MHRD – The KGP Chronicle

International Symposia on Mahatma Gandhi

IIT Kharagpur brings Global Academia to Retrospect on Gandhian Thoughts and Philosophy

India Today	Hindustan Times	Times of India
Navbharat Times	CNBC TV18	Indian Express Edex Live
Deccan Herald	Outlook	NDTV The Week

IIT Kharagpur is organizing an international e-symposia in association with top global universities to commemorate the completion of the 150th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi. Academics from universities in the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Gandhian experts from India including professors from IIT Kharagpur will deliberate on ‘Gandhian Thoughts and Philosophy’ through webinars spanning over select days in August 2020.

The Ministry of Education (formerly, Ministry of Human Resources Development), Govt. of India has undertaken an initiative to commemorate the completion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Higher educational institutions have been entrusted to organize online events in association with foreign universities listed under the SPARC program of the Ministry. IIT Kharagpur decided to take the message to the world especially at a time when almost 200 countries across the world are witnessing tremendous stress due to the pandemic crucially affecting the quality of life and socio-economic environment.

“Amidst all the uncertainties, bewilderment and isolation, we are seeking motivation and hope to look beyond the pandemic. As we are journeying through this challenge, we draw our inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi who carried on relentless struggle in different spheres of life. He was not only the tallest leader of the Indian freedom movement but has been the role model for many world leaders, in matters of fundamental rights, self-reliance, compassion and much more. In this pandemic situation, meditating on the thoughts and philosophy of the Mahatma is all the more significant,” said Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur.

The webinars are scheduled on August 8 with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and Gandhi Forum, India, August 15 with Tufts University, August 20 with University of Manchester, UK and University of Texas Arlington, USA, August 27 with University of Leeds, UK, University of Melbourne, Australia, University of Auckland and Massey University, New Zealand, and August 28 with the University of Alberta and University of Toronto, Canada.

The themes include Sarvodaya-universal upliftment or progress for all and Swavalamban-the quest for self-reliance, Gandhian legacies in the World Today, Branding Gandhi, Gandhian Economics for Growth in India: From Atma Nirbhar Bharat to Sarvodaya, Philosophy of Gandhian Economics, Gandhipedia: a one-stop portal for browsing Gandhian literature, life-events and his social network. The event has already attracted more than a thousand participants from across the globe.

“We hope it will be a grand success and inspire people who are going through an experience of a lifetime,” added Director Tewari.

For more information and registration visit: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/e-symposia-gandhi-thoughts-philosophy/

IIT KGP Director Speaks on NEP

On Higher Education

A day of celebration as an educationist as we welcome the National Education Policy (#NEP2020) announced by Dr.Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The policy has substantial elements for the higher education sector. The key among them is setting up the National Research Foundation to foster research culture and removal of MPhil which has been witnessing a downward trend in offering research career opportunities hence fewer number of takers.

Emphasis on Interdisciplinary and Humanities Education at IITs

Another area I must mention is the thrust on multidisciplinary education including more of Humanities and Social Sciences at the IITs. While the older IITs have a strong presence in this sector, this would strengthen the holistic academic needs of new generation IITs. At IIT Kharagpur we are already offering microspecializations, micro-credits and research programs that are typically interdisciplinary. We have specialized centres in these areas, to name a few are the Rekhi Centre for Science of Happiness, the Academy for Classical and Folk Arts, our law school which is the first-of-its-kind focusing on Intellectual Property. We will be glad to work with new IITs in these areas.

Democratization of School Education

What excited me most is the School Education Policy. It has come after almost four decades and with much democratization of pre-primary, primary and middle school education. The emphasis on primary education in regional languages and the introduction of Sanskrit, following the three-language formula, will turn out to be a great boon to the people of the country, especially in the rural areas. In several European universities, Sanskrit is being explored as a coveted academic discipline.

German universities have delved into Sanskrit learning to conduct research on the scientific heritage of the Vedas, Upanishads and other ancient Indian scriptures such as Baudhāyana sūtras (800 BCE) which contains mathematical principles of square roots, Pythagorean theorem, geometric principles etc. or Pingala’s misrau cha (400 BCE) which is usually identified as the Fibonacci number series and works on advanced Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Metallurgy and much more. India in this 21st century has still much left to look back and explore our hidden wealth. Endowing our student community with an evolved language like Sanskrit will help shape a rational thought process among school-going children.

