sikhpride

Inderjit Kaur, the first Lady Vice Chancellor of a University in India was born on 01.09.1923 at Patiala. Her father Colonel Sher Singh, many a times had to stay out of Patiala because of his service in the Army. Thus Inderjit Kaur did her schooling in Patiala but got her teacher training degree as well as a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Govt. College, Lahore. She started her teaching career also from there in 1946. When the partition took place, she was not only a teacher, but also an activist being the secretary of Mata Sahib Kaur Dal which rehabilitated over 400 families at Patiala. Food and clothes were collected from families in Patiala and given away. They even sent out four truck loads of such material to persons in Baramulla, Kashmir, where the Patiala Army had come to the rescue of the locals. She was also instrumental in setting up Mata Sahib Kaur Dal School, Patiala, for mainly refugee children. She also organized selfdefence training for women refugees and took part in it, topping the shooting competition. When she got her Master’s degree in Punjabi, she was taken on the Governing Council of Khalsa College, Amritsar (1950- 53). With her high qualification, she occupied prominent positions like Professor of Education in State College of Education, Patiala, Principal Govt. College for Women, Amritsar and finally Vice Chancellor, Punjabi University Patiala from 1975-1977. She was highly successful in all these positions and that is why after her successful innings as Vice Chancellor, she was made Chairperson of Staff Selection Commission, New Delhi, an All India recruiting agency for the Govt. of India. Whereas Sdn. Inderjit Kaur held various prominent positions with dignity and got respect for her disciplined way of working, she also represented her country at various international conferences. She attended the Conference of the Association of Commonwealth University at Wellington, New Zealand, and represented India at the International Conference of the Executive Heads of Universities, held in Boston, USA, where she was among the three women university heads in the world. Such visits generated generous media coverage, something she handled with elan. She also spoke on Sikh religion at various platforms in India and Abroad. She delivered the 1976 Guru Nanak Lecture at University of Hull, UK, on “Guru Teg Bahadar, Nanak IX” and also spoke at the School of Oriental Studies, London, during the same trip. She lectured at various universities during her foreign tours. Her brilliant academic and professional career, her administrative ability and her human approach make her a real role model. Presently she is devoting her time to her family living with them at Chandigarh.