I present a brief report on the activities of our College during the academic year    2008-2009.

Our office staff successfully completed online admissions for the Degree and Junior College and created a student database. We have an impressive strength of students in the Degree and Junior college both aided and unaided. The faculty wise break up is as follows -

We have started a new unaided course B.Com with Financial Market with an enrolment of 35 students and an additional division of FYBMS.

On 10th August 2008 a post graduate diploma in Library Automation and Networking has been introduced by the Department of Library and Information Science. This autonomous course is first of its kind in the Mumbai University.

Success at the Examination is an important index to evaluate the performance of an Institution. Judged from that angle we have acquitted ourselves creditably.

Our H.S.C. results have been impressive.

In the Commerce Faculty our pass percentage is 92.58% 61 students secured Distinction and 244 students were awarded First Class.

Gujar Shweta R. stood first in Board in the Subject Marathi among the girls.

Our Degree College students have secured rank and distinction in their subjects.

The Department of Library and Information Science brought glory to the college by securing first and second rank in the examination conducted by the Mumbai University. Priyadarshani Surve and Pradnay Pawar stood first and second respectively in the BLISc Examination.

Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are important in the development of our students’ personality.

Our college has established a formidable reputation in the field of sports. A report on the sports will be read later. Some of our distinctive achievements are highlighted here.

Dhiraj Mishra 12th Com. represented India and secured Gold Medal in triple jump at Youth Commonwealth Games 2008 at Balewadi, Pune.

Navin Singh from F.YBCom represented India in high jump at Youth Commonwealth Games 2008 and secured 5th place at Balewadi, Pune.

Shankar Thevar of TYBCom won the Gold Medal at West zone Open Competition and also won the Gold Medal in 90 Kg weight group at State Level Competition held at Mumbai.

Sanchitra Gaikar of TYBA won the Bronze Medal at Open Group Competition.

Samrudhi Patil from SYBCom won the silver medal in Swimming (50 m. freestyle).

Pandarinath Dalvi from SYBA won Bronze medal in Wrestling at Mumbai University.

Surendra Inerkar won the gold medal in Carrom at Thane district Inter Junior College Tournament at Vasai and also won the Gold Medal at Mumbai Division Competition.

Sampada Raut of XIIth Com. won the Gold Medal in 38 Kg group at Thane District Inter Junior Collegiate competition.

Manali Deshpande of XII th Com. won the silver medal in 60 kg group in Karate at Thane Inter Junior Collegiate competition.

Kanad Meshram of XII the Com. won the Silver Medal at Thane district SQAY Marshal

Arts held at Thane. He also won the Bronze Medal at Mumbai division held at Wadala.

Mangesh Yadav, XIIth Com. won the Gold Medal in 65 kg group at Thane District Inter Junior Collegiate Judo Competition.

Manali Shinde of XIIth Com. won the Gold Mdal in Heavy weight group at Thane District taekwondo Competition.

Dnyanda Limaye of XII the Com. won the Gold Medal in light weight kg group in the above mentioned tournament. In the Mumbai Zonal Tackwondo Competition Manali Shinde won the Silver Medal and Dnyanda Limaye won the Bronze Medal.

Chinmay Agharkar of XII the Com. was selected to represent Mumbai Division at State Level Inter Junior Collegiate tournament held at Aurangabad.

Ajinkya Mauli won the Gold Medal in Long Jump and Bronze Medal in high jump at Thane District Inter Junior Collegiate Ahtletic Meet.

Our Junior college boys and girls of the Kho-kho team won at the Taluka level, at the Inter Junior college tournament, in September 2008 at Thane. The boys team were winners at Thane District inter junior collegiate kho-kho tournament.

In the field of cultural activities our students have won a number of prizes.

Mayuri Pawar won the third prize in Classical Dance in inter-collegiate Youth Festival organized by the Mumbai University.

Kailas Kadam was awarded consolatiojn prize for acting in intercollegiate Youth Festival organized by the Mumbai University.

Venkatesh Kadam of SYBA won First Prize in Cartooning. Best out of Waste, Paper Bag Making in Ratnam College, First Prize in Tattoo making in Somaiya College and first in Rangoli in Dnyansadhana College.

