• Humboldt Academy, Pune meeting was held on Friday- 25th March, 2022 at CSIR-NCL Guest House between 7.30 - 09:30 pm. The meeting was attended by twenty-three (23) members of the academy.
• Dr. Ashok Giri (General Secretary) requested Prof. B. S. M. Rao, the President of the Academy, to chair the meeting.
• Welcome remarks: Prof. Rao in his opening remarks extended a warm welcome to all the members and requested the General Secretary to initiate the proceedings of the meeting.
• Guest of honor: Dr. Ashish Lele, the Director CSIR National Chemical Lab was invited as a guest of honor for the evening and dinner. Dr. Ashok Giri, requested Prof. Rao to felicitate the chief guest with a shawl and boquet. His is remarks, Dr. Lele assured his support to the HAP activities and members interacted with Dr. Lele extensively.
• Felicitations: Award winners Dr. Gopinath and Dr. Dynaprakash were felicitated by Prof. Rao and all the Humboldtines applauded the same.
• Dr. Ashok Giri: was congratulated for being awarded the Weston visiting Professorship by Weizmann Institute, Israel.
• New member in AvH: Dr. Ramesh C. Samanta was a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Goettingen, Germany and has recently joined CSIR-NCL. He was admitted to HAP with a round of applause by the members.
• Auditing and ITR: After long and consistent follow up by Dr. Samir Chikkali and Dr. Ram Rup Sarkar, HAP auditing for the past three financial years has been completed. Also, ITR for the financial year 2020-2021 has been filed with the Income Tax department, GoI.
• FCRA: It was suggested to apply for 12 A/ 12,80G. After obtaining the above two certificates, HAP may apply for Foreign currency registration account (FCRA) to receive the funds from Germany (or from abroad) under Foreign Currency regulation Act. This activity may take extensive time in completing this important process.
• Annual Membership fees: Earlier annual membership was collected. Due to COVID annual membership fees was not collected for years 2021-2022, and there were no meetings. Thus the membership fee during Covid year could be waived off.
• It was discussed to continue to collect the annual membership fees and it is agreed upon to increase it to Rs 2000 per year. Members agreed for the same.
• Humboldt Kolleg: Organizing the next Humboldt Kolleg was discussed. Destination and theme has to be decided in advance for planning purpose.
• Humboldt Kolleg proposal committee: Few possible names for the lead committee were suggested: Dr. CS Gopinath, Dr. MV Badiger, Dr. Ashok Giri, Dr. Amol Kulkarni, Dr. Atul Bharde, Dr. SG Srivatsan, Dr. Ram Rup Sarkar, Dr. Jayant Khandare.
• The meeting was concluded with vote of thanks followed by the dinner.

Minutes of Annual General Body Meeting of Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter held on February 27, 2021

The annual general body meeting of Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter was held on Saturday, February 27, 2021 at NCL Guest House between 7.00 and 9:00 pm. Dr. Gopinath (General Secretary) requested Prof. Madhava Rao, President of the Academy, to chair the meeting. Sixteen members of the academy were present in person for the meeting and six members were present online.

Prof. Rao in his opening remarks welcomed all the members. Prof. Rao requested the General Secretary to take over the proceedings. Dr. Gopinath briefed the members about the activities of the academy done by the executive committee (EC) in their tenure of four years. He thanked each and every executive member and all other members for their cooperation in organizing Humboldt Kolleg at Prakruti Resorts, Kashid between Jan.31-Feb.02, 2019, four mini-symposia, registering Humboldt academy as a Trust and making it as a legal entity, academy website creation and maintenance, many regular meetings and other associated activities.

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, no in-person meeting could be conducted for nearly a year from Feb.2020 to Feb.2021. In view of Covid pandemic on 2020, the tenure of EC was extended from 1/4/2020 to 31/3/2021, after a whatsapp survey supported such a decision on July 2020.

As announced earlier, Dr. Gopinath informed the members that the election to be conducted to select the members of the next EC. After considerable discussions among the members, it was unanimously decided the following office bearers will take over and manage the functioning of the Humboldt academy, Pune for the tenure of next three years beginning from 01/04/2021 to 31/3/2024:

All the members congratulated the new office bearers and wished them success. Present EC will hand over the documents and other formalities to the new EC. Dr. Gopinath requested the General Secretary-elect to maintain the traditions of the academy of high caliber activities and raise the bar to remain at the top of AvH Alumni chapters at global level.

Four members of the academy, Drs. Amol Kulkarni, Samir Chikkali, S. G. Srivatsan and Shrikrishna Sartale, were felicitated for their recognition from different forums in the last one year and for their excellent achievements. All of them briefly shared their work to the other members.

