New website makes getting in touch with IITians easier

New Delhi: Want to befriend an IITian? Thanks to a website people can now make friends with graduates from the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology.

Dateiitians.com is the brainchild of three graduates from IIT Kharagpur Layak Singh, Kinshuk Bairagi and Nikhil Kaushik.

While Singh is the chief of operations and business management, the other two are co-founders of the portal that now boasts of 7,000 users, 35 per cent of whom are girls.

The website, which was launched in February, aims at bringing quintessential geeks to one platform and introduce them with others and share information.

"Techies are regarded to be the people who are always busy with their ideas and work, those who have little or not time to interact with people and are considered boring because of their obsessive hobby or narrow interests. We wanted to connect these geeks and let them have some fun," Singh said.

The idea to launch a website struck the trio when they were having a chat at IIT-Kharagpur that IITs do not have much girls.

"We were of the opinion that the boy to girl ratio is not good and students do not mingle easily. So to establish a connection between the IIT students, we planned to start with the online website. We, in fact, did a market survey and find out it to be a worthy initiative, thus started the making of a dedicated dating website for IITians," he said.

After an incredible response, the website is all set to go global in August.

"This is the alpha version (testing/starting phase) of the website, we are soon going to take it to the global level with its new version releasing in August, which will have many more new things and that's a surprise,"  Singh said.

When the site was started, it was only open to techies and engineering professionals from IITs and IIMs but later it was open to others as they got many requests.

The website has a tie-up with about 100 Indian and foreign varsities.

Explaining the difference between the dedicated dating website for geeks and other social networking websites, Layak says, "This is different from other social websites, say such as Facebook, as there exist many fake profiles as well. Only real techies are allowed to register after a tough screening process." 

IIT council meets to discuss proposal for single entrance test

New Delhi: The IIT council met against the backdrop of sustained opposition to the proposed single entrance test for admission to engineering programmes and is understood to have insisted on holding the  test from 2014 instead of next year.

The council, which met under the chairmanship of HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, is also understood to have discussed the possibility of preparing the merit list without taking into account the candidates' performance in board examinations.

A final decision will be taken at the joint meeting of Councils of IITs and NITs on May 28, sources said. They said only IIT-Guwahati has fully supported the proposal of a single entrance test with weightage to marks in the school boards.

The aim is to hold the test in a new format from 2013 onwards under which a ranking list will be prepared based on Class XII results with 40 per cent weightage to be given after normalisation of marks, 30 per cent to the main test and 30 per cent to the advanced test.

The test will replace the existing IIT-JEE and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE). Several IIT senates, especially those of the seven old IITs, had objected to this format. The faculty federation had also expressed stiff opposition to the proposal and insisted that the senates should have the final say on this issue.

Sources said the issue of factoring the plus-two boards results were yet to be sorted out. While the boards across the country are expected to declare their results almost simultaneously under the new format, a section feels this would be highly unlikely.

During the meeting, the IITs are understood to have opted to retain the existing format of JEE for the year 2013. They have also stressed on giving thrust on the advance test for preparing the results.

Higher percentage of OBC students in IIMs, IITs: Government

New Delhi: The percentage of OBC students among new entrants in IIMs, IITs and Central universities has increased in 2010-11 over the previous year, the Rajya Sabha was informed.
    
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said during Question Hour that the percentage of OBC students among new entrants in IIMs and IITs in 2010-11 was 23.05 per cent and 23.61 per cent respectively, against 14.52 per cent and 20.38 per cent in 2009-10.
    
Similarly, the percentage of OBC students among new entrants in Central universities increased to 19.09 per cent in 2010-11 from 13.52 per cent in the previous year. 
    
Sibal also said the total percentage of OBC students "currently enrolled in IITs, IIMs and Central universities is 18.98 per cent, 24.3 per cent and 14.2 per cent respectively."
    
He also said the government has allocated an additional Rs 2,166.89 crore to Central universities and Rs 4,227.46 crore to centrally funded technical institutions for 54 per cent capacity expansion in each of the central institutions to provide OBC quota without reducing general category seats.
    
Sibal said the government has also decided to amend the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006, to enhance the period of implementation of 27 per cent reservations for OBC in central institutions, from 3 to 6 years.
    
The amendment would also ensure that even in the central institutions located in the north eastern states and those located in areas covered under 6th Schedule of the Constitution, OBC reservations are provided to the extent possible, he added. 

