Chirosree Basu

141 Posts
Aug
30
2019
6 Comments
By Chirosree Basu
Remembering Indramohan Asthana

Remembering Indramohan Asthana

Stories, , , ,
“My buildings will be my legacy...they will speak for me long after I’m gone,” Julia Morgan, world famous architect, had said after a long and prolific career. Her sentiment would have been echoed by Indramohan Asthana, a much admired alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and a renowned architect. We are deeply saddened by his demise on the night of August 29, 2019. Asthana graduated from the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning with 1st Class Honours in 1959 and started his professional career as an architect the same year. And what an outstanding innings it turned out to be! His firm…
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Aug
29
2019
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By Chirosree Basu
An evening to remember

An evening to remember

Events, , , , , , , , , ,
You would have mistaken him for a student. Dark cropped hair, back-pack in place, an incredibly young-looking Debendra Das Sharma approached me for his interview at the Technology Guest House on the evening before the 65th Convocation. He was returning to the campus after more than two decades and was incredibly happy to be back. As Principal Engineer in Intel Corporation, Sharma has been leading the development of PCI Express since its inception two decades back through six generations of evolution of the technology. He has played a key role in evolving PCI Express as a ubiquitous I/O interconnect in…
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Aug
28
2019
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By Chirosree Basu
The magic touch

The magic touch

Events, , , , , , ,
India Today   Careers360 At its 65th Convocation, IIT Kharagpur gave away PhD degrees to 372 scholars. The numbers showed a sharp rise from the earlier figure of 295 from last year.  Taking the 5 years' figure the increase is close to 85% taking 2014 as base. The numbers happily live up to the goals set for higher education centres by the Government of India. They, in fact, reflect sustained efforts taken by the Institute over the past few years to intensify the focus on research. Prof. P.K. Das, Dean, Post-graduate Studies, IIT Kharagur, explained the reason for the rise in…
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Aug
27
2019
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By Chirosree Basu
A moment to cherish for a lifetime

A moment to cherish for a lifetime

Events, , , ,
It was their day. A time they had been waiting to celebrate with their families and friends. Some of them brought over the family’s oldest, perhaps a grandparent who could still walk. And some the youngest, even if only a few months old. But for those who received their degrees at the 65th Convocation of the Institute, the joy was simply so great that it could not be contained. It had to be shared – as generously as possible, as widely as possible, as loudly as possible. You would get the sense if you had happened to mingle among the…
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Aug
22
2019
2 Comments
By Chirosree Basu
KGPian for Life, and proud to be one

KGPian for Life, and proud to be one

Events, , , ,
Homecoming 2019 had a unique feature that will make it stand out in the history of IIT Kharagpur. This was the first time that the alumni of the Institute took a formal pledge of loyalty. On August 17, a day before the Foundation Day of the Institute, members of the 1999, 2004 and 2009 batches who came for the event thanked their alma mater for nurturing them, helping them “grow in knowledge and wisdom”, instilling in them “faith and integrity”, and promoting “intellectual freedom, dialogue and diversity”. ‘Homecoming’ is an annual event in IIT Kharagpur’s calendar. Since 2018, batches who…
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Aug
20
2019
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By Chirosree Basu
Raising awareness

Raising awareness

Events, , , , , , , , , ,
On August 2, 2019, IIT Kharagpur won recognition as ‘IP Campus of the Year (Non Legal) 2019” at the Intellectual Property Fest, an event organized by IP Promotion Outreach Foundation. The award acknowledged a campus that had made outstanding contribution to spreading awareness in the field of Intellectual Property law, rights and practice in the last academic year. IPPOF is a knowledge-sharing and training arm in Intellectual Property with two decades of expertise in this domain and has been working on networking and implementation, and increasing awareness through seminars and online guidance sessions. It believes that the Micro, Small &…
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Aug
19
2019
1 Comment
By Chirosree Basu
Going with the flow

Going with the flow

Environment, , , ,
Indian Express,  India Today, Down to Earth As the lead Indian partner, IIT Kharagpur will be steering the multi-institutional, multi-crore Saraswati 2.0 project for the rejuvenation and treatment of water funded by the European Union and the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology. The overall objective of Saraswati 2.0 is to identify the best available as well as affordable technologies for wastewater treatment and provide solutions to the challenges of water use in both rural and urban areas. Saraswati 2.0 builds on the Saraswati project of 2012-17, which was jointly funded by the…
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Aug
19
2019
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By Chirosree Basu
Happy Birthday IIT Kharagpur!

Happy Birthday IIT Kharagpur!

Events, , , ,
“We can always aspire to better our place, but we should not worry too much about rankings,” said Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, Director, IIT Bombay, who was Chief Guest at IIT Kharagpur’s 69th Foundation Day celebrations. He added, “If our products, that is our students and alumni are doing well, that is justification enough of what the IITs are doing.” Prof. Chaudhuri, who is a Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awardee and also recipient of the IIT Kharagpur Distinguished Alumnus Award, put before the audience the unique challenges that all IITs, his own alma mater as well as IIT Bombay under his administration,…
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Aug
15
2019
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By Chirosree Basu
Look back in hope

Look back in hope

Expert Insight, , , , , , ,
Can there be looking ahead without looking back? The 73rd Independence Day of India could be a good time to ask the question. But as Prof. Anjali Roy’s just-released book on the ‘memories and post memories of Partition’ makes obvious, the question is a complicated one, for looking back itself is a complicated task. One reason that has complicated the ‘looking back’ at Partition –a fact of history indissociable from Independence - is the deafening silence surrounding it. Part of this is because of the conscious erasure of the disturbing memories of Partition in order to promote the triumphalist narrative…
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Aug
14
2019
2 Comments
By Chirosree Basu
A well deserved honour

A well deserved honour

Stories, , , , , , , ,
The list of Young Alumni Achiever’s Award (YAAA) winners for 2019, announced recently by the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, straddles an amazing breadth of talent among young KGPians. The list not only includes pioneering researchers, indefatigable bureaucrats, police officers, change-makers, lawyers, film-makers, but also new-age entrepreneurs, some of whom are household names today. Among them are Abhinav Sinha, Chief Operating Officer, OYO Hotels and Homes, Chanakya Hridaya, Co-Founder & COO of BlackBuck, a company that is revolutionizing logistics in India, Nitin Babel, Co-founder at Niki.ai, a leading artificial intelligence company in India which is backed by Mr Ratan Tata,…
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