News

IITs moot creeping hike in student fees

The IITs are proposing an eight-fold increase in student fees from Rs 50,000 to Rs 4 lakh a year under sweeping proposals the institutes will present to the government.The institutes will propose to human resource development minister Kapil Sibal that the fee hike be spread over 10 years with a Rs 35,000 mark-up every year. The plan is aimed at helping the IITs become self-financing institutions. IIT Bombay, asked to suggest reforms to improve the research output of the IITs, has suggested that the government create a separate funding category for research.

Dunu's Unfinished Business

The slightly frayed jeans and long silver hair tied into a ponytail give him the appearance of an ageing beatnik, but unlike other ageing beatniks, there’s still a spring in his step and a edgy excitement in his voice. Dunu (Anubrotto) Roy, 65, got a BTech and an MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, in the late 1960s, but spent the better part of the next two decades repairing bicycles, water pumps and tractors in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district. It’d be easy to label him a slightly off-kilter “genius”, but even today, Roy would prefer being called a student revolutionary.

Start-ups in fund trouble

As downturn-hit investors turn more fussy and miserly, the country’s most prominent incubators are raising early-stage funds so their fledgling firms have the money they need to grow. VC firms, for reasons ranging from poor mentoring to a lack of quality entrepreneurs emerging from the system, seem to have lost faith in incubated companies. It’s a slow process, says Sushanto Mitra, chief executive, Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT Bombay. “VCs are not charitable organizations ... it takes two to tango.”

Billionaire Makes Biometric Bet

India has turned to billionaire Infosys Technologies Ltd. founder Nandan Nilekani ('78) to devise a fraud-proof identity number. A year from now he’ll begin rolling out the world’s biggest biometric database to enable the half of India’s 1.2 billion people who lack access to financial services to open an ICICI Bank Ltd. account or sign up for a Vodafone Group Plc mobile phone. A secure identity database will remove one of the biggest hurdles preventing the poor from accessing state benefits and the wider economy, Nilekani said.

Techfest to work with IRCC on technology transfer

Techfest-2010 will be working closely with IITB's Industrial Research Consultancy Centre on a unique initiative to transfer technologies to industry. Techfest-2010 will include several activities including lectures by eminent scientists worldwide, exhibitions, and some other features like techno-entertainment 'Technoholix' and interactive installations from around the world, called 'scintillations'.

IIT TechFest 2009

TechFest, the carnival of technology, is here. Since its introduction in 1998 till date it has grown in stature by each passing year. It not only showcases but truly encompasses everything that science and technology can stand for. Its a global platform that showcases Indian talent to the world over.

Ragas to rock

Set in the picturesque IIT Bombay campus is the Staccato Music Club. It is a known fact that IITians are big fans of music be it Indian or western. The students of the institute have the opportunity to choose between Saaz-the Indian music club and Staccato-the western music club. Staccato has 10 to 12 rock bands as members. Both Saaz and Staccato have 2 events each every semester. Saaz's 'Sur Bahar' caters to musicians who perform not just classical but popular music as well.

IITs devise schemes to attract faculty

The IITs are in the process of drafting faculty-incentive schemes like overseas travel and special programmes to attract more teachers. IIT Bombay currently is short of 200 teachers ... as the final phase of the 27 per cent other backward classes (OBCs) reservation is implemented this year, the institute wants to increase the faculty headcount to about 800 in the next three to four years.

Recruiters return to IITB

Last year, the IITs could place only 75 to 80 per cent students, thanks to the economic slowdown. This year, the response is better. Day one at IIT Bombay saw participation from 21 firms and 81 jobs on offer — an increase of 100 per cent over last year. The institute says it has already placed around 40 per cent of the students. Around 120 companies have visited the IIT Bombay campus till date, with 500 offers in their bag.

Vulture's Nest at IITB

"Vulture’s Nest", an initiative of IIT Bombay's Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell), saw over 20 teams participate in an aggressive session of doing investor pitches. Budding entrepreneurs presented their ideas and vied for funding from real-time investors and venture capitalists at IIT Bombay. While teams got five minutes to pitch their idea, there was a 15-minute interaction with investors.