IIT Kharagpur gets 8 new departments for birthday

KOLKATA: Think tomorrow; think IIT Kharagpur. This should have been the slogan of this oldest tech school in the IIT chain. IIT Kharagpur that will turn 60 this August has already chalkedout a list of pioneering programmes for the years. 

The charter has been sent to the union ministry of human resources development and as things stand, the institute is slated to get a slew of enviable grants to establish at least eight new tech departments or schools and several next-generation laboratories to support research that has never been tried anywhere in the country before. The idea is to help India become tech independent and reduce its dependence on foreign designs and chips as is the case today. The dossier mentions that there would be a new laboratory complex that will house all these state-of-the-art laboratories. 

Energy Science and Engineering Department 

It is common knowledge that fossil fuels comprise about 80% of our energy needs and that the reserves are depleting fast. Naturally, the demand for research on alternative fuels is high on the national agenda. IIT Kharagpur has taken up the cause and has expressed desire to set up a department for energy science and engineering where the focus will be on energy resources and recovery, conversion systems, energy materials, transportation, energy efficient design of buildings, energy bi-product recycling and finally rural and small-scale energy. 

The research activity will be interdisciplinary in nature and will spread across departments like physics, geology, geophysics and core-engineering departments like mechanical, electrical, chemical, mining, biotechnology and agricultural engineering etc. The institute has ambitious plans of inventing and patenting a bio-fuel that will both be cost effective and cheap for vehicular use. It has also planned some technological breakthrough in the field of nuclear power engineering, thermal engineering and non-conventional energy engineering. 

Biosciences Department 

The institute has been focusing on bioscience-based research for sometime now and has been consistently breaking grounds in biotechnology, bioinformatics and genetic engineering. However, this is  the first time that biosciences as a department will be introduced in the institute to act as an interface between engineering and biological studies. This department will become extremely important when the  Parliament by an act allows the institute to set up a school on medical technology soon. 

Incidentally, IIT Kharagpur will become the first tech school in the country to also teach medical technology. Right from drug designing to inventing technologies where effects of drugs would be limited only to the affected cells or, in other words, removing side effects of drugs, the biosciences department will primarily focus on improving the average health on the people. 

Engineering Entrepreneurship 

Despite being armed with a world class B Tech degree, most students from the institute queue up for placements. This defeats the very purpose of their rigorous training. The institute would start an integrated programme on engineering entrepreneurship, whereby after completion of B Tech, a student automatically will move on to pursue two years of entrepreneurship training and complete his masters. During this time, the student will be mentored to start his own engineering unit and float his own company with seed money given by the institute. 

Environmental Engineering Department 

This department will look at ecological renewal and pollution control be it air, water or soil. Water and waste water management, solid and hazardous waste management, including radioactive and biological waste management, will feature prominently in the research done here. Among the macro-level problems, the school is considering to focus on improvement of efficiency of the water-supply chain, total urban water use and waste water management, recycling, reuse and pricing policy, studies on an entire river basin and the design of an optimal strategy for its management. 

Nano science and Technology Department 

Though Nano technology is being practised in the institute for sometime now in every engineering stream, the scope of the new school will not be limited to the traditional approaches of synthesis, characterization and exploitation of nano materials. 

Engineering Design and Manufacturing Department 

Though India has made great strides in technology, but barring the IT sector, it is mostly solution oriented. For designs or engineered products, India is still heavily dependent on developed countries. The new department aims to innovate designs for all kinds of products, representing a whole range of consumer products from automobiles to telecom equipments and from computers to audio-visual equipments, to end the tech hegemony of China, Japan and Germany over us. 

Embedded Electronics Controls and Software Department 

Considering the importance of modern computerised control panels not only in automobiles as well as in aircrafts etc, the institute will set up a department where research will be conducted on control panels that will suit cars with unmatched fuel and pick up efficiency that are yet to come into the market. Though foreign automobile companies like Toyota and General Motors have set up their manufacturing units in India, there is severe dearth of trained engineers. Techies from this department will fill in the gaps. The department would also tie up with such companies so that tech solutions can be provided to them. 

IIT-JEE answer sheets go online from May 5

Kanpur: IIT- JEE answer sheets go online from May 5 displaying the optical response sheets (ORS) of all candidates who appeared for the joint entrance exam (JEE)-2012 held on April 8.

 

The ORS are on display from May 5 to May 10 with machine-read responses and marks scored. During these six days, the  candidates will be able to go through the evaluation.