The meeting was concluded with vote of thanks followed by dinner.

Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter meeting was held on Friday, July 06, 2018 at NCL Guest House between 7.30 and 09:30 pm. Dr. C. S. Gopinath (General Secretary) requested Prof. B. S. M. Rao, President of the Academy, to chair the meeting. Twenty (20) members of the academy were present for the meeting. Prof. Rao in his opening remarks welcomed all the members and requested the General Secretary to take over the proceedings.

Report on Second Mini-Symposium and Group Meeting Held on March 10, 2018

Second mini-symposium was organized by the Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter on March 10, 2018. Four speakers were invited. The topics were of general interest and the same reflected by good number of participants. The venue of the mini-symposium was SS Bhatnagar Lecture Theatre, PAM Building, CSIR-NCL, Pune.

Dr. C. S. Gopinath, General Secretary, gave an introduction to the mini-symposium activities, and requested Prof. Madhava Rao, President of the Academy to chair the entire session. President welcomed all the attendees and the speakers. He also introduced the speakers.

First lecture was delivered by Prof. Madhav Gadgil from National Centre for Cell Sciences (NCCS), S.P. Pune Univ. Campus, Pune. The topic of his talk was Biodiversity - Diversity of Social Behaviours. He explained the four types of social behaviours: altruistic, spiteful, selfish and cooperative. The cooperative behavior of some of the species, like ants, have helped them to “over populate”. He also cited the example of bats and honey bee. At the end he stressed the need of the egalitarian and non-hierarchal society for a happier society.

The second talk was from Prof. Nils Metzler-Nolte, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany. The title of his talk was Successes and Promises of Metals in Medicine. Most of the drugs are organic compounds. In spite of excellent properties of transition metals, their use in medicine is limited. He gave examples of transition metals in medicine, particularly platinum based compounds as chemotherapeutic agent.   

The third talk was from Prof. Naresh Dadhich from IUCAA, Pune. His talk was on Why Einstein (Had I been born in 1844!) ? He explained in very lucid language the theory of gravity. Although the speed of light does not change, the bending of light around planets is because of gravity bends in space.

The last talk on Volatility in agricultural prices and measures to reduce its impact was delivered by one of the Humboldt Academy member, Prof. Arun Kulkarni. He told efforts of government of Maharashtra and Government of India to understand the volatility in prices of different agricultural produce. No system is available currently and various state and central government is trying to bring a system to understand and regulate the prices.

There were ample discussions after each talk, such as, how agricultural produce price fluctuations influence even the election results. Prof. Rao thanked all the speakers. Symposium ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Samir Chikkali.

After symposium an informal discussions were held with the speakers at NCL guest house. Twenty three members of the academy were present for the meeting. Evening on March 10, 2018 was well spent.

Minutes of Meeting of Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter held on November 02, 2017

Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter meeting was held on Thursday, November 02, 2017 at NCL Guest House between 7.00 and 9 pm followed by dinner. Dr. C. S. Gopinath (General Secretary) requested Prof. B. S. M. Rao, President of the Academy, to chair the meeting. Twenty one (21) members of the academy were present for the meeting.

Prof. Rao in his opening remarks welcome all the members. Before commencing the formal meeting, Prof. Rao welcome the special invited guest Miss. Devi Arand, Honorary Director, DAAD Information Centre Pune. After a quick round of self-introduction of all Humboldt fellows, Prof. Rao requested the General Secretary to take over the proceedings.

Secretary highlighted the need of registering the academy as either trust or society. He explained the pros and cons of registering the Humboldt academy as either Trust or Society. Various suggestions were made by members and they will be discussed with a lawyer/CA to find out an apt solution. Secretary will take the lead to find a solution with help from some of the members of EC. 

Dr. Sakya S. Sen has been awarded CSIR Young Scientist Award 2017 in Chemical Science. Dr. Ashok Giri became Chairperson of the Biochemical Science Division of NCL. Humboldt Academy, Pune chapter congratulates both of them for their excellent achievement.

Academy website needs to be updated. Dr. Arun Kulkarni informed about the various options available. A committee was constituted and it includes Drs. Arun Kulkarni, Chetan Bhongale and Ram Rup Sarkar. They are requested to take a decision on appointing a suitable website developer at a nominal cost. Those information required from members to be given to them for website updation. Secretary also requested the committee to make the website up and running from Jan. 01, 2018 onwards.

Seven members are invited for Humboldt Kolleg to be held in Bengaluru during November 23-25, 2017. Prof. Rao and Dr. Gopinath are invited to present Pune Chapter activities. It is to be noted that only Pune and Kolkatta chapters are invited to make presentations, in this important meeting.