Tejashree Parchure was awarded first prize for solo singing in Pragati College.

The student Council Members under the guidance of Cultural Committee Members organized "Gandharva Mahotsav" an Inter-Collegiate cultural Competition. 16 colleges participated in the Festival comprising of 16 events.

The Vivekananda Kendra (Kanya Kumari) organized a State Level Contest and Camp Vijay Poorna Vijay in our College. An Orientation Programme, and Entrance Test and a one day camp was conducted. The one day camp included Yoga, Meditation and Vedic Mantras. 10 students of our college were selected for State Level contest to be held from 31st Dec. to 4th Jan.

Our College has NCC Army and Navy Unit for Boys and Girls. Our cadets are actively involved in attending Training Camps in different parts of the country. In addition to this, they are encouraged to participate in community activities like Tree Plantation, Blood Donation and Personality Developement Programmes.

The NSS Unit of our college increased its strength from 50 to 100 students. During the first term a number of programmes were organized. A few important ones are highlighted.

On 2nd August a District-Zonal Level programme was held along with ANIS. The topic was creating Scientific Approach and Awareness among students in the Community.

On 12th and 13th Sept. NSS volunteers

along with Zilla Parishad officials went to remote areas of Thane District to measure the extent of malnutrition among children living there. The project was an eye-opener for our students.

NSS Unit organized a 10 day Camp at Mamnoli from 11th to 18th November 2008. In this camp attempt was made to cover different issues related to the village and issues related to the personality development of NSS volunteers.

On World AIDS Day - 1st Dec. 08 volunteers of the NSS joined the rally organized by Thane Civil Hospital to create AIDS Awareness.

The Scholar’s Academy continues to encourage our young scholars in the pursuit of knowledge and academic excellence. For the convenience of the students the academy has bifurcated the activities of the Degree and the Junior College scholars. A number of interactive lectures have been organized for the students of the academy both in the Degree and the Junior College.

The Talent Academy has become an important forum for nurturing and encouraging creative talents of our students. Three workshops were organized by the Talent Academy. These were Dance, Rangoli and Light Vocal Music. Students enthusiastically participated in the Workshop.

Vyas Sabha has been established for the staff members. As the name suggests it is a forum for discussing societal issues of significance. Members of Staff assemble once a week- Degree Staff on every Friday and Junior Staff on every Wednesday and discuss a pre-decided issue.

The following topics were discussed in the Vyas Sabha

Violence in Campus

Work life Balance

Terrorism causes and solution

Psychology of money

Book reviews

Poetry reading

Dress of Code

Jobs in Call Center

Role of Electronic Media

Problem of working women

Talent Hunt or Tension Hunt

Sex Education in Education Field

An interesting aspect of the Vyas Sabha is a 15 minute Sanskrit Learning Session conducted by Professors Mugdha Kulkarni and Mathur Vaishya.

A workshop on XI std. online Admission was held in our College. Mrs. Sardesai, Chairman of Maharashtra Secondary and Higher Secondary Board, Mrs. Sheila Tiwari, Deputy Director and Shir. Mhatre, Asst. Director attended the workshop.

Teachers - Parents relationship is important for smooth functioning of the Institution.

A parent-teachers meeting was held for 11th classes on 23rd Aug.08, nearly 200 parents attended the meeting.

The college hosted a National Seminar on Post Independence Indian Literature. The seminar was organized by Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi and English Departments.

Two pre-seminar workshops - on Post Independence Indian Literature were conducted on 22nd August 2008 and 20th November 2008. 14 members of our teaching staff presented papers along with other

resource persons on various aspects related to the theme of the seminar. The National Seminar was held on 16t and 17th January 2009. Eminent Scholars and presented papers on the occasion.

Our students are our strength. Well behaved and disciplined they have contributed to the growing stature of our college. Our visitors have again and again complemented our students for their good behaviour.

We have prizes in the category of Best Students Arts, Commerce, Self-financing (Degree College) and Arts and Commerce (Junior College). The prizes are awarded to the students for academic excellence, participation in extra curricular activities and exemplary behaviour.