The 5.6 lakh aspirants for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) from across the country now have a chance to view their own answer  scripts online, and see for themselves how they fared.

In case of any error in evaluation, they can also submit revision requests through online. The facility for submitting the revision requests online will close at 5pm on May 10, 2012.

IIT-Delhi would consider all the complaints and update fresh score of every student, before preparing the final merit list.

The aspirants would be able to see the evaluated answer scripts of JEE. The results of JEE would be declared on May 18.

This year, IIT-Delhi had conducted the JEE. 

IIT answer sheets to be posted online

NEW DELHI: IIT aspirants will now get to see their evaluated JEE answer scripts even before the result is declared on May 18. IIT Delhi, which organised JEE on April 8 this year, has decided to upload the checked optical response sheets of every candidate on the JEE website to maintain transparency and avoid any errors. It is for the first time that the candidates will get a chance to go through their answer sheets to see if they have been evaluated properly. 

If a candidate finds any discrepancy, he or she can lodge a complaint online. These evaluated answer sheets will be available online from May 5 to May 10. The facility to submit requests for revision will close at 5pm on May 10 after which representatives of all IITs will meet to consider the requests. If found correct, the responses will be updated by May 14. According to IITD director, R Shevgaonkar, it may happen that the scanner does not pick up correct responses if a candidate has not filled the response bubble completely. 

"In such a case, they can simply lodge a complaint and we will go through it before the preparation of the final merit list," he said. However, candidates will not be allowed to change their responses or question the answer keys provided by IITD. The facility is only for highlighting any technical glitches.

Super 30 founder meets Sibal to discuss IIT reforms

New Delhi: Noted maths wizard Anand Kumar, who has won many accolades by getting over 300 students from marginalised classes an entry into the IITs, met Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to discuss reforms in the entrance to the coveted institutions in order to make the process more inclusive.
 
The 'Super 30' founder, who met Sibal at his residence, welcomed the minister's efforts for reducing the dependency of these examinations on coaching institutes.
 
Pitching for a level-playing field for one and all, Kumar called for efforts "to reduce the urban-rural divide" so that bright students from rural areas can come forward.
 
Kumar, however, opted to differ from the view that introduction of aptitude test and weightage to plus two board results will do away with the dependency on coaching institutes.
 
"Considering the reality of schools, especially in rural areas, the students will now be under more pressure trying to deal with the challenges on three fronts- preparing for plus two, the subject test for IIT-JEE and the new aptitude test and the coachings will make more money," he said.
 
He pointed out that the institutes were in fact trying to "cash in" on the new trend and asserted that there could be no alternative to good schooling.
 
Batting for a single multiple choice question (MCQ) test based on plus two syllabus for a fair chance to students from all backgrounds, Kumar said if AIIMS can admit students through single test, IIT-JEE can also do it also.
 
"For adhering to plus two syllabus fully, the subject experts from both IIT-JEE and CBSE can jointly prepare the questions," he said, noting that this will help in setting a more "balanced" paper, keeping in mind level of studies in CBSE and state board schools as well as requirements of IITs.
 
He said this will not only minimise dependency on private coachings but also reduce stress on students, ultimately making them more serious right from the school level.
 
Anand strongly objected to the inclusion of Subjective Special Test in addition to the MCQ based test, claiming unfairness and subjectivity in manual evaluation.
 
The two also held discussions on issues like three chances for rural students in JEE and continuation of all transparency norms adopted in the process in last two years.
 
Anand, through his unique 'Super 30', provides free residential coaching to 30 meritorious students from the underprivileged sections of the society and till now, 236 students have made it to the IITs.
 
The programme has drawn attention across the globe with the prestigious 'Time' magazine describing Kumar's school as the 'Best in Asia' while Discovery channel showing an hour-long documentary over it. 

IIT Mumbai part of NYU-led consortium to build campus in NY

New York: IIT-Mumbai will be part of a consortium of world class academic institutions that has been selected to set up an applied sciences campus in Brooklyn, under an initiative to strengthen the city's global competitiveness in the field of science and engineering.

New York University was selected as the second winner of the city's 'Applied Sciences NYC Initiative', the first being Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which are creating an engineering campus on Roosevelt Island.

Launching the initiative New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the "historic agreement" between the city and the consortium of the academic institutions and private technology companies would lead to the creation of the 'NYU Center For Urban Science and Progress' (CUSP) in Brooklyn.

