Shivani Centre was incepted on November 2, 2021 during IIT Kanpur's Foundation Day with the generous support Micky and Vinita Charitable Foundation. Our alumnus, Mr. Muktesh (Micky) Pant (BT/CHE/1976), who currently serves as an Independent Director of the board at Beyond Meat and the former CEO of Yum! Restaurants China. set-up this Center in the memory of his late mother, Smt. Gaura Pant, better known by her pen name 'Shivani'. She was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1982 for her contribution to Hindi literature.
IIT Kanpur’s Akshar Literary Festival 2023 celebrated Hindi author Shivani’s birth centenary. The event was graced by the presence of Shri. Muktesh Pant, IIT Kanpur alumnus and son of the great author, and his wife Smt. Vinita Pant; Smt. Ira Pandey, daughter of Shivani, her husband Shri Amitabha Pandey and son Aditya Pandey. Several batchmates of Shri Muktesh Pant and former distinguished alumni of IIT Kanpur, notably Shri Sudhakar Kesavan and family, Shri Anupam Khanna, Shri Varun Sinha, Shri Rajesh Nandan Pandey and a few others also graced the occasion and shared their collective memories of Shivani.
