JAMMU: Established on August 30, 1986; the Shri Mata Vaish¬no Devi Shrine Board has not only undertaken projects to develop the world-renowned cave tirtha nestled in the Trikuta Hills but also endeavoured to make the high-lands green besides aiming at clean¬liness and sanitation and – above all – empowering the future generation with knowledge through its universal education mission.
From the tenure of the then Gov¬ernor Jagmohan – the Board was his brainchild – to the present chair N.N. Vohra, the entity has taken a number of significant initiatives to build infra¬structure and create other facilities for pilgrims whose number registered a phenomenal increase – crossing the 10-mln. mark in 2011 and 2012 – as a direct consequence.
According high priority to taking up several health and learning proj¬ects, the Board set up the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Gurukul and – recently – the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi College of Nursing. Scholarships are provided to children of erstwhile baridars (care¬takers). From 2002-03 to 2016-17, more than Rs. 3.56 cr. was disbursed to 8,539 meritorious pupils from such families. Girls are given bursarships at a higher scale. From time to time, support is extended to augment infra¬structure in the area’s academic insti¬tutions. Recently, the Board released Rs. 10.35 lakh for upgrading the Govt. Primary School, Kakryal whereas Rs. 32.47 lakh were sanctioned for con¬structing a laboratory at the Govt. Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Reasi. The Board adopted the Govt. Middle School, Sanjichhat.
The autonomous, highly-technical and fully-residential university was inaugurated in 2004 by none other than the father of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Pro¬gramme and the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who delivered the maid¬en lecture to the students!
The varsity boasts the faculties of Engineering, Sciences, Manage¬ment, Humanities and Social Scienc¬es. With a battery of more than 100 highly-qualified faculty members, the campus has become nothing short of a launch pad towards high¬er learning and research. In excess of 1,500 persons from 22 states are being imparted knowledge. The uni¬versity was at 80th place in a 2016 evaluation by N.I.R.F.
Another feather in the Board’s cap is the Gurukul, at Charan Paduka, which came into being some years back with the objective of dissemi¬nating Vedic learning. It is affiliated to the Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vish¬wavidyalaya, Varanasi.
“The Shrine Board is also endeavour¬ing to help the state in getting human resource strengthened in the health sector – the nursing college at Kakryal, with an intake capacity of 100, com¬menced functioning in July last year. It’s equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure including ‘smart’ class¬rooms and Wi-Fi connectivity,” the Board’s C.E.O. A.K. Sahu averred.
The Gurukul’s pupils – who are provided free education, boarding, lodging, uniforms, books, etc. – are schooled in the Vedas, Karamkand and rituals besides English, Math¬ematics, Science, Social Studies and Music. Its students have been con¬tinuously receiving the Vakratund Shukal Swaran Padak from the Sam¬purnanand Vishwavidyalaya.