INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BOMBAY

The Alumni Day for 1998 is slated for 27^th December ’98 - an occasion on which the 1973 graduates will celebrate their 25 years standing as Alumni of the Institute. We hope all Alumni, irrespective of their vintage, will join in the Alumni Day celebrations. Remember this is the last but one Alumni day before the dreaded Y2K bugs take over the world!

Starting with the batch of 1970, the Alumni commenced a unique way of commemorating the silver jubilee landmark. The reunions, apart from generating much bonhomie and high spirits, became occasions for extracting pledges and contributions towards endowments to be earmarked for helping their Institute in numerous ways. The batch of 1987 decided to ‘jump the gun’ and have a ten-year reunion, but stuck to the tradition established by their seniors, and collected a handsome amount for faculty development. Given below is a brief report on the Alumni Contributions (financial figures updated to 30^th September, 1998).

The Class of 1970 started with an initial contribution of Rs. 380,000/- (in 1995-96) and this has been augmented further by Rs. 145,000/- (1996-97). The amounts which have gone into a corpus for class of 1970 Scholarships for B.Tech. students, have earned interest adding upto Rs. 132,190/-. As per the wishes of the donors, one scholarship is added every year, and the scholarships will go to each department in alphabetical order. We started with a scholarship in Aerospace Engg. Department in 1996-97, added one scholarship in Chemical Engg. Department in 1997-98, and will be adding another scholarship in Civil Engg. Department towards the end of this month. The scholarships are of the value of Rs. 10,000/- p.a. and so far Rs. 30,000/- (Rs. 10,000/- for 1996-97 and Rs. 20,000/- for 1997-98) have been spent towards the scholarships from the interest on the endowment. The current year’s commitment will be Rs. 30,000/-, and the expenditure will be Rs. 40,000/- p.a. when the full cycle is in force. The scholarships will go in the order : Aerospace, Chemical, Civil, Computer Science, Electrical, Engineering Physics, Mechanical, and Metallurgical Engg. & Material Science disciplines, and the cycle will start all over again with Aerospace Engineering.

The Class of ’71 began with a contribution of Rs. 224,000/- in 1996-97 and this was augmented by a further Rs. 177,111/- in 1997-98 and a further Rs. 10,000/- in 1998-99. The total amount in the corpus has earned Rs. 61,375/- as interest, and the total available sum of Rs. 472,486/- is earmarked for additional rooms/wing in a hostel. The additional wing of 100 rooms coming up in Hostel 4 (completion date May 1999) will evidently benefit from this donation.

The Class of ’72 started with a contribution of Rs. 7,77,501/- in 1997-98, and augmented it by Rs. 83,701/- in 1998-99. The interest earned is Rs. 50,537, the gross amount available being Rs. 911,739/-. The Class of ’72 also sent in a contribution of Rs. 930,380/- ($22,000) through the Heritage Fund in September ’98 and this amount has been placed in a term deposit. The Class of ’72 contribution is earmarked for maintenance of hostels, and only the interest accruing from the amounts deposited is to be used for the purpose. The Institute has completed painting of hostel no. 6 and Tansa house (project hostel located between hostels 4 & 5) earlier this year, and is taking up painting of hostels 2 & 3 later this month; the painting work is expected to be completed by the middle of December ’98.

Alumni of hostel 10 have contributed Rs. 230,512/- [Rs. 218,512/- ($5167) through the Heritage Fund, and the rest from Alumni of H-10 in India] which is being utilized for ‘Renovation of Hostel 10’ – painting and purchase of sundry items of long term utility to the hostelites. Co-ordination of the collection effort and the liaison with IIT Bombay were done by Anuradha Moulee in India and Poorvi Vora in the US; they hope to reach out to more H-10 alumni to join in the effort. Painting of hostel 10 is being taken up soon after completion of minor structural repairs (target date : end December ’98). Painting work is expected to be completed before the next Foundation Day (10^th March 1999).

We have also received a donation of Rs. 87,500/- from an alumnus during 1997-98, and the amount is lodged in a deposit earning interest; decision on the utilization of the interest is being finalized in consultation with the donor.

The batch of ’87 collection of Rs. 237,101/- (collected in 1997-98) has been placed an endowment, interest from which is earmarked for faculty development.

We had received $1500 (Rs. 52,376/-) towards ‘Excellence in Teaching Awards’. The first bunch of awards were conferred on September 7, 1998 (since September 5, ‘Teacher’s Day’ was a Saturday), and Dr. E.C. Subba Rao, Executive Director, Tata Research Development & Design Centre, Pune, was the chief guest. For the first year, six awards were made - with a citation and a cheque for Rs. 5000/- each. The recepients were : Professors P. Mathur (Chemistry), K.D. Joshi (Mathematics), H. Narayan (Electrical Engg.), K.P. Madhavan (Chemical Engg.), N.K. Khosla (Metallurgical Engg. & Material Sc.), and V.D. Sharma (Mathemaitcs). The balance amount is in a term deposit.

So far as the efforts at maintaining and elevating the qualities of Institute infrastructure, Academic Programmes, and R&D achievements to contemporary international levels are concerned, I’d best quote Robert Frost :"We have miles to go before we sleep". There have been very conscious and concerted efforts in this direction and those of you who will returning to the campus after a while will be able to discern the changes. The task on hand is arduous, and all those connected with these efforts would like to be spurred on by the ‘home crowd’. The efforts of alumni who are taking on the challenging task of mobilising support, and their cheering from the "sidelines" (often located in different parts of the globe) will add impetus to efforts towards the placing, IIT Bombay in the ‘International Top Ten’ league of academic institutions.

I reiterate my personal resolve to keep sending reports periodically. To begin with, would annual reports do? Feel free to respond on email or snail mail.

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