive youth development and rights, gender champions, their issues and rights, understanding domestic violence, sexual harassment at the workplace, missing children, the role of one-stop centres and Mahila Shakti Kendra in empowering women and the role of ICPS in child protection. Resource persons invited for the course are actively involved in the field of human rights and some of them have suffered human rights violations in their life. Some of the prominent speakers and resource persons include  Prof Vijay Nagpal (Punjab University, Chandigarh), Dr. Geetanjali Kumar, Practicing Counselor, New Delhi Prof. Neeru Sharma (JU), Dr. Aman Hingorani ( Advocate, Supreme Court of India), Prof. Bharti Kumar (National Law University, Delhi), Dr Vinita Bhargava ( Lady Irwin College, DU), Dr. Manju Dhoundiyal (Deputy Director Retd., NIPCCD, GoI), Adv. Farman Ali, High Court Delhi, Dr. K.P.Singh (Retd DGP, Haryana), Prof. Anupama Vohra, DDE, JU, Prof. Vishav Raksha, Director, CWS, JU, Dr. Savita Nayyar ( Dept. of Law, JU), Dr. Hema Gandotra, JU, Dr. Monica Narang, Law School, JU, Dr. Anupa Sharma (Protection Officer, ICPS), , Namrata Khajuria, Centre Administrator in One Stop Centre, Jammu,  Javed Ahmad Tak (Padma Shree) President Humanity Welfare Organisation,  Sandhya Dhar, President JIGAR Foundation, Dy. SP Musadiq Basu (Cyber and CCTNS), Daniyal Pathan, Regional Academic Expert, Sanya Khan, District Coordinator, Mahila Shakti Kendra, Doda. Presentations were also made by the participants on various topics related to human rights. Prof. Arora impressed upon the participants to create awareness about our human rights and be human rights educators in their respective fields. The participants gave feedback on the course and appreciated the efforts of the organizers, resource persons, and the content of the course

Dr. Sarika Manhas (Associate Prof.) The Deputy course coordinator briefly presented the key takeaways of the refresher course based on the inputs of the participants and the resource persons.

An abstract booklet of the refresher course including abstracts of the lectures of resource persons and participants was also released by the chief guest.

A formal vote of thanks was presented by Sh. Ranjeet Kalra, teaching faculty, HRDC, University of Jammu.

The entire refresher course was conducted under the guidance of Prof. Samridhi Arora and Dr. Sarika Manhas in the Department of Home Science.

The proceedings of the valedictory session were conducted by Ms. Kanchan Sharma and Ms. Vinish Malik, research scholars, Dept. Of Home Science, JU.