SINGING AND ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION As a part of fortnightly activities under celebrations of Gandhi Jayanti, the Department of Music in collaboration with Department of Dogri and Hindi of Government College for Women (GCW), Udhampur organized an Intera-college singing competition on the theme Gandhi’s favorite Bhajan and essay writing competition on the topic Truth and Non- Violence at college campus on September 19, 2023. Principal of host college Prof. Anjali Mahajan was the Chief Guest on the occasion. While speaking on the occasion, chief guest appreciated the efforts of music department to hold such contest in her college. She said that such type of contest would definitely provide a platform to budding student to channelize their talent in right direction. She emphasized on the relevance of Gandhian philosophy in the present scenario and it’s effectiveness. She urged the department to organize such more programmes in the near future also. As many as 16 Students of the colleges participated in the Gandhi’s favorite Bhajan competition. In the competition, Sonia Verma of Semester 5 th was adjudged best singer, Primta of Semester 5 th bagged 2nd position, while third position was given to Surbhi Sharma of Semester 5 th . Besides Tammna Devi of 5 th semester and Manvai Chnayal of Semester 5 th were given consolation prizes. The competition was adjudged by the panel of experts in music including Assistant Prof. Dr. Shallu Jasrotia, Assistant Prof. Dr. Sanjay Kumar and Lecturer (AA) Nitika Sharma. In Essay writing competition a total of 23 students participated and wrote multi- lingual essays theme of the competition which was ‘Truth and Non-violence’. In this, Surbhi Sharma of semester V secured 1 st position, while Sumiya of semester 1and Swati Gandotra of semester V secured 2 nd and 3 rd position respectively. Whereas, Shallu Devi of 5 th semester and Komal of 3 rd semester got consolation prizes. The essay writing competition was adjudged by Dr. Mool Raj, HOD Urdu, Prof. Mushtaq, HOD Hindi, Ms. Preeti Sharma from the department of English. The events were coordinated by the Dr. Kewal Kumar Assistant Professor in Botany and Prof Yash Kumar, Assistant professor of Music, Dr. Sushma Choudhary, HOD Dogri, Prof. Rekha Sharma, Assistant professor of Dogri, Prof. Shama Rani, Assistant professor of Dogri. The proceedings of the programme was conducted by Ms. Swati Gandotra, a student of Sem-V. Senior faculty members of the college and a large number of students attended the event.