The regional and Sanskrit language education will also enable our student community to grow strong indigenous roots and learn from the resources of our rich heritage while training in computer programming will upskill them to dive for more opportunities as the 21st century progresses.

Education through the National Digital Library of India

The National Digital Library of India developed by IIT Kharagpur as an initiative of MHRD has much to offer towards this new policy. It can give a significant impetus to pre-primary, primary, middle school and high school education through incorporating not only educational resources but also developing online education pedagogy and outreach programmes facilitating rural students. It can further provide resources for the education of the elderly to make them more equipped for Digital India.

IIT Kharagpur’s Online Course on Innovation & Entrepreneurship

IIT Kharagpur launches Online Lecture Series on Innovation & Entrepreneurship dealing with several crucial aspects in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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IIT Kharagpur’s Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship (RMSoEE) is all set to start a virtual lecture series titled “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in a Post-COVID World”. The program which will be conducted as a sixteen-part lecture series on the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), aims to present a broader and unique perspective on opportunities on forward-looking fronts like data science, healthcare, education, agri-tech, energy, rural innovation, fintech, and supply chain interventions among several others. While doing so, the course also intends to throw light on precautions and strategies related to operations, execution, change in consumer behavior, and short term financial management.

Starting with motivation, challenges, and opportunities unleashed by the pandemic, the course goes on to delve into innovative approaches to frugal product engineering, lean and cost-effective business modeling strategies and smart financial management, that are highly pertinent to startups in the present scenario. The opening sessions shall set the stage by elaborating upon the macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and expound on the significance of innovation and entrepreneurship in various sectors to address the related challenges.

Young college students who are startup enthusiasts, working professionals, entrepreneurs, innovators, thinkers, strategists, and makers from all walks of life, will find the lectures useful in restrategizing their stance in the new-normal world.

This series will be conducted from 22nd to 29th June through the NPTEL platform and would also be accessible on other platforms of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India such as broadcast on SWAYAM Prabha channels, course materials and videos on National Digital Library of India. Dr. Mrigank Sharad of RMSoEE will be coordinating the course. The speakers, among others, include: Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti – Role of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Technology to fight the pandemic and its repercussions; Prof. Manoj Kumar Tewari, Director, NITIE Mumbai – The drastic transformation of Supply Chain Network in the post-COVID world, its opportunities and challenges, adaptability; Dr. Kris Singh, Founder & CEO at SRII, California – Innovating education and skills for digital economy.

Download Programme Details

Register Now

Please fill out this form to register for the course and get a course certificate. At the end of the course, an online MCQ test will be held and certificate will be provided to all who score more than 50%, along with good (50% to 65%), very good (65% to 75%) and excellent grades (>75%). Along with this, we are also conducting a Business Pitch competition, where the participant will need to submit a startup idea in a specified format. Selected ideas will be rewarded certificates and may be given opportunities to work with our school for further support, mentorship, incubation etc., depending upon your interest. Note that the links for the course lectures will be active only at the scheduled time of the lecture.

Click Here

Contacts:

Project Information: Prof. Mrigank Sharad, mrigank@see.iitkgp.ac.in

Institute Related: Prof. B N Singh, registrar@hijli.iitkgp.ac.in;

Media Outreach: Shreyoshi Ghosh, shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in

More News:: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/;

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Social Media: Facebook:@IIT.Kgp; Twitter: @IITKgp; Instagram: @iit.kgp

NIRF 2020 Results Announced

IIT Kharagpur has been ranked in the widest category of disciplines ranging from Engineering, Architecture, Management, Law in the NIRF Rankings 2020 by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India. While the Institute has been ranked the best in India in the category of Architecture, it has jumped one rank in the management discipline to be among the top five business schools in India.

In Law it retains last year’s rank at the 4th position along with the overall and Engineering ranks at the 5th position.

