Speaking about the activities of the centre, honorary director Amita Verma said, ``The objective of the centre is to generate feminist scholarship among different university disciplines and provide a forum for discussing women's issues.''

Verma said the centre also conducted short term refresher courses and training and orientation programmes for government and non-governmental organisations.

The centre was trying to create awareness on the subject by inviting academicians interested in women's studies and networking with other women's study centres, the director said, adding that the centre had earlier received grants from the Ford Foundation with the objective of promoting policy-oriented and gender-sensitive household research.

The centre was also interested in setting up a women's health training research and advocacy centre which would enable scholars and policy-makers to evaluate the state of women's health in the State, Verma said.

``This is one of the areas that needs a lot of attention of academicians and the other experts working in the field of women's health'', she said, adding that the health centre would be engaged in training researchers, students and faculty from different departments of the university.

The most important role the centre played for other universities and research scholars was its documentation, Verma said, adding that the the documentation section had a collection of books, journals, newsletters, video and audio cassettes.

``The documentation centre also lends out books and other resource materials,'' said Verma, adding emphatically that the centre was engaged in research work that worked out to the university's benefit. ``If given the recognition, this will be the first such faculty engaged solely in women's studies'', she said.