Achievements during the Academic Year 2017-2018

I. Institutional

• GRI was awarded 12 B status in September, 2017 thereby research grant from UGC got released
• Seven faculties and Twenty Two departments were re-organised into meaningful interdisciplinary Schools and Departments (8 Schools and 16 Departments have been formed)
• National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) - (2018) is 79 (while it was 91 during last year)
• International Web of Institutions Ranking among Indian universities (January, 2017) is 83
• SCIMAGO Ranking of GRI based on quality of Research Publications by Deemed Universities in India is 43 (2017)
• The scheme on Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) was implementated from the financial year 2018-2019
• In addition to the existing B.Ed. and M.Ed. programmes, the new degree programme for the Dept. of Education viz., B.Sc., B.Ed. (Integrated) was approved by National Council for Teacher Education

II. Academic

• New Ph.D. Regulations was framed in July, 2017 giving more weightage to academic courses, seminars and monitoring mechanism for research projects
• In addition to the existing M.Phil. Regulations, a new regulation on M.Phil – Integrated with Ph.D. has been approved thereby facilitating M.Phil. students to continue with Ph.D. programme, if they desire so
• Process on digitalization in teaching and learning and other activities of the institution including online courses, online teaching, online admission, online payment, digital library and digital students certificates and degrees have been developed as per requirement of UGC / MHRD
• Revision of syllabus for all academic programmes was completed from Diploma to Ph.D. level in which latest techniques and information were incorporated
• Zonal Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning was established at the Dept. of Computer Science & Applications with Bennett University
• Sixty six conferences / seminars / training programmes in emerging areas including two international conferences were conducted
• Seventeen faculty members were deputed to institutions in Canada, Chile, Germany, UAE, etc. Nine faculty members and two research scholars made exchange visits to Kusan National University (Republic of Korea), National TU (Singapore), University of Concepcion (Chile), Saga University (Japan) and University of North Florida (USA)
• During the reference period, 3 MoUs were signed with national and international institutions
• PG Diploma in Yoga Education has been introduced for encouraging and fostering sports and games spirits among the students

III. Research

• New research projects (53 numbers) were proposed to various funding agencies with a financial outlay of Rs.25.32 crore
• Fifteen research projects with a budget of Rs.2.5 crore were sanctioned to the Institute
• h Index (quality of publications) is now 63 (while it was 53 during last year)
• 15 Awards were received by the faculty members including National Awards to four faculty members (Dr.S.Abraham John, Dr.G.Palanithurai, Dr.S.Meenakshi and Shri Elanchelian were given by three scientific bodies)
• The Institute received ‘Green Award 2017’ from the Govt. of Tamil Nadu recognizing its contributions in green cover, water management, cleanliness, power conservation and waste disposal
• Faculties were encouraged to publish their publications periodically. In this way, the faculty members have published 433 publications on the part of journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, etc
• Seventy seven scholars received Ph.D. degree
• 17 scholars have been admitted under PDF

IV. Infrastructure

• New Examination Hall with 1000 students capacity (at a time) was constructed at a cost of Rs.4.82 crore
• New laboratories for School of Agriculture and Animal Sciences were built at a cost of Rs.1.7 crore
• GRI Centre at New Delhi (at a cost of Rs.70 lakhs) was established to facilitate training programmes, organizing guest lectures and networking with Gandhian Institutions and facilitating foreign students admission
• Maintenance works like compound wall, fencing, water harvesting structures and entry arch were carried out at a cost of Rs.55 lakhs
• Book drop facility was installed at the university library
• XRD Facility (Funded by DST-FIST) installed in the Physics Laboratory
• Health Centre was equipped with Dialyse Auto Analyzer and Eliza Reader and Eliza Vaster

V. Finance

• An amount of Rs.6.75 crore was received from UGC as General Development Assistance
• Rs.56.54 crore was received from UGC as Maintenance Grant, out of which Rs.6.32 crore is non-salary component
• Rs.3.82 crore was realized as internal receipts in the University
• Rs.3.88 crore was received from UGC for providing water supply under Combined Cauvery Water Scheme
• CAG audit was conducted for the financial year 2016-17 and 2017-18 and after dropping 12 audit paras there are only 4 audit paras pending

VI. Institution Social Responsibility

• In spite of water scarcity prevailing in the Dindigul district, water supply to the students, staff quarters, offices and laboratories was restored by employing efficient water management and usage technologies
• Energy conservation techniques (use of LED, power factor improvement Capacitor, remote monitoring stations for generators, optimization of EB services) resulted with cost reduction of 1.5 lakhs per month. Electricity consumption reduced from 1 MW to 57 KV
• School Improvement Programme was undertaken in Government Schools by the Department of Education thereby improving the performance of students by 35 percent

VII. Administration

• Rules for recruitment / promotion of non-teaching and technical staff (JCRC manual, 2017) was prepared with UGC approved experts
• Reservation Roster for teaching and non-teaching staff was finalized
• Faculty Development Programme for teaching (2 numbers) and non-teaching (2 numbers) staff were organized
• Sabbatical Leave rules for teaching staff for writing books was framed
• GRI Fellowship rules for Ph.D scholars were evolved
• 51 research scholars received funds under UGC-SRF, CSIR-SRF, DST-PDF, DST-Inspire, ICSSR-PDF, ICMR and TNCU schemes

VIII. Promotional Activities

• An amount of Rs.1.90 crore was disbursed to 2391 students as scholarship / fellowship
• Ten motivational lectures were arranged and delivered by experts for the benefit of students
• GRI Awards for recognizing the services of teachers engaged in Institution Improvement Activities and students in sports performance at National level were instituted
• Faculty members have participated in 320 scientific meets including conferences / seminars / workshops / training programmes and 130 papers were presented
• Faculty members have attended Ten Refresher courses and three Orientation programmes conducted by various universities

IX. Extension

• Fifty Village Placement Programmes (VPP) were organized in the villages aimed at the upliftment of villages
• MoRD and MoDWS, Govt. of India have recognized GRI (DU) as National Level Monitor (NLM). Under the scheme, Thirty districts in Eight States were monitored for 42 different programmes
• UBA programme were conducted in 12 villages (5 UBA villages and 7 adopted villages of GRI
• Summer Internship Programme on Swachh Bharat was conducted in Four hamlets of one village panchayat. 73 students were participated in the programme

X. Recommendation of EEC

The Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) constituted by MHRD considered the proposal for IoE submitted and presented by GRI on 08.05.2018 and recommended the following:

In the 150^th Anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi, it would be only say that this Institute’s work is appreciated, and it is helped with additional funds and such other dispensation that can put it on sound footing and sustain it.