For Delegates
iitdmun.weebly.com
Saturday 31 August 2013
Tuesday 27 August 2013
IIT-JEE examination pattern to remain unchanged for next year
IIT Joint Admission Board (JAB) at a
crucial meeting on Monday agreed to
continue with the same pattern for the IIT-
JEE examination for one more year.
The board made a detailed review of the
new pattern of the two-tier Joint Entrance
Examination, which was implemented this
year, and was of the view that the pattern
should be continued next year as well for a
closer assessment of the system, sources
said.
JAB comprises heads of the various
campuses of the premier technological
institute.
The meeting took place in the wake of
reports that there could be some changes in
eligibility criteria for admission to IITs.
According to sources, some of the IIT
directors had met HRD Minister M Pallam
Raju here last week to discuss a proposal to
ease percentile cut-offs for entry into an IIT.
IIT aspirants in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and
Tamil Nadu, and those belonging to national
boards like CBSE, had to contend with high
cut-offs this year under the new format for
admissions. The cut-offs for AP and TN were
above 90 per cent this year.
Sources said that since the issue was being
legally challenged, JAB today decided to
maintain the status quo.
JAB is expected to meet again on Sept. 15 at
the Kharagpur IIT where the matter would
be discussed once again. Meanwhile, the IIT
council is slated to meet on Sept. 3.
The meeting today is also understood to
have decided on next year's examinations.
The IIT-JEE (Mains) could be held on April 6
and IIT-JEE (Advanced) on May 25, sources
said.
IIT-Bombay sets sight on Mars with new rover project
MUMBAI: IIT-Bombay students are aiming
for the Red Planet which interestingly
almost coincides with the launch of India's
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) slated for a
lift off in October-November.
They have made a rover— stated to be the
first major project of its kind at IIT-Bombay
—which will help them to design and
develop an advanced vehicle that can be
equipped with payloads and flown in the
next Indian mission to Mars. The cost of the
project which is about Rs 26,000 has been
funded by the IIT Alumni Association .
At a very informal level, ISRO is already
thinking of the second flight to the Red
Planet. The making of the rover is a project
of the IIT-based Mars Society India which
was launched in January 2012 at the Nehru
Centre in Worli. The society's president
Varun Sudarsanan, a third year aerospace
engineering student at IIT, said the rover
would soon be demonstrated at the Powai
campus .
"Our aim was to get familiar with the
electrical and mechanical aspects of a rover
operation; this will also pave the way for
us to participate at the university rover
challenge competition organized by the The
Mars Society in the US in June 2014," he
said.
The prototype rover is 45 cms in length and
breadth with a height of 35 cms and 7 kg
mass. The structure is made of aluminium;
all components were acquired off-the-shelf.
While the rover cannot currently function
autonomously since it is a prototype, it
serves as a test bed. "We control it through
a joy stick. It is powered by a lithium
battery which lasts for 15 to 20 minutes,"
Sudarsanan said. Though a prototype, it
possesses what is known as a "rocker bogey
mechanism" that allows for a check on how
much obstacle height it can negotiate.
Saturday 24 August 2013
Relief for IIT aspirants, no major change in 2014 exam format
MUMBAI: Next year's IIT aspirants will not
be put through grueling ad hoc changes.
Even as IITs were toying with the idea of
having a subjective test in the second level
of entrance exams-JEE Advanced-it will not
be implemented for the 2014 exam. Senior
officials said there will not be many
changes in the pattern and format of that
exam.
A senior IIT official said having a subjective
test for IITs' entrance exam will require
professors to manually evaluate answer
papers. For an exam conducted in the first
week of June, it is difficult to evaluate
answer-sheets of many candidates and to
come out with results by June-end. "It will
delay the academic session across IITs. To
conduct a subjective test for JEE-Advanced,
the centre will have to conduct the JEE-
Main exam in December and hold the JEE-
Advanced in April. It will involve many
logistical changes, which is not possible,"
said the official. But a final decision on
retaining the pattern in next year's exam
will only be taken after the JEE-Advanced
2014 chairman takes over the Joint
Admission Board .
The board will meet on August 25 to discuss
the 2013 exam, their experiences with the
new format of a two-level exam and give
recommendations for the 2014 exam.
"Many officials believe there is no point in
bringing about a change in one year. Any
new system has to be given an opportunity
for two-three years to sustain. In all
probability, there will not be many changes
this year," said an official.
IITs may increase the limit of candidates
shortlisted from JEE-Main from 1.5 lakhs to
two lakhs. "This year, out of 1.5 lakh
candidates only 1.19 lakh finally wrote the
JEE-Advanced exam. If we increase the limit
to two lakhs, we may get the desired 1.5
lakh figure," said a professor.
Since the time a two-level exam was
proposed in 2012, IITs were seeking a
subjective test to improve the quality of
candidates getting into the premier
institutes. IIT-Bombay even proposed a
format which will not have multiple choice
questions, but will also not compel students
to write long answers. In the multiple-
choice test, it is difficult to determine the
students' understanding of subjects, which is
why professors opposed it. A right answer
can be arrived at by smartly eliminating
three wrong ones, said the professor.
Exam Pattern : JEE MAIN
Question Papers: There are two question papers,
each of three hours duration. Both the question
papers consist of three separate sections on
Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. Questions
in these papers will be of objective type, which
are to be answered on a specially designed
machine-gradable sheet (ORS- optical response
sheet) using HB pencils only. Incorrect answers
are awarded negative marks.
Subject combination for each paper and type of
questions in each paper are given in the table
below:
Subjects Types Of Questions Duration
paper 1 Physics,Chemistry,Mathematics
Objective type questions with equal weight age
to Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics 3 hours
paper 2 Mathematics – Part I
Aptitude Test – Part II & Drawing Test – Part III
Objective type questions
Objective type questions
Questions to test Drawing Aptitude 3 hours
Requirement of papers for different courses is
given in the table below:
COURSE PAPERS
B.E/B.TECH paper 1
B.ARCH/B. PLANNING paper 2
Scoring and Negative Marking:
There will be objective type questions with four
options having single correct answer. For each
incorrect response, one fourth (1/4) of the total
marks allotted to the question would be
deducted. No deduction from the total score
will, however, be made if no response is
indicated for an item in the answer sheet
JEE 2013 Notification
In pursuance of MHRD’s directions and
subsequent decision of the JEE Apex Board on
JEE (Main) and (Advanced) held on 25.08.2012,
the JEE (Main) Examination, 2013 (hitherto
known as AIEEE - Paper I) for admissions to
B.E./B.Tech courses at NITs, IIITs, DTU, Delhi
and other CFTIs will be held during April, 2013.
The JEE (Main) (Paper I of earlier AIEEE) for
B.E./B.Tech will be held in two modes, viz
offline and online (CBT). The offline examination
for JEE (Main) will be held on 7th April, 2013
and the online examinations will be held
thereafter in April, 2013.
The examination (Paper II of earlier AIEEE) for
admissions to B.Arch/B.Planning courses at
NITs, IIITs, DTU, Delhi and other CFTIs will be
held on 7th April, 2013 in offline mode only.
The merit list for admission to NITs, IIITs, DTU,
Delhi and other CFTIs will be prepared by giving
40% weightage (suitably normalised) to class XII
(or equivalent examination) or other qualifying
examination marks and 60% to the performance
in JEE (Main) Examination.
The JEE (Main)-2013 (Paper I of earlier AIEEE)
will have one objective type question paper. The
paper will consist of Physics, Chemistry and
Mathematics. The duration of the paper will be
3 (Three) Hours. The Paper II for admissions to
B.Arch/B.Planning courses at NITs, IIITs, DTU,
Delhi and other CFTIs will have one Question
Paper consisting of Mathematics, Aptitude Test
and Drawing Test as per past practice of AIEEE.
The duration of the paper will be 3 (Three)
Hours. Detailed bulletin is being prepared and
will be published shortly.
Only 1,50,000 of the top rankers in JEE (Main),
which includes students from all categories (GE,
OBC (NCL), SC and ST) will be eligible to appear
in JEE (Advanced)-2013 (hitherto known as IIT-
JEE) for admission to IITs, IIT BHU and ISM
Dhanbad. Notice in this regard has been issued
by the IIT system separately.
AIEEE conducted earlier by the CBSE would now
be known as JEE (Main).
For any clarification regarding JEE (Main) 2013 ,
kindly mail your query to
CBSE at: jeemain2013@gmail.com
*Note: The above notification is the press
release issued by CBSE.
Conflict between democracy and its funding through corruption holds India in thrall
The UPA government in its second term is the
favourite whipping boy for the country's
current ills. Nuanced commentary examines
institutional dysfunction. Such diagnosis is as
helpful as detection of fever is for treatment
of cancer.
