Minutes of the Meeting of the Extra-ordinary General Meeting held on Saturday, 28th January 2023 at 11: 30 AM (Hybrid Mode) for conducting Zaheer Science Foundation Elections

The following members were physically present in the meeting in the Office of Zaheer Science Foundation (ZSF), New Delhi-110001:

Dr. Harsh K. Gupta, Chairman

Dr. Zahid H. Khan, Vice Chairman

Dr. Tabassum Jamal, Secretary

Dr. Seema Wahab, Joint Secretary

Prof. Ramesh Chandra, Member

Dr. Mohd. Rais, Member

Dr. Subhan Khan, Member

Mrs. Shabnam Khan, Member

The following members attended the meeting online:

Dr. Ashok Jain

Mr. MAU Khan

Dr. D. Shailaja

Prof. Dr. Badrul Islam Kairanvi

Dr. S. D. Garg

Prof. E. Hasnain

Shri Vinod A. Iyengar

Special Invitees:

• Prof. A. S. Kohli, Election Officer, attended the meeting in person for conducting the ZSF Elections. 
• Mrs. Manju Bagai, Legal adviser, ZSF attended the meeting in person.

Item No. 1. Welcome by Dr. Harsh K. Gupta, Chairman ZSF

Dr. Harsh Gupta welcomed all the members and gave a brief account of work done so far by ZSF since he took over as Interim Chairman. He talked about various improvements made in face-lifting of the ZSF office and, in particular, making the office digitally functional for hybrid meetings. He applauded the efforts made by Dr. Zahid H. Khan, Dr. Tabassum Jamal and Mohd Asad U. Khan during the last one year in bringing ZSF functional as well as on the right track.

Item No. 2. Progress of the Work done during the period of Interim Governing Council

Dr. Tabassum Jamal, Secretary, ZSF presented the overall progress of work done to revamp research activities at ZSF over the last one year. She presented the details of two workshops organized by ZSF in this period and the wide publicity of these events in social media. She highlighted salient points raised during the online workshop which was organized by ZSF on“Disruption of Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic” on 30th August 2022, under the UNESCO-IDL Platform Event Calendar 2022. The workshop mainly focused on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in mitigating the sudden crisis in the education sector during Covid-19 and the policy-related aspects. The workshop was a great success with a large number of participants mostly from India and also from Iran and UAE, who attended the workshop online.The media partner for this event was Virtual Studio Private Ltd., Greater Noida, New Delhi. The workshop got a wide coverage in the UNESCO-IDL Newsletter published in November 2022.

Item No. 3. Conducting Elections of Chairman of ZSF and Four Members of its Governing Council

Dr. Zahid H. Khan, Vice Chairman, ZSF, presented a detailed outline of the whole election process which was adopted to elect the Chairman of ZSF and five member of its Governing Council.For nomination of Chairman ZSF and Five Members of its Governing Council, only two nominations were received, out of which only one nomination for Member of the Governing Council of ZSF was found valid, and that there was no withdrawal.

Considering the extra-ordinary circumstances and exigencies of work, it was decided in the governing council meeting held on 10th January 2023, to hold an Extra-ordinary General Meeting on 28th January 2023 at 11:30 AM (Hybrid Mode) to further follow up the process of electing the Chairman of ZSF and remaining four members of the Governing Council. Prof A.S. Kohli conducted the elections very professionally and smoothly. As a result, the members of Zaheer Science Foundation elected the Chairman of ZSF and Five Members (including one member who got elected directly in the initial phase itself as there was no other nomination). The Election Officer declared the Result of the Elections, which is as Follows:

Chairperson of ZSF

Dr. Tabassum Jamal got elected for the position of Chairperson of ZSF.

Members of the Governing Council of ZSF

The following members got elected as Members of the Governing Council of ZSF:

1. Dr. Mohd. Rais former Chief Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR, Delhi

2. Dr. D. Shailaja, Chief Scientist & Chair, BDRM, CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad

3. Dr. Seema Wahab, Former Sr. Advisor, DBT, New Delhi

4. Dr. Irfan Qureshi Associate Professor, JMI University, Delhi

5. Prof. Pramesh N. Kapoor, Delhi University, Delhi

Soon after the meeting, the above-mentioned result of the elections was placedon ZSF website on 28th January 2023, with the signature of Prof A.S. Kohli, Election Officer.

The members thanked the Election Officer for conducting the ZSF Elections very smoothly.

The meeting concluded with thanks to the Chair.