The Dept. of Architecture has been a clear winner in the areas of Graduation Outcomes, Peer Perception, and Outreach and Inclusivity. The Department has scored the best in the country in the metrics for University Examinations and Number of Ph.D. Students Graduated.

Vinod Gupta School of Management, the business school of IIT Kharagpur has performed exceptionally well in the areas of Research and Professional Practice and Graduation Outcomes, while the law school which is one of its kind focussing typically on intellectual property law scores high on Teaching, Learning & Resources and Research and Professional Practice.

Earlier this year Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur identified institutional ranking as a thrust area. Dwelling on the issue of institutional ranking Director Tewari said,

“Our goal should be to compete with the top ten universities in the world to climb the ladder of global ranking. However, institutional ranking is a sum reflection of holistic performance and impact created by any higher educational institution. The past Directors’ advisory group will engage extensively towards this goal.”

Vinod Gupta who patronized both the management and law schools and initiated the disciplines in the IIT system calls it a remarkable achievement and the overall excellence of the academic, research and graduate outcome culture at IIT Kharagpur. He said,

“In my view the student intake largely with Engineering and Science backgrounds enable them to focus more on analytical skills in research and other projects which gives them the edge over other schools. Additionally, being part of the IIT KGP system the schools have successfully attracted best-in-class teaching faculty. This leads to the overall success of the schools.”

Pandemic Healthcare Technologies Underway @IITKGP

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IIT Kharagpur has set up research funding for R&D work related to COVID-19. The Institute submitted a list of projects to the IIT Council last week of which 8 projects have been selected.

Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India appreciated and acknowledged the initiative by the Institute on his social media handle congratulating the Director Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari and his team of researchers.

Talking about the initiative Director Tewari said “It is our responsibility to improve the quality of life of the last person in the society. While we built some quick technologies to cater to the immediate needs of the essential service providers at the campus, we were simultaneously preparing project proposals and evaluating them keeping in mind the immediate need of the country, cost and product delivery period.”

The researchers would be working on several technologies including design and development of rapid diagnostic kit, real-time PCR machine, body suit for COVID-19 patients, personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and portable shredder integrated with sterilizer, Hazmat Suit with forced purified and cooled air circulation for medical professionals, bootstrapping ambu-bag as automated ventilator, telemedicine for fighting viral pandemic, large scale production of recombinant proteins for vaccine and testing.

An amount of Rs. 50 Lakh has been allotted for phase I of 8 projects towards development of prototypes. For most of these projects, the prototypes are expected to be ready within a duration of 3 – 4 weeks, while a couple of them would take about 6 months to deliver the results. The phase I is expected to start immediately after the lockdown is relaxed and the research staff are able to attend the laboratories. Meanwhile software related work would progress as usual.

“IIT Kharagpur has a proven track record towards development of indigenous health and hygiene technologies which are affordable, high-quality at par with globally accepted standards, and commercially viable. Our researchers are committed to deliver the prototypes within a constrained timeline considering the healthcare needs in the current situation,” added Prof. Tewari.

1	Development of smartphone-integrated paper-strip kit for rapid low-cost diagnostics of COVID-19 infection	Prof. Arindam Mondal and Prof. Suman Chakraborty
2	Design and Development of an indigenous Real Time PCR Machine	Prof. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Prof. Prasanta K. Das, Prof. Suman Chakraborty (ME Dept), with inputs from Dept. of Biotechnology and Physics
3	Towards large scale Production of Recombinant Proteins for Vaccine and Testing of Novel COVID-19	Prof. Sudip K. Ghosh, Prof. Ananta K. Ghosh and Prof. Ramkrishna Sen
4	Bootstrapping the ambu-bag as automated ventilator	Prof. Aditya Bandopadhyay + Faculty and Students from ME Dept
5	Design and Development of a Bodysuit for COVID-19 Patients to Prevent the Spread of Infection	Prof. Nishant Chakravorty
6	Telemedicine for fighting viral pandemic such as COVID-19	Prof. Jayanta Mukhopadhyay
7	A Hazmat Suit with Forced Purified and Cooled Air Circulation for Medical Professionals	Prof. Manoj Kumar Mondal
8	Personal Protective Equipment for Health Care Workers	Prof. Santanu Dhara and Prof. Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya
8.a.	Portable shredder integrated with sterilizer	Prof. Santanu Dhara and Prof. Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya

