Visva-Bharati Santiniketan 731235 INDIA SELF-STUDY REPORT Part - C Vol. 4 Evaluative Report of the Departments Submitted to National Assessment and Accreditation Council 2014 C O N T E N T S SIKSHA-BHAVANA Biotechnology 1 Botany 21 Chemistry 53 Environmental Studies 81 Mathematics 96 Integrated Science Education and Research Centre (ISERC) 129 Physics 150 Statistics 174 Zoology 184 Computer and System Sciences 246 RABINDRA-BHAVANA ( INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION ) Rabindra Bhavana 280 SWOC Analysis 296 BRIEF PROFILE OF SOME ANCILLARY DEPARTMENTS Pearson Memorial Hospital 315 Granthana Vibhaga 319 ENCLOSURES Modular Syllabus 320 Remedial Coaching 352 Ph.D. Ordinance (a few copies attached) 354 Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) for Prevention of Sexual Harassment against Women at Workplace (PSHWW) 357 Evaluative Report of the Department of Biotechnology, Siksha-Bhavana 1 Evaluative Report of the Department of Biotechnology 1. Name of the Department : Biotechnology 2. Year of establishment : 1997 (Supported by DBT, GOI from 2004) 3. Is the Department part of a School/Faculty of the university? Yes, Siksha-Bhavana 4. Names of programmes offered (UG, PG, M.Phil., Ph.D., integrated Masters; Integrated Ph.D., D.Sc., D.Litt., etc.) : PG, Ph.D. 5. Interdisciplinary programmes and departments involved: Yes. The Department was started as a Centre under school of Life sciences in 1997 and was taught and managed by the faculties of the Department of Botany & Department of Zoology fully up to 2002 and subsequently partly until 2009 as there were only two faculties of the Centre for Biotechnology from 2002 to 2005, and from 2009 four more joined; in the year 2013 the Centre was upgraded to a Department. 6. Courses in collaboration with other universities, industries, foreign institutions, etc.: a) Ongoing Bilateral collaboration with the Department of Biology, University of Rome, Tor Vergata on “Biotechnology and nanotechnology of cultural heritage”, Coordinator from Visva-Bharati: Prof. S.P. Adhikary, 2011-2014. b) MOU with Bose Institute, Kolkata on Biotechnology for rural development since 2013 which involve research collaboration and also in extention programmes. 7. Details of programmes discontinued, if any, with reasons: Biotechnology teaching programme at M.Sc. level started from 1997 with the coordinated effort of the Department of Botany and Department of Zoology, however, it was fully supported by the DBT-HRD grant and the students admitted were those who qualify through combined entrance examination conducted by JNU. Since it gave an all India character to the Department, the course with students admitted from the examination through Visva-Bharati entrance test was discontinued from 2005. 8. Examination System: Semester and Choice Based Credit System 9. Participation of the department in the courses offered by other departments: Yes. The faculties of the Department taught “Cell Biology” course to the 5 year integrated course of Physical sciences of the University from 2009 to 2012. Self-Study Report of the Visva-Bharati 2 Evaluative Report of the Department of Biotechnology, Siksha-Bhavana 10. Number of teaching posts sanctioned, filled and actual (Professors / Associate Professors / Asst. Professors / others) : Actual (including CAS Sanctioned Filled & MPS) Professor 1 1 1 Associate Professors 2 2 2 Asst. Professors 4 4 4 Others Nil Nil 11. Faculty profile with name, qualification, designation, area of specialization, experience and research under guidance: a) Name : Dr. S.P. Adhikary Qualification : Ph.D., D.Sc. Designation : Professor Specialization : Microbiology; Bioprocess Engineering No. of Years of Experience : 33 years No. of Ph.D./M.Phil. students guided for the last 4 years : 04 (Awarded), 01 (Submitted), 04 (Working) b) Name : Dr. Amit Roy Qualification : Ph.D. Designation : Associate Professor Specialization : Molecular Biology; Genetic Engineering No. of Years of Experience : 12 years No. of Ph.D./M.Phil. students guided for the last 4 years : 01 (Awarded), 01 (Submitted), 05 (Working) c) Name : Dr. T. Chaudhuri Qualification : Ph.D. Designation : Associate Professor Specialization : Virology, Cell Biology No. of Years of Experience : 08 years No. of Ph.D./M.Phil. students guided for the last 4 years : 03 (Working) d) Name : Dr. Nilanjana Das Qualification : Ph.D. Designation : Associate Professor Specialization : Biochemistry IPR No. of Years of Experience : 08 years No. of Ph.D./M.Phil. students Self-Study Report of the Visva-Bharati Evaluative Report of the Department of Biotechnology, Siksha-Bhavana 3 guided for the last 4 years : 02 (Working) e) Name : Dr. Jolly Basak Qualification : Ph.D. Designation : Associate Professor Specialization : BiochemistryBioinformatic No. of Years of Experience : 05 years No. of