The Hindu : Solemn start to technical festival

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 29, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kozhikode

Solemn start to technical festival

By Our Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE, FEB. 28. `Tathva-2004', the annual all-India technical festival, got off to a solemn start on the campus of the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, (NITC) at Chathamangalam, near here, today.

The new director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K), Krishna Kumar, inaugurated the festival at the New Lecture Complex.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Krishna Kumar said that in order to face global competition in the domestic market, one had to develop a unique design with local content. ``This local content will work as the competition cutting-edge. No multinational company can compete with Lijjad Pappad because of its strong local content.''

Addressing the students who had come from various parts of the country to participate in various technical competitions, he advised them not to lose sight of the business prospects of the projects they design as part of the competitions. ``You must remember that Nike shoes was just a project of a student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S. After his studies, the student pursued the project to make Nike a world leader among shoe brands in 20 years.''

R. Ravindran Nair, Dean (PG Studies & Research), NITC, said NITC was the only NIT which was sanctioned Rs.50 crores for five years for undertaking development activities by the World Bank. As many as 62 colleges including IIT, Chennai, and the NITs at Jaipur, Bhopal, Surathkal, Jamshedpur and Warrangal are participating in the fourth edition of `Tathva'. A total of 510 participants are competing in various events in the three-day fete. A sum of Rs.2 lakhs, out of the total budget of Rs 4.5 lakhs, has been allotted for distribution of prize money. The events include `Spardha' (paper presentation), `Prayoga' (design contests), `Prashnottara' (quizzing events) and `Doctrina' (seminars). Unique contests like debugging and structural building which test the creativity and subject expertise of the participants will also be held. Workshops and seminars are being organised along with the festival.

A mind-capturing mathematical workshop based on `Fractals' by Vinod Kumar and a management workshop by the managing director of Team Frontline Private Limited, S.R.Nair, were held today. Speaking at the workshop on `Need for leadership and inter-personal relationships', Mr. Nair emphasised the impact of `emotional intelligence' on technology and financial prudence. Workshops on embedded systems and biotech will be held in the coming days. An exhibition, which is an attempt to bring science and technology to the common man and where live models developed by NITC students are displayed, is being held along with the fete. Other major attractions of the exhibition are projects like `Know the Unknown', a paper garland spanning over two rooms which has the decimal value of `pi' written over it, automatic supply of water to wash basin and Vedic maths.

Important projects at the Architecture festival include redesigned old buildings like the `Arrachal Kettu' in Kannur and the Palayam bus-stand in Kozhikode, suiting modern trends in design. Another attraction is a language laboratory with the motto, `the language of technology meets the technology of language', featuring authentic collections of cassettes, discs and interactive software imported from BBC, London.

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