The NYU-Polytechnic Institute of New York University led consortium includes Carnegie Mellon University, City University of New York, University of Toronto, University of Warwick, IIT Mumbai, as well as technology giants IBM and Cisco, and will grant academic degrees in engineering and sciences.

The centre would focus on research and development of technology to address critical challenges facing cities, including infrastructure, tech integration, energy efficiency, transportation congestion, public safety and public health.

"Each of the academic partners of NYU and NYU-Poly Carnegie Mellon, University of Warwick and IIT Mumbai are known for their strong applied science and engineering programmes, and each has a solid track record of research commercialisation, as well as industry collaborations and partnerships," the NYC Economic Development Corporation said in a statement here.

IBM and Cisco would each provide a million dollars a year in financial and in-kind support.

IIT Mumbai Director Devang Khakhar said the issues facing Mumbai would provide unique new insights and be a source of ideas for the work of the Center.  

"The Centre presents a great new opportunity to address the challenges of megacities by the generation of new knowledge using New York City as its laboratory and by imparting education with a focus on the planning, building and managing megacities," Khakhar said in the statement.

"The work of the Centre will benefit New York City directly and will provide a template to address many issues of megacities.

"We look forward to contributing actively as a consortium member of the Centre through the participation of our faculty who specialize in the fields of engineering and science related to urban studies," Khakhar added.

IIT Indore can now have its own campus

Indore: The land row for the proposed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore's campus has been settled now, thus paving the way for the three-year-old premier institution to have its own campus with an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore here.

The Madhya Pradesh government has allotted 501.6 acres land for IIT Indore at Simrol, about 25 km away from here, out of which, 303.6 acres was a revenue land and 198 acres was forest land, official sources said.

The state government has also given all the necessary clearances to the institute for its proposed campus, they said adding after all the permissions, the forest land was recently transferred to the IIT, while process for the allotment of revenue land is in final stages.

IIT Indore had run into forest clearance hurdles after the Centre's Forest Advisory Committe, the apex experts body clearing forest allotments in the country, had earlier rejected the Madhya Pradesh government's proposal to allot the forest land for establishing the IIT.

The body had wondered why the IIT was being located on the forest land and had urged the state government to look at alternate sites. The IIT is currently functioning out of a temporary campus within Indore.

However, last year former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had allowed diversion of the forest land for setting up a 500-acres permanent campus.

Now, as per the plan, the permanent campus of the IIT will be constructed with an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore and for phase I, the Centre has already allocated Rs 760 crore.

If all goes as per the plan then the IIT Indore will have its permanent campus in another three years.  

Former HRD Minister late Arjun Singh had laid the foundation stone of IIT Indore on February 17, 2009 near Indore, thus making it the only city in the country to boast of having an IIT as well as an Indian Institute of Management (IIM), both.

At present, IIT Indore is running its classes in the streams of Electrical, Mechanical and Comupter Science from the different rented premises with a total capacity of 120 seats. 

IITs smart tech to be on display soon

New Delhi: Research designs and prototypes of various technological innovations, ranging from everyday household items to sophisticated gadgetry, designed by students at the Indian Institute of Technology would soon be on public display.

The lay public including a mix of curious schoolchildren students as well as industry representatives keen on checking the commercial viability of these products, are expected to attend the 8th edition of Open House scheduled on April 21 at the IIT Delhi campus here.

"We would be displaying a lot of projects that are innovative and commercially viable by our faculty and our students for the benefit of the society. A large number of school children and industry representatives will also be visiting the fair," said Prof A K Ghosh, Chairman of the Open House Committee.

A few of these ideas such as the electrically enhanced needle-free transdermal delivery of drugs have already been picked up by various industries for further research and development.

The device, a programed chip, looks like a watch whose dial can be opened and filled with medicine. Adjusting the settings will allow specified quantity of the drug to permeate the body through small amounts of electricity.

"After the prescribed quantity of the medicine has been absorbed by the body the device automatically switches off and can be programmed to switch on later. We are testing it on insulin, Diclofenac (painkillers). This device is very safe and dose can be controlled and can be reduced. This device is going to be more effective than taking pills or injections," said Prof Sneh Anand, Centre of Biomedical Engineering, who and her team of students have invented the device.  

More such devices which might bring about a revolution in the medical world like Light Weight Composite Hinge Joint for polio patients which can be produced in a mass scale and are more affordable for the masses belonging to a low socio- economic background would also be on display.