A fauji at heart

An account of Shib Sankar Das, Network Engineer (VC), Centre for Educational Technology, and one of the superstars leading the initiative of eLearning through online classroom at IIT KGP

I had joined the Indian Air Force (IAF) on October 31, 1981, as an Airman after completing my high school. I underwent training in Belgaum and Bangalore before being posted to Chandigarh in April 1984 to serve as a Radio Fitter in the AN-12 Transport aircraft. During the training I was adjudged the Best in Education, Best in Trade and Best All Rounder, and passed out as Leading Aircraftsman (LAC).

From the beginning of my service career, my target had been to improve my academic background. To fulfil my aspiration, I had joined the Graduate program of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) during my service in Chandigarh. I cleared the Grad. IETE examination in 1989 and after serving in IAF for about nine-and-a-half years, I took voluntary retirement from defence service on April 4, 1991 to join the Punjab Wireless Systems Ltd. (A Govt. of Punjab Enterprise) as an Executive Engineer.

I was, however, desperate to return to West Bengal as my family in Kolkata was going through a difficult phase and needed my support. Soon after my confirmation at the Punjab Wireless Systems Limited, I resigned, and joined IIT Kharagpur as a Technical Assistant in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communications in April 1992. Although my career took a step back, but I could now be with my family. Thankfully, I have not had to look back.

During my tenure in the Department of E&ECE, I joined a research project in the area of developing low cost ultrasound Doppler System on lien. The project was guided by Prof. Swapna Banerjee and Prof. Anindya Sundar Dhar and I actively contributed in the development of the front end circuitry of the prototype model. The teamwork led us to an Indian Patent in Developing an improved apparatus for ultrasonography using a continuous wave Doppler system. During this period, I also started working towards developing a non-invasive blood glucose monitor.

On completion of my deputation in the project in 2000, I was transferred to the Technology Telecom Centre to take care of its activities. During my two years’ tenure there, I developed necessary infrastructure for in-house testing and repair facilities of telephone instruments and underground telephone cable fault detection system.

In 2002, I joined back the E&ECE Department as part of the department’s technical resource pool. I completed my MTech in Microelectronics & VLSI Design from IIT Kharagpur in 2007. During this phase, I tried my best to advance the non-invasive blood glucose monitoring research projects that I was earlier associated, with active support from L&T, which could source us the required sensors and ICs. Our hard work bore fruit as our biomedical research work led by Prof. Swapna Banerjee and Prof. Anindya Sundar Dhar was recognized with the grant of an Indian patent in developing non-invasive photoacoustic blood glucose measurement.

It was under the tenure of Prof. Damodar Acharya as Director that I was transferred to the Centre for Educational Technology in 2009 to develop the virtual classroom infrastructure of the Institute in 15 locations spread across Kharagpur and the extension centres at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar. The primary aim was to start online MTech program in the disciplines of ECE, EE and ICT, to improve the quality of teaching for teachers in engineering colleges and also benefit industry professionals.

With former Director, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, and Sundar Pichai (extreme right)

It was a very challenging task to design and oversee the development of the classrooms in terms of acoustics, lighting and air-conditioning, installation and testing of video conferencing equipment at these locations alone without the help of any support staff. Continuous travel to all three locations was the need of the day and at one point things became very difficult to manage. The administration appreciated my concern and gave me a free hand to choose my team to help me with the job.

Later, following the Institute’s MoU with the Govt. of Chattisgarh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, I developed two more virtual classrooms in Raipur and brought Port Blair into our virtual classroom network. We installed the VSAT facility to connect Kharagpur with Port Blair for online teaching. During 2010-2013, I looked after the complete operation and maintenance of the 3-year MTech program from all five locations with the support of a few contractual staff members.

I have always loved to take up new challenges, and creating the infrastructure for the countrywide classroom program under the T10KT and NKN virtual classroom was one such challenge. It was quite difficult to design the T10KT studios in the basement of Kalidas Auditorium and three NKN classrooms in the Departments of ECE, Industrial and System Engineering (later shifted to Sir JCB Lab Complex) and GSSST, but I now feel happy that everything went well and we are still continuing to use all the infrastructure for their intended uses successfully.