Of course, UPA-II is in disarray. It turns
defensive on record reduction of poverty, of
sustained increase in rural wages, of setting up
in five years one-fourth of India's installed
power generation capacity, of laying power
lines to 4.6 lakh villages, of initiating a
programme that would give millions of Indians
a way to proclaim and prove their unique
identity, of thus paving the way to financial
inclusion, of laying fibre optic cable to
2,50,000 panchayats, of ratcheting up rural
tele-density from 1.7 in 2004 to over 40 in
early 2013, of orchestrating structural
transformation of the economy that finally
sees the proportion of the workforce engaged
in agriculture come down below 50%.
UPA leaders leave uncontested the proposition
that the current mess is solely the UPA's
creation. Its scams have shorn it of authority
and paved the way for the courts to hijack
policy.
Its dither has led to paralysis and missed
opportunities on the foreign policy front. Its
turn towards "socialism" of the giveaway kind
has ballooned the fiscal deficit and widened
the current account deficit.
This picture of the UPA as a wrecking crew,
targeting its own home, has one empirical flaw:
all the scams summoned to call this the most
corrupt government in history date back to
UPA-I, whether the 2G, coal or Commonwealth
Games scams.
But, under UPA-I, things were going
swimmingly. India was growing at its fastest
pace ever, its global prestige was high, it won
a breakthrough nuclear deal in the face of stiff
opposition, Indian companies bought up
foreign ones.
India was an emerging market and emerging
power. It was the same UPA, led by the same
Sonia Gandhi and the same, won't-speak-
unless-spoken-to Manmohan Singh. Why was
this corrupt, dole-happy, socialistic leadership
fine then, but not now?
Systemic Corruption
The problem is not just with the UPA but with
the entire polity. Unless we accept this and
tackle the real problem, India will continue to
languish, whoever is in power.
The problem is that nobody pays for Indian
democracy. India's biggest private sector
company, Reliance Industries BSE 1.64 % , for
example, makes zero contribution to political
parties. The story repeats itself as you go down
the rungs of the corporate ladder. Just a
handful of companies admit to making political
contributions. The rest pay off the books, to
individual politicians, with a keen eye on the
quid pro quo.
Political parties file income-tax returns
showing puny incomes. 2008-09 registered the
highest incomes:Rs497 crore for the Congress
and Rs220 crore for the BJP. In reality, these
parties spend tens of thousands of crore
rupees: not just for elections, but also for the
regular functioning of their parties. Which
means, quite simply, that India's great
democracy is funded by the proceeds of
corruption.
This corruption takes three forms: loot of the
exchequer (the fodder scam, commissions on
procurement), sale of patronage (allocation of
mining leases) and plain extortion (no
clearance till you pay up, complex
administrative procedures, each one of which
serves as a rent-seeking opportunity).
Thursday 22 August 2013
PM marks the 'Golden Jubilee Convocation' at IIT-Bombay
The ‘Golden Jubilee Convocation’ of IIT
Bombay was marked by the presence of
honourable Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan
Singh. He addressed the event by expressing
the need of national leaders from the
disciplines of engineering and science.
India lacks in research and development and
quality institutions of higher education. For
this reason central government has decided to
develop higher and technical education in
India.
He also asserted that the amount spent in
higher education sector must account directly
to nation building. Further, IITs strongly need
to tailor their curriculum as per the needs of
the country. Speaking at the event, HRD
Minister, Kapil Sibal referred to the issue of
quality faculty shortage at IITs. He mentioned
that the brand image of IITs is due to their
quality degree students.
Chairman of Wipro, Azim Premji was awarded
the degree of ‘Doctor of Science— Honoris
Causa’’ at the occasion. 2006 students were
awarded with degrees while 175 were granted
PhDs.
President Pranab Mukherjee addresses students at the 45th Convocation of IIT Kanpur
KANPUR: As institutions of higher learning face
faculty crunch, President Pranab
Mukherjee today urged students who opt for
higher education abroad to remain engaged
with "often difficult, and somewhat noisy
democracy of ours."
Addressing the 45th convocation of IIT Kanpur,
Mukherjee said to support major expansion of
technical education, large budgetary provisions
have been made for infrastructure
development and research support to the
faculty.
"While all these institutes are attracting good
students, they are facing shortage of faculty,"
Mukherjee said.
He said while it is understandable that
students go abroad for higher studies and to
broaden their vision, they should retain the
"sacred" link with their motherland.
Mukherjee also said the students should
remember that the nation has invested in them
and the education they have received have
nurtured them into capable minds.
"You have a responsibility to this nation and its
citizens. Remain engaged with this beautiful,
complex, often difficult, and somewhat noisy
democracy of ours. Be involved with the issues
confronting the society. Stand for the needy ...
take the lead in ushering in the
transformation," the President said.
The President honoured Infosys Founder and
Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy and
noted theoretical physicist Ashoke Sen with
Doctor of Science.
Mukherjee also presented medals and
certificates to students.
Wednesday 21 August 2013
IITD MUN 2013
Dear Delegates,
It is our distinct pleasure to invite you to This
Year's Edition of the IIT Delhi Model United
Nations Conference organized by the Debating
Club in Collaboration with the Board of Student
Welfare here at IIT. The 2013 conference will
take place on September 14th and 15th at IIT
Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi.
For more information please refer to our
website http://iitdmun.weebly.com/ or mail us
at iitdmun2013@gmail.com
Saturday 17 August 2013
IIT-Madras director's appointment under Madras high court's scrutiny
CHENNAI: The validity of then appointment
of the IIT-Madras director, Dr Bhaskar
Ramamurthy, has been challenged in the
Madras high court , where a former IITian
has filed a quo warranto petition. If
allowed by the court, the director could
lose the post.
Justice D Hariparanthaman, before whom
the petition filed by Dr E Muralidharan of
Chennai came up for hearing on Friday,
ordered notices to the director and the
centre, returnable in three weeks.
In his petition, Muralidharan, who argued
the case himself on Friday, said the director
had been appointed without the mandatory
approval of the Appointment Committee of
Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime
Minister . Noting that the President was the
Visitor of all the 15 IITs in the country, he
said each IIT is managed by a 32-member
council. The director is appointed by the
council with prior approval of the Visitor,
the petition said. In this regard, he said that
Clause 15 (3) of the statutes says: "The
council may appoint an eminent person as
director for a period not exceeding five
years with a provision for renewal for
further periods that every such appointment
and terms thereof shall be subject to the
prior approval of the Visitor."
Muralidharan, citing information obtained
through the RTI Act, said human resources
minister Kapil Sibal chaired the screening
committee as well as the selection
committee and the appointment committee.
While the screening committee perused the
applications of candidates, the second
committee made the actual appointment. He
said the minister had unilaterally, and in
violation of laws, taken the decision to
appoint Dr Bjaskar Ramamurthy as director
of IIT-Madras, without the knowledge and
approval of the council. This is a clear
violation of the statute, he said.
Noting that the council meant the entire
council of members and not the chairman
alone, the petition said the process was
tweaked to favour Dr Bhaskar Ramamurthy.
Another important anomaly in the
appointment process, according to Dr
Muralidharan, was that though Dr
Ramamurthy had taken charge as IIT-
Madras' director on September 23, 2011; his
appointment was ratified on January 7,
2013. "Minutes of the 46th IIT council
meeting held on January 7, 2013 at Delhi
shows ratification of the appointment of Dr
Ramamurthy as the director of IIT-Madras.
It is interesting to note that the Dr
Ramamurthy, who took charge as director
on September 23, 2011, was ratified only
after more than one year and three months.
More interestingly, Dr Ramamurthy was
also present in the meeting to ratify his
name as director of IIT-Madras," the
petition said.
The petition wanted the high court to issue
a writ of quo warranto to Dr Ramamurthy
asking him to show as to under what
authority he held the post of the director of
IIT-Madras.
IIT-B joins MIT-Harvard's online courses platform
Students across the globe will now be able
to access courses and classroom content
developed by IIT Bombay. The institute
Tuesday joined the massive open online
courses (MOOCs) platform started by
Harvard University and Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT).
IIT Bombay entered into a collaboration
with edX, a not-for-profit company set up
by MIT and Harvard and offers online
courses.
"The open source platform will enable us to
reach out to many students across the globe.
The web-based technology and
infrastructure of edX allow lakhs to log in
to a course simultaneously. Some courses
could be live and some recorded. Initially,
courses could be directed towards training
teachers. Further, the platform helps
generate data on how students learn and
this will enable us to devise more effective
ways of teaching online," said IIT Bombay
director Devang Khakhar.