1) Ghanashyam Saraf Rolling Trophy Harshad Chitre
(For Best Student of the College)

2) Rolling Trophy Nivedita Lomte

(For Best Student of the College)

3) Best Student of the College Sanjyoti Redkar

4) Best Student (Arts Faculty Degree College)
Harshala Gulvi

5) Best Student (Comm. Faculty Degree College)

Gayatri Kumar

6) Best Student (Self-financing Courses) Madhur Wadhavane

Sarika Chiplunkar

7) Best Student (Arts Faculty Junior College)

Mohini Nadkarni

8) Best Student (Comm. Faculty Junior College)

Pratik Chaugule

We are fortunate in having a band of dedicated teachers and supporting staff who are engaged in a number of academic and related activities. I would like to mention some of them.

(Dr.) Mrs. Namita Nimbalkar (Lecturer in Birla College) was awarded the Ph.D. by the Mumbai University. Her subject of research was "Gandhi’s Concept of Religion and Communal Harmony". She completed her Ph.D. from the Research Center in Philosophy of our College under the guidance of Dr. (Mrs.) S.A. Singh.

Dr. (Mrs.) Suja Roy Abraham was awarded the Ph.D from Madras Christian College, Chennai. Her subject of research was "Women in the Agricultural Folksongs of Central Kerala".

Prof. (Mrs.) Shaila Srivastava completed her M.Phil in Economics from Alagappa University in May 2008. She was also awarded the Masters Degree in Population Studies from International Institute of Population Science.

Prof. (Mrs.) Leela Bhat successfully guided Prof. Rueen Ayaz Mirza for her M.Phil dissertation under Madurai Kamraj University. The topic of research was "Impact of Retail Management on the growth of Indian Economy."

Prof. (Mrs.) Radha Natrajan presented a paper on Medical Tourism in India-Current Status on 20th Sept. under the auspices of the 3rd Deccan Geographical Society - India and International Geography Conference in Nagpur.

Prof. (Mrs.) Shoba Doshi has been granted leave under the UGC Faculty Improvement Programme to complete her Ph.D. in Philosophy. Her subject of research is "Man God Relations in the Systems of Vedanta".

Prof. (Mrs.) Suchitra Naik counselor of the college was invited by several institutions

to counsel students and teachers. Four colleges of Kalyan through Samaj Prabodhini invited her as a resource person for Premarital Counselling Programme. She was a resource person in the workshop conducted by Birla College for school teachers and resource person at the NSS Camp of Agarwal College. She has conducted workshops on Transactional Analysis, Lectures for Effective Parenting of Teenagers and Effective Study Techniques for students for social organizations.

Prof. Tejaswini Nadgauda completed her Refresher Course in Mathematical Science organized by the Mumbai University and was awarded "A" Grade. She has authored a text book for FYBCOM in the subject of Mathematics and Statistics according to the Revised Syllabus of the Mumbai University.

Prof. (Mrs.) Priyamvada Tokekar delivered a lecture on ‘Women and Media’ in Birla College as part of Pre-Marital Counselling Programme of the College. She attended a two day teachers training programme on Gender and Sexuality organized by the Women’s Development Cell, Mumbai University.

Prof. N.S. Barse was invited as a resource person for one-day seminar, on "Changing Dimensions in College

Librarianship by MD Shah College. He made a presentation on "Internet Access and Online Source of Information available on web. Prof. Barse was invited to present a paper on "Use of Information Communication Technology in Modern Libraries and Teachers Role" at the seminar organized by Karve Education Society College at Pune.

He was appointed as an expert by YCM Open University to guide M.Lib.I.Sc. students for the seminar at Sawantwadi Centre. He was invited to deliver a lecture on "Career Opportunities in Library and Information Science" at Abhinav College. Prof. Barse was part of the syllabus revision committee for B.Lib.I.Sc. and M.Lib. I.Sc. held at Department of Library and Information Science.

Prof. (Mrs.) Shaila Srivastava was invited as a resource person to give a lecture on "Impact of Globalization on Agricultural Sector" on 13th Dec. 2008 by P.N. Doshi, U.R. Shah and Nanavati Women’s College of Arts, and Commerce and Home Science.

I would like to place on record the support and guidance from the Management, Teachers, Supporting Staff and Students Council and Students. With such overwhelming goodwill we will be able to realize our vision of pursuing excellence in every field of activity.