After the 'Smart Cane' innovation for the visually impaired the IITians have come up with 'Roshni' a cell-phone based indoor navigation system for the visually impaired that can be used in homes or in public places like museums or parks to enable the free movement of such people.

"The Fabric Feel Tester is a new kind of device to evaluate the quality of the fabric on the industrial level. In India we previously used to use the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) which is very expensive and highly technical device to be used widely by the industry. Our technology is affordable and can be used by all textile industries," says Apurba Das, Associate Professor, Department of Textile Technology and the technical expert behind the invention.

The KES system is priced at a hefty Rs 1.5 crore in the market where as the new Fabric Feel Tester would be available at Rs. 1.5 lakhs only.

"An Ahmedabad based company is manufacturing our technology and 15 days back they have already received 15 to 20 orders to manufacture our technology," says Apurba.

He further adds that this technology will help Indian textile companies to do business with companies all over the world by just emailing the quality of their fabric to the client and get feedback within minutes.

Bamboo based structures like cycle rickshaw, cycle trolley and other equipments have been designed for the rural masses to avail cheap and environment friendly transportation.

In light of the recent earthquakes around the world, a group of students have rolled out the latest tech "base isolation" that aims to prevent devastation due to earthquakes.

More such innovative ideas which are on display are the world's first hydrogen-powered three wheelers called "HyAlfa" which was also launched at Pragati Maidan's Auto Expo-2012. Mahindra and Mahindra based on the recommendation of IIT had developed the three wheeler.

Alternative energy have also found its way in projects like the Green Urban Transit system and Direct Hydrocarbon Solid Oxide Fuel Cells which are based keeping in mind the costly fuel.

Projects like Responsive Camouflage Textiles, Indian Digital Heritage Preservation, Interactive Virtual Display as well as Active Sonar Classifier are also on display.

IITs mulling over admission process

Mumbai: The IIT, after a proposal to partially consider class XII scores for admission was shot down by the faculty members, has decided upon a fresh list of workable suggestions to select students for the elite institutions.

Based on T.Ramasami report discussions were held at various IIT campuses that led to a decision which looks at having a single pan-India entrance exam for admission to engineering colleges. The result, more importantly raised innumerable questions on the fairness of the system that would normalize the Class XII scores of all the boards in India.

Devang Khakkar, IIT Bombay director said that there is a large support for some reforms. He added that the ball is in their court now and that they will come up with a proposal on how to select students.

The new suggestions will be placed before the respective IIT senates and each senate will discuss the proposal before all the IITs meet and ratify them by the mid of May.

Most of faculty members are of the view that the assessment of class XII and their teaching and learning facilities vary across school boards and could not be statistically normalized The IIT faculty federation has also submitted a list of its concerns to HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

It is still unclear if the new admission method would start from 2013 or may be delayed by another year.

IIIT Delhi Admissions 2012: Important Dates

  Important dates (tentative)

Online application form released	25th May, 2012 (Friday)
Last date for online application	10th June, 2012 (Sunday)
Date of Exam	17th June, 2012 (Sunday)
Result of Exam / Merit List	29th June, 2012 (Friday)
1st counseling	6th July, 2012 (Friday)
2nd counseling (if seats available)	9th July, 2012 (Saturday)
Orientation and registration	23th July, 2012 (Monday)

Instruction on counseling will be made available after the declaration of results.

IITs object to common entrance test roll-out from next yr, seek further talks

NEW DELHI: The government's plan to introduce the common entrance test (CET) for engineering from 2013 hit a roadblock on Wednesday, with the faculty representatives of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) asking for the proposal to be put on hold till there are further discussions. 

When asked about the meeting, HRD minister Kapil Sibal only said that it went off well. 

The minister and senior HRD officials met with IIT directors and chairpersons and representatives of the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIFF) on Wednesday for the first time after the tech institutes expressed concerns about the new system that is expected to be implemented from next year. 

The federation passed a unanimous resolution that was given to the HRD minister expressing ``grave concern'' that a new test for admission to IIT was being ``thrust'' upon them without allowing enough time for discussion or critical review and acceptance in IIT Senate. The resolution also said that implementation  of the changes in the existing entrance tests should be kept on hold until reports are obtained, consolidated and accepted by the Senate. 

AIIFF representatives said that the meeting was a ``fruitful'' one and more discussions were likely on the issue. 