Other institutions that are part of this
global consortium currently include
University of California, The University of
Texas System, The University of Queensland,
Rice, Cornell University, TuDelft, University
of Toronto, Boston University, University of
Washington, The University of Hong Kong,
Peking University and Seoul National
University.
Besides providing online courses on the edX
platform, the consortium is a forum in
which members can share experiences
around online learning. Students can create
an edX account and then register for the
course of their choice.
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
currently have their own initiative, the
National Programme on Technology
Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), which was
started in 2008 and facilitates access to its
courses online, free of charge. Currently
300 modules in web or video format can be
accessed online by students and faculty from
600 colleges across the country. Another
1,000 are in the process of being developed
and added.
IIT Delhi Director R K Shevgaonkar & his students' proud moment
battery-operated wheelchair that helps the
physically-challenged use western toilets, a
biochip that tests milk for pesticide residue,
nanotechnology that keeps garments fresh and
anti-microbial even when one is sweating. The
unique models that the students of IIT-Delhi
showcased at their annual innovation fest,
i2Tech 2013 Open House, in April this year are
ample proof of the innovation encouraged at
the premier institute that has given it a sharp
edge over others. As the IITS monopolise the
top five positions in the India Today-Nielsen
Best Colleges survey this year, IITDelhi
wrenches the first spot from IITKanpur after
three years.
While IIT-Delhi has always been known for its
B.Tech courses, the major focus now is on
research, development and innovation. Last
year, the institute gave close to Rs. 45 crore to
the faculty through internal funding for
advanced research."We want our institute to
be just as famous for its research as it is for
undergraduate studies," says IIT-Delhi Director
R.K. Shevgaonkar. "We awarded 200 PhD
degrees and produced 2,000 research papers
in the last year."
A centre for design and innovation is also
being set up and the institute has plans to start
a policy study programme from the next
academic year. "The course will focus on
research related to policies in different sectors
such as telecom, energy and so on," says S.K.
Kaul, deputy director, strategy and planning.
IIT Delhi is also planning to introduce a core
programme for all engineering students from
this year. Under this, all students irrespective
of their branch of study, would learn the same
subjects in the first year, some of which would
spill into the second year. Not only would a
common grounding in basic subjects provide
for a broad-based education, it would also
help the college implement a more ambitious
plan in a year's time-to allow students to
change their branches, if they want to, at the
end of first year. So far, the branches have
been strictly defined on the basis of JEE
rankings, which may not match a student's
interest. When it comes to placements, few can
beat IIT-Delhi. "Close to 324 companies
offered jobs to 770 students in 2012-13," says
Kaul.
The average salary package was Rs.8.5 lakh per
annum. The remaining 81 students either went
off to pursue higher studies or bagged jobs off
the campus. For an institute that places such a
high premium on the holistic development of
students, it is not surprising that IIT-Delhi
graduates are much in demand.
Wednesday 14 August 2013
30 suspected dengue cases at IIT Bombay in two months
MUMBAI: Over 30 suspected cases of dengue
were reported on the Indian Institute of
Technology-Bombay ( IIT-B) campus in
Powai in the last two months.
Of these, 23 cases were recorded in July
alone, a month when the rest of the city
also saw an increase in the number of
dengue cases.
In June, the IIT-B hospital inside the Powai
campus saw only eight cases of suspected
dengue, a disease spread by the sting of
mosquitoes.
In comparison, the hospital treated only
three cases of malaria, another vector-
borne disease , in June. The hospital treated
two malaria cases in July .
The diseases data was last compiled on
August 5 for the civic records .
Authorities at the premier engineering
institute said they were taking extreme care
to prevent the occurrence of dengue and
other diseases on campus.
The BMC also distributed information
leaflets to create awareness on dengue in
the IIT hostels in July.
The public health office on the campus also
issued a general advisory stating that there
should not be any open accumulation of
fresh water anywhere on the campus, said
sources.
For the first time on the campus, the public
health officer also started maintaining a
register with names of people who had
develop fever, claimed a doctor from the
IIT-B hospital.
One of the hostel students who contracted
the disease claimed that their hostels were
generally mosquito-free, but he might have
contracted it due to the waterlogging on the
campus.
He claimed that the maintenance personnel
had been cleaning the campus frequently
after the reported cases, especially the area
where there were patients.
"Dengue can be confirmed only after the
disease is over," Dr Nisha Shah, chief
medical officer at the IIT-B hospital, said.
"The tests can be positive even for a patient
suffering from typhoid, but it can still be
determined through particular marks or
rashes. Two years ago, we did have two
confirmed cases. However, this year there
were no confirmed cases."
IIT-B dean of student affairs UA Yajnik said
that institute had not issued any campus-
wide advisory as the disease itself was
locality specific.
Rishi Inc at IIT Delhi
They came. They played. Their mysticism left
everyone enthralled, lost and addicted. Hearts
brimming with euphoria. Ears dying to get
more. With a perfect blend of musical
instrument ranging from bass guitar to
enchanting flute, Rishi Inc. left no stone
unturned in binding the students to their
spell.The joy of being one with music was
radiating through everyone's face. People could
not help them loosing to their surreal music
with lots of claps, head banging and accolades.
Such was the scenario when Rishi Inc.
performed at IIT Delhi during its inter-hostel
music event Dhwani. Rishi Inc. is a Delhi based
folk fusion band. Brought together by their love
for music it consists of six fellows whose sole
purpose is to produce music for the soul. These
savants are Rishi Dutta - Keyboards and
Electronics, Santa Singh - Vocals,Tarit Pal - Tabla
and
Tuesday 13 August 2013
IIT-Patna director charged in Coalnet scam
IIT-Patna director A K Bhowmick was served a
chargesheet by IIT-Kharagpur last week for his
involvement in the Coalnet scam. Bhowmick's
five-year term in IIT-Patna ends in May next
year.
R N Banerjee, professor of industrial engineering
and management in IIT-Kharagpur has also been
chargesheeted for the scam. This is the first
time that the director of an IIT has been
chargesheeted on the recommendations of CBI.
P P Chakraborty, who was also named by the
CBI, has since been appointed director of IIT-
Kharagpur after the explanation offered by him
was accepted by the HRD ministry and the
Central Vigilance Commission.
Sunday 11 August 2013
R&D grants from industry for IIT- B zoom by 52%
Even as institutes across the country rue
that the contribution of Indian industry to
research and development continues to be
much less than what is desired, IIT Bombay
has seen a 52 per cent hike in funding from
industry in 2012-13 as compared to the
previous academic year. Figures released
during the 51st convocation ceremony of
the institute Saturday show that IIT
Bombay received grants of Rs 293.5 crore
in 2012-13 for various projects from
diverse sectors such as steel, construction,
banking, information technology,
telecommunication and automobile. Of
this, Rs 41 crore came from industry, a
significant jump from the Rs 18.33 crore
that it got from the industrial sector in
2011-12.
The growing interest from industry is
attributed to R&D projects by IIT students
in areas such as solar energy,
nanotechnology, aerospace innovation and
educational technology. This year, a major
portion of funding for projects which
typically ranges from two to five years, has
come from the government (83 per cent)
and industry (13 per cent).
While the country’s annual research
funding is much less compared to that of
China and the US, the funding for R&D
activities by IIT Bombay has seen over 200
per cent growth in the past six years.
Overall too, there has been an over 50 per
cent increase in grants received in 2012-13
as compared to 2011-12. In 2011-12, Rs
189.9 crore in grants was received by IIT-B
for research projects and consultancy.
IIT-B director Prof Devang Khakhar said,
“Among 15 IITs in the country, 67 of the
top 100 rankers in JEE 2013 have joined IIT
Bombay. Eight of the top 10 All-India JEE
rank holders have also chosen to join this
institute. Research and development
activity at IIT Bombay is also growing
rapidly. During 2012-13, research and
development receipts grew by 54 per cent
compared to the previous year.”
Academics termed the overall trend
promising. A similar growth is also seen in
patenting and publications at IIT Bombay.
As per the 2010-11 annual report of the
Controller General of Patents, Designs &
Trade Marks, the institute is one of the top
five entities filing Indian patent
applications in the field of information
technology. In 2012-13, 70 patents were
filed in India, two in trademarks and
design and one in copyright.
The convocation ceremony saw 46 medals
being awarded to students from various
categories. The President of India medal
went to Chordia Sagar of department of
computer science and engineering being
awarded the President of India Medal. A
total of 2,044 degrees, of which 175 were
Ph.D, were awarded to the students.
In his address, S Ramadorai, chairman of
National Skill Development Agency and
vice-chairman, Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS), said, “When the results of IIT’s
efforts are seen on the streets of a city,
touching the life of an average citizen, it’s
truly innovation at its best. The system to
tackle road traffic congestion in Mumbai
for me is a satisfying and pleasing sight,
indicating IITs’ commitment to a common
good.”