Autonomy for IITs says Sibal

Concerned that Indian institutions lag in research output, HRD Minister Sibal said it was time the country thought differently and gave its education institutions freedom to think freely. Sibal’s remarks were prompted by a study on engineering education in India conducted by IIT Bombay professors Rangan Banerjee and Vinayak P Muley, which found that though India produces roughly 2.3 lakh engineering graduates, only 1% out of them go for research.

Nandan Nilekani - Governtrepeneur

Picked up business sense at IIT-Bombay; helped build Infy; now, Nandan Nilekani ('78) brings the spirit of entrepreneurship to the business of governing. He is Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and co-founder of Infosys Technologies. THE CHALLENGE: The UIDAI, too, is like a start-up. My prior success in no way guarantees success in this world and if I don't deliver then the consequences could be large.

IIT Bombay Distinguished Service Awards - 2009

On Alumni Day 2009, Distinguished Service Awards were presented to Bakul Desai (82), Praween Napate (81), Ajay Phatak (84), Dipak Sheth (75), Sanjay Jain ('87) and Sreedhar Kona (97).

Alumni in the news - Jan 9

Shreyas Navare's (08) caricatures to be inaugurated by Dr. Kalam | Nitendra Rajput (98) wins National Award for Best Applied Reaserch/Technological Innovation Aimed at improving the life of persons with disabilities by the President of India | Kashyap Dalal (02), founder of inkfruit.com which sells designer T-Shirts online | "3 Idiots" path for Mahesh Chauhan (93), CEO of Rediffusion India

e-Dog to sniff out explosives

"A prototype of the e-device is under development to smell explosives from a distance by a sensor coated with nano materials," according to IIT Mumbai professor V. Ramgopal Rao. To enhance security and check use of improvised explosive devices (IED) by terrorists and other criminal elements, the device with nano sensors could be installed at airports, railway stations, bus stands and other vital installations to detect them in solid, liquid or vapour form and seize before they are timed to explode.

iSense

In perhaps a first in the world, researchers at IIT Mumbai, have developed a handy kit that uses a drop of blood to detect heart ailments and predict a possible attack. Called ‘‘iSense’’, it is an outcome of research in nano-technology by Institutes Center for Excellence in Nano Electronics.

TechFest 2010 from Jan 22-24

Techfest, the Annual International Science and Technology Festival of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, is back with its 13th edition, which will be held at the IIT Bombay campus from January 22-24. Techfest started in 1998 and has grown to be the largest festival of its kind in Asia, which provides a platform for students to showcase their talents

IITB to get a bridge linking north and south campus

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will construct a motorable bridge connecting the southern and northern sides of the IIT Bombay campus. The move to construct the bridge comes after IIT-B had spared about 10,000 square meters of land for widening the Jogeshwari-Wikhroli Link Road (JVLR). The road widening under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) was carried out by MMRDA and in return the authority agreed to construct the bridge in the IIT-B campus.

IITBAA Pune organizes Innovation 2010

The IIT Bombay Alumni Association (IITBAA), Pune Chapter will organise ‘Innovations 2010,’ its annual event that provides platform to innovators for showcasing their innovations, on January 9. "Innovations 2010 will present innovative products or processes developed by the technocrats and will strive to bring before scientists, researchers, investors and the society at large, creative and innovative work of Indian Innovators in the sphere of science and technology that has a high degree of practical relevance to change everyday life.”

Pune City to implement innovation for renewable energy

The Pune Municipal Corporation will adopt Sumedh Bapat's innovation to create renewable energy through eco-friendly biogas technology which he had showcased at "Innovation", an event organised by the Pune Chapter of IIT Bombay Alumni Association (IITBAA). Bapat’s biogas technology generates electricity through generator with the use of food waste and the remains can be used as organic fertiliser.