A job well executed is always gratifying. I have derived immense pleasure from managing the NPTEL online certification program since the third quarter of 2015, when Prof. Anupam Basu assigned me this responsibility. Till 2015, IIT Kharagpur did not participate in the NPTEL Online Certification Program and it was primarily other IITs/IISc who offered industry focused online courses to bridge the gap between the academia and industry as per the inputs from the NASSCOM group of companies.

With Vice Chancellors of Biju Patnaik University of Technology and Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University

I took the initiative to join other Institutes in offering the NPTEL online courses in 2016 with just 12 courses. There has been a phenomenal growth in terms of scaling of the operations since then. Now we can proudly say that IIT Kharagpur is the single largest contributor of SWAYAM-NPTEL MOOCs in the country. More than 500 courses have been offered by the Institute so far. In the ongoing Jan-Apr 2020 semester, out of the total 391 NPTEL online courses, IIT Kharagpur alone is offering 94 courses.

To popularize the SWAYAM-NPTEL activities across the Eastern Zone, I have conducted more than 60 awareness workshops across the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and other North-eastern states. This has resulted in the acceptance of these courses by many universities for credit transfer and earning Honours degree in engineering programs. The result is reflected in the increase in the number of registered examinees from a mere 120 in 2016 to more than 25,000 now in West Bengal alone.

I also look after the day-to-day operation of SWAYAM Prabha DTH educational channels 11 & 13 of MHRD, coordinated by IIT Kharagpur. Besides the virtual meeting infrastructure of the Institute, I coordinate the recording and live streaming activities of ISWT, GIAN, LEAP, Annual Convocation, GES, etc.

In the face of COVID-19 related lockdown, the challenge before the Institute was to continue with the regular academic activities through online mode. I helped organize YouTube live based online teaching for the 1^st Year UG students during 8 am-6 pm. The program has been hugely successful, garnering a thousand or more viewers.

With inputs from CIC, I interacted with CISCO to get 200 WebEx licenses for our ongoing online teaching activity free of cost for a period of 3 months. Till the summer break, this helped our teachers to carry on with the classes as normally as possible. Around 80 per cent of our students have been able to attend these classes.

The Institute bestowed Best Employee Award in Group A category to me in 2018. Besides the regular institutional activities, I am also associated with the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Foundation (India) as its Treasurer since 2019.

I am thankful to the discipline that my career in the armed forces taught me when I was young. But a fauji at heart, I always like to fight in the trenches instead of coming to the forefront.

Study@COVID-Time with NDLI

IIT Kharagpur develops JEE Preparation Module on NDLI during COVID-19 Lockdown

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In a recent announcement JEE Main and NEET UG have been postponed till last week of May 2020 with Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Minister, Human Resources Development, Govt. of India urging students to prepare further for these examinations during this period. While the decision for the postponement was expected, students now need adequate online resources and e-learning materials to continue with their preparation.

IIT Kharagpur has been quick to address the issue by developing a preparatory module for JEE available to students for free on the National Digital Library of India platform. Students can visit the NDLI website https://www.ndl.gov.in/ or https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/ or log on to the NDLI mobile application. A special module named ‘Corona Outbreak: Study from Home’ has been added to the website which contains a wide range of digital content including those preparing for competitive examinations like JEE Advanced. The repository contains NDLI Tutorial for JEE Advanced for 12 years and Practice Questions and Solutions for JEE Preparation. Content for JEE Mains for 5 years is expected to be made available soon.

“The solutions have been prepared from the perspective of undergraduate students who have cleared JEE as well as subject matter experts and doctoral students in related areas. Hence the solutions are diverse and students can opt for their preferred methods. Further we have provided reference materials for related problems, so students can explore further the topics,” explained Prof. Partha Pratim Das, Joint-Principal Investigator, NDLI.

Students can browse the School option under the Corona Outbreak module or search by relevant keywords. The developers recommend registering on the portal for better user experience though the resources are available without any restrictions.