The seven IITs in the country, along with
TCS and the National Association of
Software and Services Companies, plan to
launch Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs) in both rural and urban areas to
generate around 150,000 jobs
every year.
Ramadorai said, “Educational content will
eventually become free, just like mobile
applications. MOOCs could be re-purposed
for a largely semi-literate population. I
believe open online courses have a great
potential to move beyond higher education,
into the area of vocational skills and
education.”
Saturday 10 August 2013
KGPian Firdose A. Vandrevala appointed as the Executive Vice Chairman of Essar Steel India Limited
Essar Steel India Ltd announced the
appointment of Mr.Firdose A. Vandrevala
(1972/B.Tech/EE/PH) as Executive Vice
Chairman effective from August 12, 2013. He
graduated from the Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur with a B.Tech degree i
Electrical Engineering in 1972 and was the
resident of Patel Hall. He holds a Post
Graduate Diploma in Business Management
from the XLRI, Jamshedpur.
A recognized leader, Mr. Vandrevala was
associated with the Tata Group for over three
decades, where he held various leadership
positions, the last being Managing Director of
Tata Power and Chairman of Tata Teleservices.
He was the Deputy Managing Director of Tata
Steel before moving to Tata Power. He played
a significant role in the growth of Tata Steel.
From Tata Group, he joined Motorola India as
the Chairman. Mr. Vandrevala joins Essar Steel
from HIRCO, a construction and real estate
major, where he was the Chairman & Managin
Director.
Heartiest Congratulations to Mr Vandrevala
Eye on transparency, another new outfit formed
NEW DELHI: Taking on the rampant money
and muscle power in politics, a new
political party, Nav Bharat Democratic
Party, was launched on Thursday,
promising clean candidates and transparent
democracy. The party helmed by a motley
group of professions, including a retired
naval officer, entrepreneurs, lawyers and
others, promised to provide an accountable
government.
The party will field candidates, including
working professionals, entrepreneurs and
veteran politicians, weaned away from their
parent parties. They plan to contest from
about 10 states in the 2014 general
elections.
Speaking about the initiative party
president RK Misra — who won TOI's LEAD
India campaign meant to recognize young
generation leaders — said there was
widespread frustration among people over
issues of corruption and poor governance .
Comparing India's slow development to
China, Misra who is an IIT-Kanpur
alumnus and has extensive experience
working in youth mobilization and
grassroots activism, said that the country
had brought half a billion of its population
out of poverty in the last three decades with
10% growth while India had failed to keep
the momentum of 9% growth.
The party, who also includes Vice Admiral
SCS Bangara (retired) and political thinker
Shekhar Tiwari, plans to field "credible and
winnable candidates" in strategically
selected constituencies representing 50-100
Lok Sabha seats spread across Uttar
Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand ,
Odisha, Bihar , Maharashtra, Goa,
Karnataka and Kerala. Misra said the party
was focusing on parliamentary seats so that
they could influence government policy
effectively.
Key focus areas for the party are youth
engagement, women empowerment and
strong national identity. "We need to speak
the language of the youth," he said, adding
that 70% of India's youth population was
under-employed or unemployed. Stressing
the need to generate employment Misra said
that major parties were only interested in
handing out doles whether through
employment allowance or reservations in
jobs.
Thursday 8 August 2013
Murthy seeks good people in politics
Hyderabad: Co-founder and executive
chairman of Infosys Narayana Murthy said on
Wednesday that unless people voted for good
candidates it was not possible to improve
governance in the country. While addressing
the second convocation of IIT-Hyderabad in
Medak, Murthy said, “For improving
governance, the first step is to vote for the
best candidates.”
He said that strong and enduring institutions of
the state and effective watchdogs of the civil
society were necessary for democracy to
succeed. Talking about his idea of patriotism
he said, “Patriotism involves voting for the
best candidate irrespective of religion or caste.
Patriotism means working ethically, honestly
with the interfaces of the state and Central
governments to make our public governance
strong, robust and enduring.”
He said that patriotism is also about
“enhancing the prestige of India abroad
through our performance on international
platforms.” Recalling his days at IIT-Kanpur,
Murthy said, “When I left IIT-Kanpur for Paris
in the early 70’s, India was seen by most
foreigners as a pitiable place, but now the
world expects India to be one of the leaders to
solve global problems.”
B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, chairman of Board of
Governors, IIT-Hyderabad, and chairman,
Infotech, said that IITs had got global
recognition and IIT-ians had made
contributions to technology and research in
the most advanced countries.
He also asked students to lay more stress on
research and development instead of opting
for jobs immediately after getting their
degrees.
Wednesday 7 August 2013
IIT tuition fees just 26.5% of expense on students
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have
raised their tuition fee to Rs 90,000 a year
from this academic year, up from last year’s Rs
50,000. According to the IITs, even after the
increase effected after four years, the fees
cover just over a fourth (26.5 per cent) of the
actual expenditure on students.
That is because IITs spend Rs 3.4 lakh on a
student in a year. “Though we spend more on
students than we charge them in terms of fee,
we also have a responsibility as public
institutions. We cannot expect student fees to
take care of the entire expenses — capital plus
operating costs,” said Devang Khakhar,
director, IIT-Bombay .
The fees for about 22 per cent of students
from the SC/ST category are fully waived. Also,
up to 25 per cent of the students, whose
parental annual income is less than Rs 4.5
lakh, are entitled to a fee-waiver. The
remaining students pay the full fee.
Currently, tuition fees finance only seven-10
per cent of the total recurrent expenditures of
the IITs. Also, no fees are charged for SC/ST
students and for OBC students with an income
test. Most post-graduate and PhD students get
scholarships and reimbursement of their
tuition fees.
IITs meet 80 per cent of their expenses —
salaries and staff cost which are fixed —
through financial grants from the ministry of
human resource development (MHRD).
Given that IITs are government institutions and
have made engineering education accessible to
the middle class, the cost needs to be shared
by state as well as society, says an IIT Kanpur
professor.
"For IITs to be financially independent, a
bouquet of financial instruments needs to be
put in place. The industry, which recruits
students from us and our alumni group need
to understand what IITs do for them,” the
professor added.
A recent note on IIT-Bombay's finances
prepared by IIT-Bombay Heritage Foundation
says the current system of charging fees needs
to be reformed.
"Currently, IIT-Bombay collects tuition fees
net of exemptions, which results in very low
contributions to internal revenues. To mobilise
increased resources from fees, a structural
reform of the fees/exemption system is
needed,” says the note. It adds that under this
system, all students would pay the fees to IIT-
Bombay and if the government policy is to
subsidise targeted groups, then these groups
should compensated by a cash transfer
mechanism. Such a system would considerably
reduce IIT-Bombay’s dependence on the
government. Increasing fees under the present
system will not.
“In general, the IIT fee system is complicated
with a number of exemptions, reimbursements
and concessional fees for specific target
groups. As a result of these exemptions, in
FY12, the average net collection per
undergraduate student is only 50 per cent of
the average fee of 50,000 per annum. In short,
if the present system of fees and exemption is
continued, future increases in fees will not
yield resources to cover the expected
increasing share of the operating costs," the
note says.
In contrast, the top 20 private engineering
institutes in the country charge anywhere
between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh per student
per annum. Keeping inflation into account,
these institutes increase the tuition fee every
few years.
IIT-Bombay's yearly expenditure is Rs 250
crore. The institute receives around Rs 200
crore in grants from MHRD and the rest is
generated by tuition fee and other
miscellaneous charges from students. Salary
and staff cost, including electricity and sundry
bills, goes up by around 10 per cent each year
at IIT-Bombay.
The total resources available from all sources
to IIT-Bombay, about $14,000 (about Rs 8.4
lakh) per student, are much lower than
resources available to US universities such as
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
California Institute of Technology (about
$250,000 or Rs 1.5 crore), and even for Asian
universities such as the National University of
Singapore, about $40,000 (about Rs 24 lakh).
IIT-Guwahati, on the other hand, has an
annual expenditure of Rs 110 crore, and nearly
15 per cent of this — Rs 15-16 crore — comes
from fees. Gautam Barua, director of IIT-
Guwahati, had earlier said with the increase, it
would now contribute about 17 per cent.
IIT-Delhi’s annual expenditure is around Rs
170 crore. Eight to 10 per cent of it comes
from fees and the rest through grants from
MHRD.
When the IITs began operations, they charged
an annual fee of Rs 500 for their flagship
undergraduate engineering programme.
The IITs have revised their fee only twice in the
past — in 1998 and 2008.
In 2008, IITs had doubled the fee for
undergraduate courses from Rs 25,000 to Rs
50,000 a year.
