A college development initiative

The National Institute of Technology, Trichy (NITT), being a leading engineering institute in India, has students of the creamy layer (in terms of intellectual capital) of India. However, student talent remains untapped in many respects, one of them being for the development of the campus.

Hence, I and a friend of mine have embarked on a journey to set up group as the 'campus development committee', which will be a platform for students of NITT to get together to contribute to its development.

We would like to start from the academics. From talks with various people around the campus, we decided to start academic development from the entry point (of any student into NITT). The plan is to start with videos giving insight on what every department in NITT has to offer so that students clearing the All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) can make an informed decision on what major they would like to pursue for their under graduation.

More details on the same can be found in our newly created Google Group “NITT Campus Development Committee” (link). Please give us your opinions, insights or advice on the same.

More details on the Campus Development Committee can be found here.

My internship at Rang De

As I mentioned in my earlier blogpost, I did an internship in Rang De. I have completed it successfully and it was really productive and fun. A brief description of what I have done can be found on Rang De July 2009 Newsletter. I would like to thank Ms. Shirley Ghosh, Editor of the Rang De newsletter for refining what I had written. Below is what I wrote (for those who don't want to visit RangDe.Org).

It was whilst I was looking for an internship in December 2008 that I was introduced to Rang De by a fellow ‘yatri’ from the Tata Jagriti Yatra (www.jagritiyatra.org). A visit to the web site www.rangde.org had me completely hooked and thirsting for more. I immediately contacted Smita and expressed my interest.

Six months later I joined Rang De as an intern and started working on “Empower Futures", a loan scheme that aids higher education. Just as I began forming my opinions of “Another office with its share of mundane activities”, I was in for a surprise. Ram and Smita called for a meeting with the entire team. What followed was a brain storming session on how to get more social investors for Rang De. That is when I realized that I was in for a huge roller coaster ride for the next month and a half.

Since then, I have felt that I am a part of the Rang De team and that we’re all working towards its mission collectively. I've been actively involved in several of their initiatives such as the campaigns, both, online and offline, blogging and content development for the new web release. That is the most fulfilling part of an internship in a professionally managed start up like Rang De - you get to do a bit of everything and you learn a lot.

To sum it all up, the internship was highly productive and also great fun. In fact, Rang De now has one more loyal supporter and I intend to work as a volunteer particularly by promoting them on social networks and by blogging. So, see you around.

Tata Jagriti Yatra 2009 - an invitation

Dear Friend,

The Tata Jagriti Yatra is a unique 18-day train journey that takes 350 selected bright youngsters across India, introducing them to extraordinary social and business innovators, the “real heroes” of our country. It is an exciting, exhilarating and exhausting journey as we travel over 8500 kms across the landscape of India. The aim is to
awaken the Entrepreneurial spirit among Indian youth, which stems from a firm belief that Enterprise Led Development (ELD), is the way
forward for a young but “developing” country like ours, especially in the current economic climate.

The interactive visits on the journey gave the Yatri’s a rare opportunity to understand first hand, the personal stories behind the successful enterprises. These included Bunkar Roy’s Barefoot College, R. Elango’s rural transformation at Kuttambakkam, the remarkable McDonaldisation of cataract surgery at Aravinda Eyecare, each leaving
left a deep positive impact on the young Yatris.

Last year the Tata Jagriti Yatra was an unprecedented success. The diverse group of Yatris learned as much from each other as from the
inspiring role models we visited. Similarly, the journey was as much an exploration of India as it was a discovery of the self.

The impact of the Yatra will continue to be monitored closely but for each of our Yatris this has been a journey of "Once in lifetime" and
many are actively supporting the next Yatra. I would like to inform about Tata Jagriti Yatra 2009 launch and registration. The registration and application is free and there are sponsorships
available for deserving candidates that get selected. Please visit www.jagritiyatra.com for more details.

Don’t miss out this chance in a lifetime opportunity. To find out more please go to the website or feel free to call me to discuss my
personal experience in the Yatra in 2008.

The summary of the Tata Jagriti Yatra 2008 can be viewed at http://ping.fm/HcdEZ

In case of any queries please feel free to contact me.

Warm Regards,
Chandrasekhar.k
Ambassador
Tata Jagriti Yatra 2009
Web: www.jagritiyatra.com
Phone: + 91 9441166143

reBlog from rangde.org: The Official Rang De Blog

My blog entry on http://www.rangde.org/blog/:

The evenings of Saturday July 11 and Sunday July 12 saw the Rang De team at Globus T Nagar, Chennai with newly designed bookmarks (by Shayak of Cheese care), a big white banner, a new punching bag (painted by Diksha and Praveen) and other materials like sheets with the “Rang De Globus Quiz” and visiting cards.rangde.org, The Official Rang De Blog, Jul 2009

Please read the remaining and comment. Thanks

IIM Trichy at NIT Trichy temporarily? pros and cons

Recently an article has been posted on Times of India that there has been some formal communication from the IIM - Trichy (IIM - T) committee with the director of NIT trichy asking for classrooms, hostel allotment for 140 students and staff quarter allotment inside the NIT Trichy campus. As a NIT Trichy student, I post my comments and perspective on the article:

IIM-T using NITT's facilities for the next few years is a good deal for us with regards to students, networking, mind-share etc. NITT students and IIM-T students can network to create enterprises to provide solutions to problems across the country and the world. This would also allow for a long term synergy between NITT and IIM-T students, (even after IIM students don't reside in NITT).

The article says "The prime reason for the committee to opt for NITT was because of the fact that the institute had adequate hostel and staff quarters facilities to cater to the IIM’s requirements, apart from classrooms." This is not true. NITT doesn't have adequate hostel facilities to even satisfy the needs of current students and the expanding strength. Below is the current situation:

4 first year students live in rooms meant for 3
2 second year students live in rooms meant for 1
Also the strength is increasing by the year due to the OBC reservation directive. If NITT students themselves aren't being given appropriate accomodation, how are the IIM students? If it is at the cost of NITT students accomodation, that is unacceptable.

I propose a solution, however I'm not sure of its feasibility though. A seperate hostel block could be built for the IIM students. IIM will take up the cost and responsibility of building it and NITT will give the land. Two years down the line NITT will pay-up the building cost. The reason behind this solution is that the NITT administration is slow and somewhat ineffective. However, if the IIM administration takes this up, they will complete it by 2010 for their students to study in.

Please share your thoughts.