“Please visit and continue your studies. Please let us know how we can continue to support your preparations. NDLI is accessible through the web as well as mobile App. Be safe but let us be digitally active in academics and connected,” says Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Principal Investigator of NDLI, on his social media handle. He further urges to reach out to students who can be immensely benefited from this platform during this lockdown period. “Digital Libraries have become the next generation paradigm for people to empower themselves with knowledge and contribute to the knowledge gathering of this world,” he added.

NDLI was developed by IIT Kharagpur under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in the year 2016 as a National Mission project. MHRD has been promoting various e-learning platforms since the academic activities have been restricted in educational institutions earlier this month due to CoronaVirus outbreak. NDLI has been at the forefront of such e-learning platforms with over 4.8 crore content in more than 300 languages that can be viewed in 60+ formats apart from e-books (audiobooks, simulations, e-thesis, question papers etc.). The platform has over 55 Lakh users.

“The project, which has been collating content to democratize education for India, has shaped up to be the most promising initiative on the future of libraries from India and symbolizes a strong voice to tell the story from India’s standpoint,” added Prof. Das.

The Incredible 1970s and Spring Fest

Colourful festoons, huge sponsor banners and flags decked up the entire campus last weekend. Makeshift ‘pandals’ popped up and an air of festivity hung around. Students scurried across different venues. They had spent sleepless nights for weeks. It was that time of the year when students from all over India flocked to the campus for one of the most outstanding college fests in south Asia – the Spring Fest.

This year, Spring Fest saw a mini galaxy descend on campus. Around 150 alumni from the Batch of 1970 came back to their alma mater to celebrate their 50^th graduation anniversary. They also inaugurated the ‘ADDA’ and which is one among their many gifts to the Institute. The campus, departments, Halls, and most importantly, the Spring Fest brought back a flood of memories to this ‘young’ bunch of graduates who were more than happy to be back and share their memories of Spring Fests they were a part of, more than half a decade back.

“Our times were very different and so were our celebrations, you know. There was no such thing as corporate sponsorships way back in 1965-‘66-‘67. It was more of an Inter-Hall competition,” said Ms. Jayashree Singh, a 1970 graduate from the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering. She currently works with inhabitants of the Sunderbans, helping them fight economic challenges and lead a decent life.

“We had several events even during our time. There were dramatics, music competitions – both solo and in groups – and there were debates. Among all those 4-5 days of competitions, one evening was reserved only for classical vocal recital. The event you call ‘Pal’ now, existed in a different form in our times. Stalwarts like Pt Ravi Shankar, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Md Rafi and Mukesh, all came here and performed throughout the night! All of us would eagerly wait for this particular evening,” continued Ms Singh. Her eyes lit up with pride as she remembered Lata Mangeshkar housed in her Hall – SN/IG Hall of Residence.

Mr Sukhminder Singh Grewal, a resident of Connecticut and a former leading man in GE, USA, recalled his own fun moment. “There was a dramatics competition during one of the Spring Fests during my time. One participating college put up a play which went completely tangential for all of us! One of our batchmates mimicked a scene from the same play and screamed, ‘Turn off the lights; we all want to sleep,” he narrated. Grewal broke into a fit of laughter relating the sorts of mischiefs students were up to during Spring Fest.

Notable alumni and pioneer of the Indian IT industry, Mr Arjun Malhotra, remembers Spring Fest being celebrated in a much smaller dimension. He recalls that the event was very culturally rooted and was not as global as it is today. There was just one venue – the Jnan Ghosh Stadium. “We could attend all the events as the venues were not scattered like now. The Spring Fest, back then, was a very low-key event and there were just a few colleges from Kolkata and neighbouring districts which would participate,” said Mr Malhotra.

Alumni Clock Tower was inaugurated by Shri Amit Khare, IAS, Secretary, MHRD, Govt. of India

Amidst the hustle-bustle at the Tikka Circle for the Alumni Clock Tower inauguration, The KGP Chronicle caught up with the then Secretary for SoCult (read Socio-Cultural), Mr Dipak Basak. “Fifty years back, the expectations were quite different. We did everything – from constructing the stage by stealing dining tables from the mess, to setting up the sound system and changing backdrops within a few seconds! When you are in charge of something like this, you need to organize all the required materials all by yourself, and so we stuck to our age-old theme – beg, borrow or steal. There was no concept of outsourcing like today. We enjoyed the simplest pleasures of life like rejoicing if girls from Loreto College participated,” he said with a smile and a wink.