HELPING HAND
* Fees for about 22 per cent of students from
the SC/ST category are fully waived
* Up to 25 per cent of the students whose
parental annual income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh
are entitled to a fee-waiver
* No fees are charged for SC/ST students and
for non-creamy layer OBC students. Most
post-graduate and PhD students get
scholarships and their tuition fees are
reimbursed
IIT Bombay Joins Hands With AGC Networks to Build Capabilities/Facilities
MUMBAI, August 7, 2013
MUMBAI, August 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Implements an Audio Visual System to
Build a State-of-the-art Convocation Hall
IIT Bombay, one of the premier
engineering institutes of India, today
announced it has implemented an Audio
Visual System to build a State-of-the-art
Convocation Hall by joining hands with
AGC Networks Limited, (BSE: 500463 and
NSE: AGCNET), a Global ICT solutions
provider and integrator in Unified
Communication, Network Infrastructure,
Data Centre & Virtualization and
Enterprise Applications to build
capabilities of the esteemed educational
institution. The success story of
collaborative technology solutions
deployment in IIT Bombay's convocation
hall further demonstrates, AGC Networks
commitment towards serving customized
solutions for its customers across sectors
including education segment in India.
Inaugurated by the Prime Minister of
India on the occasion of the 50th year of
convocation, IIT Bombay's convocation
hall has evolved to be a state-of-art
convocation hall, involving government
officials and dignitaries. Additionally, the
management also holds events relating to
recent technological advancements by
leading professors from noted institutes
across the world, arranges expert
lectures, conducts placement interviews
and establishes collaborations with
universities. Click here to view http://
www.agcnetworks.com/AVPractice/av-
education.
Over the last 53 years, IIT Bombay has an
esteemed recognition of generating
around 39,000 engineers and scientists
through its quality curriculum, world-
class faculty and strong research groups
in varied areas of science and technology
that are making substantial contributions
to national projects. However, with the
growing number of about 14 academic
departments across six centers, one
school and three interdisciplinary
programmes, the institution had the need
to upgrade its facility for convocational
occasions strictly under short deadlines
and challenges unforeseen. Being a
worldwide leader in the field of
engineering education and research, the
institution required a technology solution
provider who would understand the
ground realities, ensure synchronization
of the several projects running in parallel
to deliver a greater capacity auditorium
for the convocation ceremony.
Understanding the specific need for the
IIT Bombay, AGC went beyond the role of
a solution integrator and helped IIT in
elevating the experience of the
convocation hall. Through regular site
visits and consultation, AGC advised the
client to make changes in their
conduiting. AGC's consultation led to
changes which were beneficial to IIT as it
helped in substantial savings of cabling
costs and enabled easier maintenance of
the equipment. In spite of all the site
related and design related challenges,
AGC synchronized with all the vendors/
teams for deploying the Audio Visual
system to finally build the state-of-the-art
Convocation Hall.
Commenting on the deployment, Dr. N
Venkataramani, Dean (IPS), IIT Bombay
said, "IIT Bombay highly appreciates the
dedication shown by AGC team for the
successful completion of the project,
within the stringent timelines, to our
satisfaction."
"We are extremely delighted to be part of
the state-of-art capability buildup of IIT
Bombay and it is indeed a matter of pride
to be the technology partners of choice
for this esteemed institution," said Mr. S.
K. Jha, MD and CEO, AGC Networks. "At
AGC Networks our endeavor is to create
success stories through our technology
solutions such that customers receive
best returns on their technology
investment."
About IIT Bombay
IIT Bombay, the second IIT to be set up in
1958, is recognised worldwide as a leader
in the field of engineering education and
research. It is reputed for the quality of
its faculty and the outstanding calibre of
students graduating from its
undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes. The institute has a total of
15 academic departments, nine centres,
one school and four interdisciplinary
programmes. Over the last five decades,
more than 42,000 engineers and scientists
have graduated from the institute. It is
served by more than 552 faculty members
considered not only amongst the best
within the country, but are highly
recognised in the world for their
achievements in the field of education and
research. Nine Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar
awardees, 35 INAE (Indian National
Academy of Engineering) awardees, five
INAE Young Engineer awardees, 18 INSA
(Indian National Science Academy)
awardees, one Young Scientist awardee,
25 NASI (National Academy of Sciences,
India) awardees, 20 IAS (Indian Academy
of Sciences) awardees and seven
Swarnajayanti fellows are currently or
have previously been affiliated with the
institute. Today, the institute is
recognized as one of the centres of
academic excellence in the country. Over
the years, there has been dynamic
progress at IIT Bombay in both academic
and research activities, including a
parallel improvement in facilities and
infrastructure to keep it on par with the
best institutions in the world.
About AGC Networks
AGC Networks Limited (AGC) is a Global
ICT solutions provider and integrator
seamlessly delivering technology based
solutions across global markets and
verticals layered with a spectrum of
applications and services in Unified
Communications, Network Infrastructure,
Data Center & Virtualization and
Enterprise Applications. Being a leader in
Enterprise Communications in India and
spanning the Middle East, North America,
Australia, New Zealand and Africa, AGC
Networks has a differentiated approach to
solutions integration and offers domain-
focused, flexible and customized solutions
to customers across the globe.
Equipped with global technology alliance
partners like Avaya, Juniper, NICE
Systems, Aspect, HP, Polycom, Cisco,
Microsoft, Verint, NEC, Sony, Plantronics,
EMC, Dialogic, NetApp, Checkpoint and
Jabra among others, AGC 'Experience
specialists' deliver ICT solutions. AGC
Networks is a subsidiary of Aegis Limited,
an Essar Enterprise. For more
information, log on to
www.agcnetworks.com [ http://
www.agcnetworks.com ]
AGC Networks help IIT Bombay build state-of-the-art Convocation Hall
Over the last 53 years, IIT Bombay has an
esteemed recognition of generating around
39,000 engineers and scientists through its
quality curriculum
News | by CIOL Correspondent
BANGALORE, INDIA: IIT Bombay,one of the
premier engineering institutes of India today
announced it has implemented an Audio Visual
System to build a State-of-the-Art Convocation
Hall by joining hands with AGC Networks
Limited.
The success story of collaborative technology
solutions deployment in IIT Bombay's
convocation hall further demonstrates, AGC
Networks commitment towards serving
customized solutions, a company release said
IIT Bombay's convocation hall has evolved to
be a state-of-art convocation hall, involving
government officials and dignitaries.
Additionally the management also holds events
relating to recent technological advancements
by leading professors from noted institutes
across the world arranges expert lectures,
conducts placement interviews, establishing
collaborations with universities. Click here to
view http://www.agcnetworks.com/AVPractice/
av-education
Over the last 53 years, IIT Bombay has an
esteemed recognition of generating around
39,000 engineers and scientists through its
quality curriculum, world class faculty and
strong research groups in varied areas of
science and technology that are making
substantial contributions to national projects.
However with the growing number of about 14
academic departments across six centers, one
school and three interdisciplinary programmes,
the institution had the need to upgrade its
facility for convocational occasions strictly
under short deadlines and challenges
unforeseen. Being a worldwide leader in the
field of engineering education and research,
the institution required a technology solution
provider who would understand the ground
realities, ensure synchronization of the several
projects running in parallel to deliver a greater
capacity auditorium for the convocation
ceremony.
Understanding the specific need for the IIT
Bombay, AGC went beyond the role of a
solution integrator & helped IIT in elevating
the experience of the convocation hall.
Through regular site visits and consultation,
AGC advised the client to make changes in their
conduiting. AGC's consultation led to changes
which were beneficial to IIT as it helped in
substantial savings of cabling costs and enabled
easier maintenance of the equipment. In spite
of all the site related & design related
challenges AGC synchronized with all the
vendors / teams for deploying the Audio Visual
system to finally build the state-of-the-art
Convocation Hall.
Commenting on the deployment Dr. N
Venkataramani, Dean (IPS), IIT Bombay said,
"IIT Bombay highly appreciates the dedication
shown by AGC team for the successful
completion of the project, within the stringent
timelines, to our satisfaction".
"We are extremely delighted to be part of the
state-of-art capability buildup of IIT Bombay
and it is indeed a matter of pride to be the
technology partners of choice for this
esteemed institution" said Mr. S. K. Jha, MD
and CEO, AGC Networks. "At AGC Networks our
endeavor is to create success stories through
our technology solutions such that customers
receive best returns on their technology
investment".
Tuesday 6 August 2013
IIT-Madras students observe Hiroshima Day by making thousand origami cranes
CHENNAI: Students of IIT-Madras observed
the 68th anniversary of the bombing of the
Japanese city of Hiroshima during World
War II by making a Senbazuru; a string of
thousand cranes.