Humboldt Academy, Pune chapter shall plan to organize the next kolleg possibly in 2019. 

Dr. Arun Kulkarni suggested to have half or one day scientific meet. There is a general consensus to conduct such meeting at a regular interval. Secretary requested Dr. Chetan Bhongale to look at the feasibility of arranging a meeting in DIAT, Pune. 

The meeting was concluded with vote of thanks followed by dinner.

Minutes of Meeting of Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter held on December 27, 2016

Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter meeting was held on Tuesday, 27th December, 2016 at NCL Guest House between 7.30 and 9 pm. Dr. M. V. Badiger (General Secretary) requested Prof. B. S. M. Rao, President of the Academy, to chair the meeting. Twenty one (21) members of the academy were present for the meeting.

Prof. Rao in his opening remarks welcomed all the members. Before commencing the formal meeting, one minute silence was observed to condole the sad demise of Dr. Heinrich Pfeiffer, former Secretary General, AvH foundation. Then he requested the General Secretary to take over the proceedings.

Dr. Amol Kulkarni has been invited to join the Editorial Board of “Advanced Powder Technology”. Humboldt Academy, Pune chapter congratulates him on this prestigious new assignment.

New members, Drs. Atul Bharde, Pramod Pillai, and Gnanaprakash introduced themselves and they were formally inducted into the Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter.

Present Executive Council of Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter comes to an end on 31/12/2016, and General Secretary already notified for the election to the new council to all the members. Election was held for various posts and the composition of the same is given below.
Prof. B. S. Madhava Rao, President, who is holding the President post from 1/6/16.
Dr. C. S. Gopinath, General Secretary (who is current Joint Secretary).
Dr. M.V. Badiger, Vice President (who is current General Secretary).
Dr. S. G. Srivatsan, Treasurer.
Dr. Srikrishna Sartale, Joint Secretary.
Drs. Benudhar Punji, Ram Rup Sarkar, Swati Acharya, and B. Gnanaprakasam - Members.
All the positions were filled un-anonymously. The new executive council will take over from Jan. 01, 2017 and continue for a period of three years till 31/12/2019. All the members thanked the outgoing council for their excellent efforts to conduct two Humboldt Kollegs on 2011 and 2015, periodic meetings in Pune and several other events.  Indeed, Dr. Badiger stated the highlights of the activities undertaken in the last six years.

Academy website needs to be updated. Dr. Biju informed that 30 members sent their profiles and another reminder mail to be sent to collect for remaining profiles. Meanwhile, Dr. Arun Kulkarni will find the web designer and include the available profiles. Website updation will be taken care and monitored by three members committee comprising Drs. A. P. Kulkarni, Biju Akkattu and Ramrup Sarkar.

It is decided to perform auditing of accounts annually with a chartered accountant and certified. This process starts from 2015-16 and to be continued every year, irrespective of funds received from AvH stiftung (or any contribution from abroad).

T-shirt for Humboldt academy was planned and Dr. Sarkar made a logo for the same. He brought the logo, which is appreciated by the members. Text color would be changed appropriately. All members are encouraged to order T-shirts to him and make payment.

Dr. A.P. Kulkarni will deliver lectures about AvH foundation in Gokhale Inst., and Deccan College in the coming weeks. He also shared his experience as AvH fellow; in fact he has completed 50 years of his Humboldt fellowship and narrated his farming experience in a hilarious manner.  Dr. Anand Karve shared his research experience with plant roots with the academy members.

Prof. Madhava Rao, and Dr. Srivatsan, IISER, Pune will arrange to hold half-a-day symposium in IISER campus by the end of Feb. or early March 17. Lectures will be made open to all. Expenses will be met by the Humboldt Academy, Pune chapter.

The meeting was concluded with vote of thanks followed by dinner.

Mini-Symposium Organized by Humboldt Academy, Pune  (15th July, 2017), Venue: IISER, Pune; Main Building, Seminar Room 33, 2nd Floor.

4th Executive Committee Meeting held on 01st Jan, 2014.

3rd Executive Committee Meeting held on 29th May, 2010.

2nd Executive Committee Meeting held on May 21, 2007. Humboldt Club was rechristened as present Humboldt Academy, Pune Chapter. Bank A/c opened on this name.

1st Executive Committee Meeting held on 12th April, 2004.

First regional Kolleg - January 2003 at Kashid Village, Alibaug (by Dr. A. V. Ramaswamy)[Humboldtians from Pune and Bombay Attended].