Tag: India

IIT KGP signs LoI with TUM

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur signed a LoI (Letter of Intent) with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) on Indo-German Collaborative Research Centre of Intelligent Transportation Systems (IGCRCoITS) at IIT Kharagpur. The collaborative Research & Development (R&D) between both the institutions will emphasize on the main areas of intelligent transportation enhancing Electric Mobility Systems including automobiles, rail, marine craft, UAVs etc. Vehicle Energy Management, Battery Management Systems, Transportation Software and Security, Public Transportation, Data-driven Transport Planning and Emerging Mobility Solutions will be the major focus areas.The Indo German Partnership (IGP) project was agreed on sponsorship by Germany and India to foster collaborations and interactions between the Institutions. The first workshop was launched on 25th November 2020.

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Larissa Danschina, Program Manager TUM, Student Mobility Division, Technical University of Munich remarked, “Thanks to you and your team, my stay on the beautiful campus of IIT KGP was enjoyable and successful. I was able to fulfill everything I had planned for my business trip to your university. We would very much like to continue our relationship with IIT Kharagpur in the future and are very glad that your institution is also interested in renewing our partnership. During our meeting, we also raised the issue of adapting the exchange semester to the different academic calendars at the partner universities.”

The first phase of the FutureTrans project started from 2018, established workshops, research groups, sponsored as well as doctoral research in diversified area of academia along with numerous publications in reputed journals and conference papers in the area of Intelligent Transportation. Along the lines of promoting Intelligent Transportation, lIT Kharagpur launched an M.Tech programme on Electric Transportation.

Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur remarked, “This Center would form the umbrella academic unit orchestrating and synergizing with several research centres and facilities on transportation at IIT Kharagpur including the IGCRCoITS. The FutureTrans project assures self-sustainability of IGCRCoITS in terms of resources and expansion along with inclusion of new participants from the academia and industrial domains, for both India and Germany. Advanced research, consultancy, advisory and training programmes with participation of various beneficiary partners will create new domains to implement Intelligent Transportation Systems which will be a conducive implementation of intellectual product designs.”

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Climate Change Signals from North-Eastern India, the Wettest Place on Earth

In a recent study, researchers from IIT Kharagpur have observed a significant change in the rainfall in the northeast in general and specifically at the wettest place on Earth, Cherrapunji-Mawsynram.

The researchers observed rainfall changes in the past century (1901–2019) over the wettest place on the Earth and unveiled the first evidence for the signals of climate change and anthropogenic influence on rainfall changes in the region.

Image: The figure shows the study region and rainfall received at Cherrapunji and Mawsynram in the past 50 years. The spatial change in rainfall shifted the wettest place on the Earth from Cherrapunji to Mawsynram in the early 1980s.

The analysis of 119 years of rainfall data at 17 stations in Northeast India revealed that most of the stations show negative trends in rainfall, the highest in the summer monsoon and the smallest in the winter. A clear shift in the rainfall pattern is observed in the mid-1970s. This abrupt shift in the rainfall can be attributed to the climate shift that occurred in the Pacific Ocean.

The large variability and rapid warming associated with climate change in the equatorial Indian Ocean and associated atmospheric circulation patterns, and the changes in land use/land cover are the main reasons for the inter-annual variability and negative trends in the rainfall in the northeast region, particularly at Cherrapunji and Shillong.

The seasonal rainfall cycles at these locations are also found to be changed one month ahead as compared to that before 1973. The spatial shift in the rainfall from Cherrapunji to Mawsynram in the early 1980s can also be viewed as a part of the above-mentioned temporal change and the westward movement of rainfall there.

The expansion of western subtropical Pacific high is another reason for this rainfall pattern change.

“The analyses uncover signals of regional climate change in India. Since the changes in the rainfall amount would affect drinking water, irrigation, agriculture, energy production and the economy of our country, this study cautions us about the impact of imminent climate change in our country,” says researcher Dr. J Kuttippurath, Assistant Professor, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL). 
Northeast India houses about 64% forest, 30% under the Brahmaputra valley and the rest has steep slopes, hills and mountains. The region has the highest vegetation cover in India and is one of the 18 biodiversity hotspots of the world; indicating the importance of the region in terms of its greenery and climate change sensitivity. Agriculture and allied activities form the backbone of the economy in the region, where more than 60% of the crop area is under rain-fed agriculture.
“The northeast region is well known as the wettest region of the world because it receives nearly 2000 mm of rainfall annually, which is about three times higher than the mean annual rainfall of India. Furthermore, the population of this region mainly depends on agriculture and horticulture, which is fed by the seasonal rainfall and therefore, any change in the rainfall would alter the economy and affect the well-being of the society,” remarked Prof. Madan Kumar Jha, Professor, Dept. of Agricultural and Food Engineering.
Citation J Kuttippurath et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett. 16 024018, Journal: Environmental Research Letters [Impact Factor: 6.09], DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abcf78

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About IIT Kharagpur: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a higher educational institute known globally for its graduate output and affordable technology innovations. Set up in 1951 in a detention camp as an Institute of National Importance, the Institute is ranked among the top five in India and has been awarded Institute of Eminence by the Govt. of India in 2019. The key areas of research of IIT Kharagpur are Affordable Healthcare Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Transportation, Precision Agriculture and Food Technology, Cyberphysical Systems, Ecology & Environment, Mining, Water Resources and Architecture. The Institute is engaged in several international and national mission projects and ranks significantly in research output including 50-100 IPR filed annually and about 2000 research publications in top journals and conferences. At present, the Institute has about 750 full-time equivalent faculty members, more than 14000 students and over 70000 Alumni. For more information visit: www.iitkgp.ac.in

Green Horns to offer Industrial Solutions at SIH2019

Times of India     India Today   Business Standard   Zee Business

IIT Kharagpur is hosting the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2019, Software Edition on March 2-3, 2019. This year 186 students from various colleges including 6 from IIT Kharagpur will be participating in the event. Another 36 students from the Institute will be participating at other editions of SIH2019 hosted by ISRO, Adani group etc.

Shri Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resources Development will announce the start of the Smart India Hackathon 2019 on March 2. A live interaction session with the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi has been scheduled later in the day.

SIH is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development to provide students with a platform to solve some of pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving. The last edition of the hackathon saw over 5 million+ students from various engineering colleges compete for the top prize at 35+ locations.

SIH 2019 includes themes such as Smart Communication, Smart Vehicles, Agriculture & Rural Development, Food Technology, Healthcare & Biomedical Devices, Clean Water, Waste Management, Renewable Energy, Robotics and Drones, Security & Surveillance, technology ideas in tertiary sectors like Hospitality, Financial Services, Entertainment, Tourism and Retail.

While the students will compete for a marathon coding event to develop unique solutions in the thematic areas, they will be mentored by professionals from the Ministry.

The participating students would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create world-class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the industries hire the best minds from across the nation.

Student participants can further apply for research internship opportunities at IIT Kharagpur confirmed the program coordinator.

“Smart India Hackathon with its massive scale, reach, mentorship and follow up are building a new culture of innovation in our higher education system which will have far-reaching effects on the future generations. IIT Kharagpur is extremely happy and privileged to be involved in this new paradigm of at all levels from Coordinating the programme in the last two years and hosting the Grand Finale events,” said Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur and Chairman of the event.

Incubation facility could be offered to form startups based on the technological and economic feasibility and market acceptance.