According to Japanese legend, anyone who
folds a thousand origami cranes will be
granted a wish by a crane.
"It is a tribute to Sadako Sasaki , a Japanese
girl who died of leukaemia after being
exposed to radiation from the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima during World War
II," said Arya Prakash, one of the conveners
of the fine arts club. Sadako is said to have
tried to make a Senbazuru for her wish of
life to be granted, but she could not
complete the string.
"Nuclear tragedies always affect common
people. The student community wishes that
no more nuclear disasters ever happen in
the world,' said Manasa Venkatesh, another
student coordinator of the fine arts club.
Nod given to IIT-H project with Japan
It
is
expected
that
the
Indian
Institute
of
Technology,
Hyderabad
shall
be
getting
a
huge
push
regarding research facilities in the next few
years as the cabinet committee on economic
affairs has at last approved a partnership
project along with the Japanese Government
last week.
It is likely that there should be value addition
through discussions between academics and
experts from industry and teachers and
students of Indian Institute of Technology,
Hyderabad.
The path for this collaboration was paved when
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited
Japan earlier in 2013.
As a result of the project, there would be
various basic infrastructure facilities and
sprucing up the institute in the years to come.
It is also believed that due to the project there
shall be increased cooperation between India
and Japan, which ofcourse, increases the
importance of the project.
Monday 5 August 2013
Speranza IIT Delhi
Official page for Speranza, annual socio-welfare
fest of IIT Delhi, organised by Board for
Students Welfare( https://www.facebook.com/
boardforstudentswelfare )
IIT Bombay and IIT Roorkee to help the government build smart cities
The HRD ministry will partner with IIT Bombay
and IIT Roorkee for building ‘smart cities’
equipped with better amenities.
A roadmap for this collaboration was devised
in Delhi recently to help identify themes
related to city management by integrating
technology with governance.
"The future lies in how we create and manage
cities in a sustainable and inclusive manner
through smart urban planning. IITs and IIMs
being the premier institutions, have significant
knowledge pool to create a vision, strategies
and plan of implementation in an integrated
manner," HRD minister Pallam Raju told HT.
"Urbanisation is growing at a fast pace in
India. We now require qualified people to plan,
build and manage mega-cities efficiently," IIT
Bombay director Prof. Devang Khakhar said
adding "Our work will not just be confined to
engineering and science but will also extend to
design, social science and policy issues. We
hope to build linkages with other universities
and institutes as well as municipal authorities
to collaboratively make a difference in this
important area."
IIT Roorkee Director Pradipta Banerji said the
objective of this collaboration was to bring
together a variety of institutions and people
with different sectoral focuses on a common
platform.
On the areas that IIT Roorkee would be
interested in having collaborations in, he said:
"Our primary interest is in integrated
development of Uttarakhand. We will work
together with our collaborators to create a hill
and heritage development plan that does not
affect the local ecology. These will include
focus on use of smart technology in
transportation, water and electricity supply,
hazard identification, infrastructure
development and other issues that will meet
the social aspirations of the people."
IIT-B, Western Railways join forces to close gap between trains
A team from the Industrial Engineering and
Operations Research (IEOR) and the Computer
Science Engineering departments of the Indian
Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) and th
operations department of Western Railway has
begun work on trying to tweak the running of
trains in such a manner that the current gap o
three minutes between each train can be
brought down further.
This gap — called headway in train operations
lingo — if reduced, would allow more trains t
run in an hour and also improve punctuality o
trains.
On Monday, the team led by professor
Narayan Rangaraj of the IEOR and professor
Abhiram Ranade of the Computer Science
Engineering department along with some
students made a presentation to a WR team le
by its chief operation manager RK Tandon and
newly-appointed divisional railway manager
Shailendra Kumar.
While Rangaraj, with a doctorate in
Mathematics from John Hopkins University, is
an expert in train operation management,
Ranade is an expert in the analysis of
algorithms and has earlier written on train
pathing.
Dr Rangaraj told dna the aim is to look at
train-running as a whole and make changes to
it to improve efficiency. “We are studying
everything from the acceleration and de-
accelaration of trains to track characteristics,
including speed restrictions and the spacing of
signals, turnaround at terminals, etc. and
suggest a more efficient system” said Dr
Rangaraj.
Speaking to dna, Kumar said, “We run 1,300-
odd trains. We would like to increase the
efficiency of the system by improving the
punctuality of our trains. This study would hel
us do that.”
WR’s suburban lines are a headache-inducing
grid of slow, fast and long-distance trains that
run on four suburban tracks - two slow and
two fast - and an oddity called the Suburban
Track Avoidance (STA) line, a line on which
long-distance trains run in both directions.
IIT M.Tech sees more girl students
Chennai: While there has been no big increase
in the number of girls joining the B.Tech and
B.Tech (dual degree) programmes at the Indian
Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) , 74
girls have enrolled for its M.Tech course this
year as compared to 61 last year.
IIT-M director, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi
believes the substantial increase in girls joining
B.E/B.Tech courses in engineering colleges
across the country in the recent past has had
an impact on its M.Tech admissions this year.
“But we can’t say there has been a
considerable increase in girls in postgraduate
education as our number is still less than 10
per cent,” he, however notes.
With more parents willing to allow girls to opt
for postgraduation, the situation is slowly
changing, he adds.
Prof. L.S. Ganesh, dean (students), IIT-M, feels
the human resource development (HRD)
ministry’s decision to waive off the application
fee for girls taking JEE this year too has
encouraged more girls to opt for IITs now.
IIT Madras Will Power AC Coaches In Indian Railways With Solar Energy
Indian Railways will soon have the AC coaches
powered by solar energy. The Integral Coach
Factory at Chennai has joined hands with IIT
Madras to design coaches that will use solar
energy to power the air conditioning systems.
In addition, the solar energy will be used to
power the lighting inside the coaches. This
would be the first project of its kind that
Indian Railways is undertaking to tap solar
energy.
Indian Railways, world's largest railway system,
is looking to tap alternative, cleaner sources of
energy to reduce its overall dependence on
fossil fuels and the power grid. Indian Railways
is looking at massive scaling of AC coaches in
the coming future, which would result into
increased spending on the fuels unless other
mechanisms are developed power them.
A senior ICF official has said that they've asked
IIT Madras to find out various ways to tap the
solar power and use it for interior lighting and
cooling. An MoU has been signed about a
month ago and preliminary discussions have
started with professors to develop a feasible
model.
No information is available yet on how long
will this project take. We'd like to ask our
fellow engineers for their opinion on this
project and what'd be the ways to make this
possible? How do you propose to tap the solar
energy for use in railways?
Sunday 4 August 2013
No construction on river banks in Kedarnath: Vijay Bahuguna
NEW DELHI: No construction will be allowed on river
banks in Kedarnath and near other shrines in
Uttarakhand and a reconstruction plan has been
chalked out to ensure sustainable development,
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said Saturday.
"We have chalked out a major reconstruction plan to
protect Kedarnath and other shrines for the next
100, 200 or even 300 years. No construction will be
allowed on river banks in Kedarnath and other
shrines," Bahuguna said.
Speaking to news channel India TV, Bahuguna said he
met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking an
advanced warning system for the entire Himalayan
region to forecast earthquakes, cloudbursts and
landslides.
He said nearly 300 villages will have to be relocated
at a cost of Rs.8,000 crore as the rivers have
changed their courses.
"We will discuss with the Geological Survey of India,
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and IIT
Roorkee about our reconstruction and rehabilitation
plans," he said.
To regulate flow of people in the pilgrim town of
Kedarnath, Bahuguna said: "From now on, we will
start registration of pilgrims going to Kedarnath and
Badrinath to regulate pilgrimage."
"There shall be separate roads for entry and exit,
cable cars will be installed and we are planning to
construct 100 helipads, which will be helpful in
times of calamities," he said.
The chief minister said so far nearly 4,500 people
have been reported missing since the June 16
calamity.
"We have asked chief secretaries of all states to send
us lists of pilgrims reported missing from their
states. We had set a one month deadline from the
date of the calamity for tracing missing people,
which has now passed," he said.
"Now, I can say that there are no chances of any
more survivors. We will collate the lists of missing
people from states with our own list based on FIRs
filed in Uttarakhand and then arrive at a correct
figure of those presumed dead," he said.
On granting compensation, the chief minister said
Rs.500,000 each will be given to the next of kin of
the deceased who were from Uttarakhand and
Rs.350,000 to the kin of the dead from other states.
Bahuguna feared more bodies might still be trapped
under the huge amount of slush that has covered
Kedarnath town.
"The entire slush has congealed into rock and
because of continuous rains, the restoration work is
being hampered," he said.
He said DNA samples and personal articles like
watches, earrings and other articles recovered from
bodies that have been cremated so far have been
preserved.