His friend, Mr Ravi Raj Bhatia, added, “We made huge stage backdrops by sticking drawing sheets together and painting them. They had to be 26’X 6’ in size, and mind you, there would be separate banners for every event. We attended all our classes in the mornings and only after dinner did we get time to paint these. There was a target fixed for us – one backdrop every night. So you understand the amount of effort that went in?”

As the crowd started dispersing from the Tikka Circle after the Alumni Clock Tower inauguration, this incredible batch of 1970 were seen taking selfies, laughing away to silly jokes, hugging each other, calling each other names they gave while in college, planning which event of Spring Fest to gatecrash into and so on. Repeated announcements for different events floated in the air as the forever young and Forever KGPians from the Batch of ’70 melted into the crowd.

An incredible moment

Times of India India Education Diary

Close to 150 members of the Batch of 1970, together with their spouses celebrated their 50^th graduation anniversary at IIT Kharagpur recently in a grand celebration titled the ‘Golden 2020 Reunion’ (from Jan 24-26). Batch members congregated from all over the world to commemorate the occasion with the twin inaugurals of ‘ADDA’ – their batch’s gift to the campus community, along with the Alumni Clock Tower which now stands as a gift from the passionate Kgpians across the alumni batches.

The Alumni Clock Tower was inaugurated by Shri Amit Khare, IAS, Secretary, MHRD, Govt of India, who lauded the IIT Kharagpur alumni for their thoughtful gift to the campus community. “As the District Collector of Darbhanga, which had two clock towers, I often wondered the need for them when people had their wristwatches to look at the time. I soon realized that they were great socializing points. Both ADDA and the Alumni Clock Tower would be places of interaction and exchange of ideas, which is what great institutions facilitate,” said Mr. Khare during the inauguration.

The Clock Tower has been designed by renowned architect and alumnus of the Institute, the late I.M. Asthana, for whom this tower was the last project. Thanking the batch for their sustained support to the Institute, Director of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. V.K. Tewari, said, “The Clock Tower may be made to display more features in the future, such as digital display of the temperature, humidity or announcements of major events. IIT Kharagpur has the largest infrastructure, students, faculty as well as alumni of all the IITs. With this enormous resource, particularly the assistance and mentorship of the alumni, no dream is impossible to achieve.”

Mr Khare (third from right) with the other dignitaries at the Clock Tower inauguration

Mr. Arjun Malhotra, a pioneering figure in the Indian software industry, Co-Founder of HCL, and a top fundraiser among the Batch of 1970, suggested that a commemorative postage stamp could be released by the government on the occasion of IIT Kharagpur’s 70^th anniversary next year.

‘ADDA’, the batch’s gift to the campus on their golden anniversary, is an expansive area with a sculpted garden and varied seating arrangement. Renowned architect Abin Chaudhuri designed the gigantic red emblem that marks out the space. Speaking on behalf of the batch, Mr. Ranbir Gupta, President of the IITKGP Foundation USA and reputed US-based architect, said,”’ ADDA’ – which reads the same from left to right and right to left – means different things to different people, but it belongs to the IIT Kharagpur’s alumni, its students, its faculty, the staff and the entire community of IIT Kharagpur. This beautiful piece that sits at the crossroads on the campus is a small token of our appreciation for the Institute.”

The Batch of 1970 was dubbed “The Incredibles” during the celebrations, and not without reason. Iconic Schools and Centres – G.S. Sanyal School of Telecommunications, Ranbir and Chitra Gupta School of Infrastructure and Design, PK Sinha Centre of Bioenergy, MN Faruqui Innovation Centre – have been founded by leading members of the batch. Batch leaders have also come forward to fund chair professorships, various flagship programs of the Institute, workshops, advanced tech labs, for yet to be instituted schools and academies and have also pitched in, together with other alumni, to reach internet connectivity to the hostels. Together they raised Rs 1.1 crore recently as a ‘Super Endowment Batch’, donating on behalf of even their departed classmates, to name a classroom in the Nalanda academic complex after their batch.