Ph.D./M.Phil. students guided for the last 4 years : 04 (Working) f) Name : Dr. Narottam Dey Qualification : Ph.D. Designation : Associate Professor Specialization : Plant Biotech Biostatistics No. of Years of Experience : 08 years No. of Ph.D./M.Phil. students guided for the last 4 years : 04 (Working) g) Name : Dr. Samiran Saha Qualification : Ph.D. Designation : Associate Professor Specialization : Immunology, Animal Biotechnology No. of Years of Experience : 04 years No. of Ph.D./M.Phil. students guided for the last 4 years : 01 (Working) 12. List of senior Visiting Fellows, adjunct faculty, emeritus professors: a) Prof. Sanghamitra Raha – Senior Professor of Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, visiting Professor through UGC XIIth plan merged scheme. 13. Percentage of classes taken by temporary faculty — programme-wise : N.A. 14. Programme-wise Student Teacher Ratio : a) PG (2012-2014) – 4:1 b) PG (2013-2015) – 3:1 15. Number of academic support staff (technical) and administrative sanctioned, filled and actual: Sanctioned Filled Actual Academic Support Staff (Technical) - Nil Nil Administrative Staff - 1 (Casual Staff) 1 Self-Study Report of the Visva-Bharati 4 Evaluative Report of the Department of Biotechnology, Siksha-Bhavana Others - 3 (Contractual) 3 16. Research thrust areas as recognized by major funding agencies: Thrust area identified and approved by DST-FIST: Understanding stress adaption mechanism in plants, animals and microbes; other areas are project based as approved for financial support by UGC, CSIR, DST, DBT and MOEF for projects of faculties. 17. Number of faculty with ongoing projects from a) national b) international agencies and c) Total grants received. Give the names of the project title and grants received project-wise: Extramural funding through projects received by the faculty: [Total amount approximately 2 crores and 45 lakhs]; Details, faculty wise received given below: Prof. S.P. Adhikary, PI: a) Name of the project: “Molecular taxonomy of stress tolerant cyanobacteria and characterization of stress proteins and antioxidant defence systems in selected anhydrobiotes.” Sponsored by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India(2010-2013). Rs. 29 lakhs. b) Name of the project: “Taxonomy capacity building project on Algae- AICOPTAX.” Sponsored by Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India; Ongoing All India coordinated project since September 2003; East zone coordinator: S.P. Adhikary. (Project completed on 31st March 2012). Rs. 32 Lakhs. c) Name of the project: DST-SSD entitled “Development of seaweed liquid fertilizer formulation for pulses and vegetable crops and its popularization for development of entrepreneurship in rural areas.” sponsored by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (2010-2013). Rs. 12.75 lakhs. d) International collaboration on “Biotechnology and nanotechnology of Cultural Heritage” between Prof. S.P. Adhikary, Visva-Bharati, India and Prof. Patrizia B. Albertano / Dr.Laura Bruno, Department of Biology, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Italy ( 2011-2013). e) Dr. B.P. Pal National Environmental Fellowship award project on Biodiversity by MOEF, Govt. of India to Prof. S.P. Adhikary. (2012-2014). Rs. 12 Lakhs Dr. A. Ray, PI: a) Name of the project: “Screening and characterization of antimicrobial compound(s) from Ceriops decandra, a beneficial mangrove plant from Indian Sundarban estuary.” Sponsored by UGC, New Delhi (2011-2014). Rs. 9.15 Lakhs Dr. Nilanjana Das, PI: a) Name of the Project: “Age and reactive species mediated modification of Self-Study Report of the Visva-Bharati Evaluative Report of the Department of Biotechnology, Siksha-Bhavana 5 macromolecules and its physiological consequences in Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).” Sponsored by DST, Fast Track project, Govt. of India (2010-2013). Rs.18.76 Lakhs. b) Project entitled “Evaluation of age associated alterations in anti-oxidative defense in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its role in accumulation of oxidative stress.” Sponsored by CSIR (2013-2016). Rs. 28.05 lakhs. c) Minor project entitled “A study on the probable reasons behind selective susceptibility of proteins to age and oxidative stress using bioinformatics tools.” Sponsored by UGC. Rs. 1.2 Lakhs. Dr. J. Basak, PI: a) Name of the project: “cDNA-AFLP to identify differentially expressed genes in Vigna mungo upon inoculation with Mungbean Yellow mosaic Indian virus.” Sponsored by DST, Fast Track Project, Govt. of India (2012-2015). Rs. 24 Lakhs. b) Name of the Project: “Identification and characterisation of Phaseolus vulgaris micro RNAs differentially expressed in biotic stress condition by deep sequencing of small RNA transcriptomes.” Sponsored by DBT, Govt. of India (2012-2015). Rs. 44.12 Lakhs Dr. Narottam