"We will post them on the Uttarakhand website, so
that the relatives can identify them and come
forward to claim them. Close relatives will have to
give their blood samples for DNA matching," he
added.
Saturday 3 August 2013
India's Advanced Weather Satellite INSAT-3D Successfully Launched
India's Weather Satellite INSAT-3D, carrying
advanced weather monitoring payloads, was
launched successfully in the early hours of
today (July 26, 2013) by Ariane-5 (VA214)
launch vehicle from Kourou, French Guiana.
After a smooth countdown lasting 11 hours
and 30 minutes, the Ariane-5 launch vehicle
lifted off right on schedule at the opening of
the launch window at 01:24 hours IST today.
After a flight of 32 minutes and 48 seconds,
INSAT-3D was placed in an elliptical
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), very
close to the intended one. The orbital
PSLV-C22 Successfully Launches IRNSS-1A, India's First Navigation Satellite
ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-
C22, successfully launched IRNSS-1A, the first
satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite System (IRNSS), in the early morning
hours of today (July 2, 2013) from Satish
Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This is the
twenty third consecutively successful mission
of PSLV. The 'XL' configuration of PSLV was
used for the mission. Previously, the same
configuration of the vehicle was used thrice to
launch Chandrayaan-1, GSAT-12 and RISAT-1
satellites.
At the completion of the countdown, PSLV-C22
IRNSS-1A Satellite Payload In-Orbit Test Completed
first navigational satellite IRNSS-1A on Jul
01,2013
July 31, 2013
All Navigation and Ranging Payload In Orbit
Tests (IOT) are completed. All operations
are normal.
July 22, 2013
Payload operations are in progress.
July 17, 2013
IIT-Kharagpur to hold global semesters in term breaks
KHARAGPUR: With a director finally at its
helm, IIT-Kharagpur is all set to adopt
global academic practices. The premier
institute plans to have international
semesters on the lines of summer and
winter semesters at top foreign universities.
The programme will be held during the
summer or winter breaks and won't clash
with IIT-Kharagpur's academic calendar,
director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti said.
BTech and MTech students may earn credit
points from such programmes conducted in
collaboration with foreign institutes. The
credits will be added to the students' final
scores when they pass out.
The institute has already signed several
MoUs with varsities in Japan, Germany,
Canada, Russia, Taiwan and Columbia to
facilitate collaborative programmes,
revealed Chakrabarti's predecessor Shankar
Kumar Som. Holding summer semesters is
integral to the grand plan that is expected to
fetch handsome funds. Many corporate
heavyweights are interested in sponsoring
the programme.
"We may be in a position to start the
international semester programme from
next summer ," said a faculty member . The
director prefers to keep the details under
wraps. "I can't divulge the plan before I
share it with the faculty members and get it
through," Chakrabarti said.
Chakrabarti, a teacher of computer science,
joined office on Saturday after a year-long
controversy over his appointment. The new
director, however, isn't shifting his focus
from the medical education programme
under consideration.
"We hope to start the MBBS course from the
2016-17 session. We have to get affiliation
from the Medical Council of India,"
Chakrabarti said. The proposal is awaiting
Cabinet nod, former director Som revealed.
IIT-Kgp is in talks with Johns Hopkins
Hospital in the US, Imperial College in
London and with Tata Cancer Research
Centre in Kolkata for joint projects.
"My aim is to groom the medical college
into an ideal research and innovation-based
institute. The intake of doctoral students
will gradually go up to 30% from 10% at
the moment," the director said.
The effort will also allow IIT graduates to
take up medical engineering.
At the 59th convocation on Saturday, Utsav
Banerjee got the President's gold medal and
Mayank Shrivastav the Prime Minister's
gold medal.
Friday 2 August 2013
IIT-Madras to host workshop on recycling of construction waste
CHENNAI: IIT-Madras will host a workshop on
'Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling'
in collaboration with the Indian Concrete
Institute and the Central Public Works
Department next week.
According to the organizers, increasing
construction, maintenance, retrofitting and
demolition activities across the country
generate a considerable quantity of
construction and demolition waste that is just
dumped in landfills.
Experts estimate that the construction industry
in India generates about 15 million tonnes of
waste annually. Waste generation in Delhi is
estimated to be around 5,000 tonnes a day.
Experts say this creates huge challenges in
terms of space for disposal and unauthorized
dumping. There is potential for large-scale
recycling of this waste material.
"We are conducting the workshop to sensitize
engineers, policy makers, regulatory
authorities and other stakeholders of the
construction industry on recycling of
construction and demolition wastes and
management of the waste stream," said KN
Satynarayana, professor of civil engineering at
IIT-Madras.
"We have invited experts from Hong Kong,
Singapore and South Korea to talk about
solutions developed in their countries,"
Satyanarayana said. Senior government
representatives, including the commissioners
of Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai
corporations are taking part in the workshop.
Participants will be exposed to the reuse
potential of construction and demolition waste,
technical aspects in the use of recycled
concrete aggregates and best international
practices in implementation and enforcement.
Regulatory mechanism, demolition techniques,
transportation methods, classification and
processing, codes, standards and specifications
and equipment used in the recycling of
construction and demolition waste will also be
discussed in the workshop.
The workshop will be conducted at IIT-Madras
on August 5 and 6.
CCEA clears IIT Hyderabad's joint project with Japan
joint project which aims at value addition
for the newly-created IIT at Hyderabad has
been approved by the Government along with
an academic and industry interface between
the institute and Japan.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs,
which met here yesterday, approved the
‘collaboration of IIT Hyderabad, and Japan’, to
be executed via an Official Development
Assistance (ODA) loan from the Japanese
Government and the Union HRD Ministry.
The project cost of Rs 1,776.50 crore will be
met through the ODA loan of Rs 1,501.72
crore while the balance of Rs 274.77 crore
will be borne by grants from the HRD Ministry
over a period of four years between 2013-14
and 2016-17.
“The project would add value through
collaborative interactions between academics
and with the industry of Japan and (by)
exchange of students and faculty.
“This will enhance cooperation between the
two nations in the area of science and
technology and human resource
development,” said a statement from the
Government today.
For the Indian side, the project would also
help in the creation of a number of basic
infrastructure facilities and faster scaling up
of the said IIT with benefits for the Indian
economy, it added.
IIT Hyderabad is one of the eight new IITs
established by the Government in 2008.
The collaboration is an externally-aided
central sector project resulting from the
broader Indo-Japan Collaboration and an
agreement between the Indian Prime Minister
and Japan for a Japanese loan to fund specific
IIT Hyderabad projects.
IIT-Gandhinagar plans radical biomedical research
AHMEDABAD: Indian Institute of
Technology Gandhinagar ( IIT-Gn) is poised
to take up groundbreaking research on
global and public health, frugal engineering
and robot-assisted surgery.
After the recently held workshop on
biomedical engineering, IIT-Gn researchers
discussed proposals to study social factors
that impact health , find new drugs for
cancer, robot-assisted surgical techniques,
designing systems for electronic health
records of patients at public hospitals,
developing diagnostic tools for clinical
breath analysis and early detection of
Alzheimer's disease among others.
Speaking about her research on the impact
of social factors on undernutrition, obesity,
insulin resistance, diabetes and malaria,
IIT-Gn's Prof Malavika Subramanyam said,
"As a social epidemiologist, the aim of my
research is to identify social factors that
impact health. The ultimate goal is to design
interventions to modify the social
determinant of health identified in our
research."
Among the main objectives of the Center of
Excellence in Biomedical Engineering at IIT-
Gn is to develop low-cost technologies to
deliver healthcare to rural areas. Professor
Arup Lal Chakraborty's research aims to
develop diagnostic tools for clinical breath
analysis.
Prof Chakraborty said, "The area of clinical
breath analysis has emerged as a strong
candidate for early and non-invasive
diagnosis of various conditions such as lung
inflammation, fatigue and cardiac
malfunctions. Such a portable diagnostic
tool in conjunction with wireless
communication is a strong candidate for
deployment in mobile units in rural areas."
Participants at the workshop also explored
potential collaborations with Indian and
overseas partners in areas such as
rehabilitation robotics, neuro-engineering,
and diagnostic testing.
Prof Nitish Thakor of National University of
Singapore (NUS) said, "The Biomedical
Engineering Centre at IIT-Gn is a fresh bold
start and has the potential to have a
national impact. At the moment, our
challenge is to do it quickly and achieve
high impact - scientifically and socially
(healthwise) for India."
Thursday 1 August 2013
MORE POWER TO HONEST IAS OFFICERS LIKE DURGA NAGPAL
This refers to the report, “Noida rises
against Durga persecution” (July 30). It is
apparent that honest, hard-working and
diligent civil servants are anathema to the
political class. Upright IAS officer Durga
Shakti Nagpal's suspension lends
credence to this belief.