ADDA being inaugurated by Mr. Ron Gupta (second from right)

“The reason why the Batch of 1970 will remain a ‘Model Batch’ for all times to come is not because of a few of its active members. The synergy among the Batch is unique and incomparable,” said Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay, Dean, Alumni Affairs. To enable batch members to relive their joyous student days, the Grand Reunion was held simultaneously with the Spring Fest. ‘The Incredibles’ were seen partaking Spring Fest’s unique fare of entertainment, that included top performers like Divine and Ritviz, from the front circles among the audience.

Together with alumni all over the world, members of the Batch of 1970 also contributed for the setting up of the Alumni Clock Tower. “This is going to serve as a beacon for the entire campus,” said Mr. Gupta, who, as President of the IITKGP Foundation USA, has led the fundraising efforts. On behalf of his batch, Mr. Gupta also promised to fund a ‘Center of Happiness’ and a ‘Hall of Fame’ in the premises of the Technology Students’ Gymkhana.

“The Center of Happiness, to be established in association with the Rekhi Centre for the Science of Happiness, will be a huge space at the Gymkhana devoted to students’ wellbeing where they can pursue their individual interests, be it listening to music or practising yoga,” said Prof. William Mohanty, President of Technology Students Gymkhana. The Hall of Fame at the Gymkhana will record the major extracurricular achievements of the students.

India’s Own AI Resource Platform

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IIT Kharagpur today announced that it will collaborate with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, to develop a National Artificial Intelligence Resource Portal (NAIRP) platform powered by Amazon SageMaker to promote learning and development in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for all AI learners, practitioners, and researchers in India, and to make the search for AI learning resources simpler and more accessible.

IIT Kharagpur will use AWS Promotional Credits and Amazon SageMaker services to facilitate AI learning. In March 2019, IIT Kharagpur adopted the AWS Educate program to help students gain in-demand cloud computing skills, including hands-on AI experience on AWS Cloud.

NAIRP will provide access to computing facilities to users for AI learning and experimentation. Novice machine learning practitioners will be able to quickly search and get access to myriads of learning resources, and prototype the learned concepts into hands-on running modules without being held back by the lack of resources. In addition to this, the opportunity for joint research will facilitate the participation of students and researchers in contributing to open-source educational resources and workbook development for AI-related tasks.

“The contributions from AWS will enable us to provide cloud computing to all learners and reduce the high barrier to make training in AI more available,” said Professor Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, who conceptualized the development of NAIRP.

“There is already a great demand for professionals skilled in AI as well as resources, and this need will only increase in our society. The development of this platform will help boost the AI community in India,” said Professor Sudeshna Sarkar, Head, Centre for Artificial Intelligence at IIT Kharagpur.

Bratin Saha, Vice President AWS Machine Learning & Engines said, “AWS is delighted to work with IIT Kharagpur in developing the NAIRP platform powered by Amazon SageMaker, and we are excited about the opportunity to help make machine learning skills available to every developer. With more than 200 significant machine learning capabilities launched in the last two years, AWS has the broadest and deepest set of machine learning and AI services focused on solving some of the toughest challenges facing developers. We welcome the opportunity to work with IIT Kharagpur on some of those challenges.”

NAIRP was launched with initial funding from the Ministry of Human Resources Development, as part of the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) platform. NAIRP builds upon and expands NDLI to AI by indexing a wide variety of AI-specific resources such as learning materials, courses, workbooks, datasets, codes, tools and platforms. The resources will be classified by a comprehensive AI classification ontology and metadata standard which IIT Kharagpur is developing. AI resources from AWS as well as a variety of other sources such as Kaggle, GitHub, and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) will also be indexed.

The National Artificial Intelligence Resource Portal will provide search, browse, learning and computation services. The support for learning will be in the form of several structured learning modules with instructional materials and workbooks, as well as through indexing of available courses and materials from NPTEL and other sources. Hands-on AI training will be facilitated through workbooks and the cloud. The system will start off using AWS Cloud, and will also be connected in the future with the in-house cloud developed at IIT Kharagpur.