Significantly, the decision has the approval of IIT Council that comprises of IIT directors and is binding on the institutes. However opposition from the AIIFF could put the ministry's plans could be put in serious jeopardy and even delay the 2013 roll-out. 

The CET aims to serve as a single national entrance exam for admission to engineering and science courses in centrally funded institutions such as the 15 IITs, 30 NITs and a host of other technical institutes. 

One of the significant objections was to the proposed weightage given to class XII marks. The new system will give class XII marks at least 40% weightage, while the test score will make up the remaining 60%. So far, the Class XII results have no bearing on the IIT-JEE score and rank. 

IIT Senate feels since the assessment system varies across school boards, the knowledge of students cannot be reflected on the same scale and such weightage would not be a true assessment. Faculty representatives also feel that changes will dilute the IIT brand. 

The other objections relate to both parts of the test carrying objective-type questions, and the plan to hold them on the same day. 

IIT Delhi secures top ranking among Indian institutes

New Delhi: IIT Delhi has emerged as the top ranking institute in the country as per a global ranking system, the government said.

The prestigious institute, a dream destination for thousands of engineering aspirants, has been placed at 218 world over by the Quacquarelli Symonds global system of ranking of higher education institutions for 2011.
   
Minister of State for HRD D Purandeswari said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha that according Quacquarelli Symonds global system of ranking, IIT-Delhi is the overall highest ranking institution in India.
   
The Minister, however, sought to clear some perceptions about the rankings done by different bodies, saying different international ranking systems use different
values, indices and parameters to rank higher education institutions.
   
"These criteria are neither universally accepted nor recognised," she said in her reply.
   
She said as per the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2011, IIT-Bombay is the highest ranked institution at serial 317, while the Academic Ranking of World Universities has ranked Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore at serial 321," she said.
   
On the other hand, as per the 2011 QS Engineering & Technology Rankings, IIT-Bombay is at serial 43, IIT-Delhi at 50, IIT-Kanpur at 59 and IIT-Madras at 60 in Computer Science and Information Technology.
   
In the same ranking system in Civil and Structural Engineering, IIT-Bombay is ranked at serial 30, IIT-Kanpur at serial 38 and IIT-Delhi at serial 43.
   
As per QS Global Business School Report, 2012, IIM-Ahmedabad has been ranked second in the Asia Pacific region while according to Financial Times London Global
Business School rankings, IIM-Ahmedabad is at serial 11 and Indian School of Business at serial 13. 

Young Environmental Scientist Awards 2012 at IIT-M on Feb 11

Chennai: IIT Madras, CLRI and Industrial Waste Management Association (IWMA) are jointly organizing “Young Environmental Scientist Awards 2012”.

The program to be held on 11th February 2012 at IIT-M, in the IC&SR Auditorium from 09.00 a.m.

Mr. S Mani, Chairman, IWMA, President (R&D & EHS), M/s. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. will  inaugurate the function, Prof. R. Nagarajan, Chemical Engineering Department, IIT Madras will be the Chief Guest and Prof. T.S. Natarajan, Physics Department, IIT Madras will demonstrate interesting Physics experiments at the function learning by doing being his style of imparting Science Knowledge.

Mr Ajit  Narayanan, winner of MIT Innovator of Year under 35  Award and recipient of Govt of India grant for development of "Avaz"- that provides a ‘voice to a non-verbal child with Cerebral Palsy will  deliver a special address to the young children and School Teachers.

Teams made up of school children - 9th to 12th Std will make final presentation and exhibit their research projects in area of Environment (such as Recycling, Waste Management, Rain Water Harvesting, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Energy/Water Conservation) at the program.

ITI of Kaithal, Kurukshetra adjudged best performers

Chandigarh: Two Industrial Training Institutes of Haryana have been chosen as the best performers at a national level conference organised by Mumbai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Union Labour Department, a state minister said here.
    
"ITI Kaithal, which secured the first place, followed by ITI Kurukshetra were honoured at the national conference organised by Mumbai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Union Labour Department held at Mumbai on February 3," Haryana Industrial Training Minister Geeta Bhukkal said in a press release.
    
The minister said that under the up-gradation scheme, as many as 48 government institutes out of 123 ITIs of the state were being upgraded.
    
Under the scheme, interest free amount of Rs 2.5 crore have been provided to each institute, Bhukkal said.     

Union government plans to upgrade 1,396 government ITIs in the country, she added.