Clearly, the young civil servant is being
punished for taking on the notorious sand
mafia in Noida. Ironically, her fight is not
just with these lawbreakers but to a large
extent also with the lawmakers, many of
whom have demeaned their office by
compromising with the mafia.
Civil servants may be answerable to
political authorities but they owe allegiance
to the rule of the law. They are not
supposed to protect political interests. If the
Government itself victimises honest officers
and gives them a crown of thorns as reward
for their diligence and honesty, then it
indicates an erosion of values and a failure
of our democratic system. The Akhilesh
Yadav Government has shown its priorities
by penalising an honest officer. It is
heartening that the entire country and the
IAS lobby are standing by Ms Nagpal. The
State Government must revoke her
suspension.
Durga Nagpal suspension: Can an honest IAS officer survive in our system?
Durga Shakti Nagpal, posted as Sub-
Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Gautam
Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, had cracked
down on sand mafia in the district. The
state government suspended her on
Sunday night saying irregularities have
been found in her work.
Honest IAS and IPS officer vs Corrupt Leaders
Should the government servant be answerable
to public or their elected representative?
Isn't it necessary that these officers should not
be puppet to these politicians.
In last few years seeing what has been
happening with honest IAS and PCS officers,
that becomes a necessity.
RoCK-BEE by Manish Chauhan and Subir Kumar Saha
RoCK-BEE stands for Robotics Competition
Knowledge Based Education in Engineering. It
is a book about learning through the
experiments. RoCK-BEE is for people who want
to know, how to learn in life. It tells about the
values of life, learning concepts, importance of
teachers and it makes one remember that
there is a zing of life which has to be enjoyed
in whatever condition one may be in. It’s a
must read for students and teachers.
Available through http://pothi.com/pothi/
book/manish-chauhan-rock-bee
Best Teacher Award to Prof. D. Ravi Kumar
Prof. D. Ravi Kumar received "Best Teacher
Award" for teaching "Metal Forming Analysis
(MEL742)" in 1st semester 2011-12.
Book on Robotics by Prof S K Saha Released
Introduction to Robotics by Prof S K Saha is a
book which aims to understand the underlying
concepts used in designing and building a
robot, and to make it work. The strength of
this book lies in that it covers both analyses
and applications in a lucid manner. The
material provided in this book can be used by
practicing engineers as well for the purposes
of adopting, maintaining, and even designing a
robot.
The book is now complemented with the 3D
learning software RoboAnalzyer available free
from http://www.roboanalyzer.com
Book on "Dynamics of Tree-type Robotic Systems” by Suril Vijaykumar Shah, Subir Kumar Saha, Jayanta Kumar Dutt
This book addresses dynamic modelling
methodology and analyses of tree-type robotic
systems. Such analyses are required to
visualize the motion of a system without really
building it. The book contains novel treatment
of the tree-type systems using concept of
kinematic modules and the corresponding
Decoupled Natural Orthogonal Complements
(DeNOC), unified representation of the
multiple-degrees-of freedom-joints, efficient
recursive dynamics algorithms, and detailed
dynamic analyses of several legged robots.
The book will help graduate students,
researchers and practicing engineers in
applying their knowledge of dynamics for
analysis of complex robotic systems. The
knowledge contained in the book will help one
in virtual testing of robot operation, trajectory
planning and control.
The book is accompanied with the software
ReDySim (Recursive Dynamics Simulator)
available free from http://
redysim.weebly.com/index.html .
Novel hollow-core optical fiber to enable high-power military sensors
intensity of light that propagates through
glass optical fiber is fundamentally limited by
the glass itself. A novel fiber design using a
hollow, air-filled core removes this limitation
and dramatically improves performance by
forcing light to travel through channels of air,
instead of the glass around it. DARPA's unique
spider-web-like, hollow-core fiber, design is
the first to demonstrate single-spatial-mode,
low-loss and polarization control—key
properties needed for advanced military
applications such as high-precision fiber optic
gyroscopes for inertial navigation.
Although hollow-core fiber has been available
from overseas suppliers for years, DARPA's
ongoing Compact Ultra-Stable Gyro for
Absolute Reference (COUGAR) program has
brought design and production capacity inside
the United States and developed it to a level
that exceeds the state of the art.
A team of DARPA-funded researchers led by
Honeywell International Inc. developed the
technology. The hollow-core fiber is the first
to include three critical performance-enabling
properties:
Single-spatial-mode: light can take only a
single path, enabling higher bandwidth
over longer distances;
Low-loss: light maintains intensity over
longer distances;
Polarization control: the orientation of the
light waves is fixed in the fiber, which is
necessary for applications such as sensing,
interferometry and secure
communications.
Flying hairdresser dreams of freedom in Chinese skies
Buzzing like an oversized electric razor,
hairdresser Wang Qiang's home-made airplane
skids over grassland before soaring into a vast
blue sky, in a rare flight allowed by Chinese
authorities.
Wang spends his days trimming and shaping at
a hair salon in eastern China's Zhejiang
province, and his evenings working on the
rickety one-seater craft.
He is one of a tiny—estimates say their
numbers stand at around 2,000—but growing
number of Chinese private aircraft owners
who are grouping together to challenge
restrictions which ban them from almost all
the country's airspace.
Wang's machine—with a stainless steel frame,
wheels from a motorised wheelchair, and a
seat scavenged from a go-kart—took eight
months to build and cost 30,000 yuan
($5,000).
It can reach altitudes of 3,500 metres and
speeds of 90 kilometres an hour (56 mph), he
says.
"In the countryside people play mahjong after
finishing work... but I like to fly," said Wang,
37, who grew up spreading manure and
picking corn on a farm.
"We want the government... to give us more
room to enjoy the skies, and enjoy flying," he
said. "If ordinary people, even vegetable-
cutting housewives can fly, that would be
best."
Around 20 private planes, microlights and
motorised paragliders took to the air in a
valley in Hexigten Banner, in China's remote
Inner Mongolia region at the weekend, in the
country's first festival of its kind after
organisers obtained special permission from
the authorities.
The gathering was inspired by the "fly-ins" of
the US, which can see thousands of aviators
converge on a single location—but the private
flying restrictions meant enthusiasts had to
reach the festival overland.
Plans for an earlier gathering in Beijing in
2011 were cancelled by officials citing safety
concerns.
"We are very far behind the US," said
organiser Zhang Feng, of China's Aircraft
Owners and Pilots Association. "We want to
use this event to promote the opening up of
China's airspace."
Ding Lin, a retired Chinese air force pilot who
owns a two-seater plane made in France,
added: "We are trying to push towards
freedom of flight.
"In 10 years you will come back and the
whole sky will be full of planes," he said,
before wiping down his plane's shining red
propeller.
But such aspirations face formidable
opposition. China's military controls nearly all
of the country's airspace, and despite
promises of reform has only opened a few
areas to private flights. "You can barely fly
anywhere... some people have travelled here
because they don't have the opportunity to fly
anywhere else," said Zhang.
In the shadow of green hillsides dotted with
Mongolian yurts, the aviators lamented that
flight is a symbol of liberty, but one only
open to those well-connected enough to strike
deals with local authorities, or wealthy
enough to afford fines of up to 100,000 yuan
for taking to the air illegally, a practice
known as "black flying".
"Often there is no alternative to black flights,"
said Zhang, adding: "If you have to report
flights in advance, you lose the sense of
freedom."
Most private Chinese pilots are wealthy, given
the costs of training and licences—up to
200,000 yuan, visitors to the festival said—
but there are signs of an emerging interest in
flight among China's army of backyard DIY
inventors and tinkerers.
"Flying is a beautiful thing," said Shu Bin, a
mechanic from Zhejiang who soars over hills
and rivers near his home in a self-built
helicopter.
He took design ideas from foreign websites,
he said. "I downloaded pictures and looked at
them again and again."
The amateur builders' experiments come at a
time when China is pouring billions into its
domestic aircraft industry in the hope of
creating firms capable of competing with
Western rivals such as Boeing and Airbus.
But Wang's flimsy-looking craft is more
reminiscent of the biplanes flown by Feng Ru,
an immigrant to the US who in 1909 became
the first Chinese person to build a plane,
using designs by the Wright brothers.
Feng met an untimely demise in 1912, when
he crashed during a display after returning to
China at the invitation of revolutionary leader
Sun Yat-sen.
Wang has had near-misses of his own, his
engine cutting out several times in mid-air,
forcing him to glide down to earth.
"I told myself: there's no time to panic, just
land!" he said of one near-death experience,
adding cheerfully: "I once performed an
emergency landing in a lake."
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