PART 3 Volume 1 | Issue 2
March 2013 |
India’s most prestigious magazine dedicated to Engineering Community
HARBINGERS OF SARASWAT THAROOR
BANERJEE
ELEVATING INDIA’S STATURE ON THE GLOBAL ENGINEERING MAP www.engineeringwatch.in
ENGINEERING Economy DHOLERA : SPECIAL INVESTMENT REGION
Society
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GUJARAT INTERNATIONAL FINANCE TEC-CITY (GIFT)
KANKARIYA LAKE FRONT, AHMEDABAD
Environment Editor’s Note
NARMADA CANAL
From the dawn of Indus Valley Civilization to the current times, Gujarat has registered an impeccable presence. It was the first to give refuge to the survivors of religious persecution in Iran and faced the very initial brunt of foreign invaders who made an attempt to abrogate its indigenous culture & prosperity of its industrious populace. The Gujarati resilience never gave up. It erected a strong resistance time and again and emerged victorious despite all odds. The astounding progress made by the people of Gujarat in the last decade has become a global talking point. It has become one of the most industrialized states of the country with a per capita income well above the national average. The accomplishments on several other developmental parameters have been mesmerizing as well. What is it in Gujarat that makes it such a vibrant place and how can its success story be replicated in other parts of the country? To understand the same our Director Relationships, Ravi Pokharna underwent a 3 day educational tour to Gujarat aptly named as "Prakash Yatra", along with a group of 10 select youngsters who were chosen from a pool of 200 applicants from across the country. Engineering India, the Gujarat Way is thereby a compilation of the first hand experiences of these youngsters. Hope this booklet would somewhat help in understanding the innate DNA of Gujarat's success.
SARDAR SAROVAR PROJECT
www.engineeringwatch.in/gujarat
INDIA THE GUJARAT WAY
Prakash Yatra - An Introduction This Governance tourism trip was meant for the individuals interested in seeing the developmental work of Gujarat. More tha n 200 young students a nd professionals applied to be the part of the trip. Finally a group of 15 was selected by an academic jury. During the three day trip the group got an opportunity to meet and hear from the leadership of the a) Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam- The Sardar Sarovar project built on Narmada, known as the lifeline of Gujarat is benefitting the irrigation, drinking water supply situation, power conditions, wild life conservation along with flood control; b) Gujarat International Finance Tech City better known as GIFT - being built as a global financial hub with the support of world class infrastructure and resources; c) Dholera Special Investment Region – being developed as a global manufacturing and trading hub. It is a very ambitious project aiming to double the employment potential, triple the industrial output and quadruple the exports from Gujarat in the next five years; d) Water and Sanitation Management Organization - the highly successful community managed program of water management and sanitation; e) GMB Ports The BRT bus ride of Janmarg which is awarded as the Best Mass Transit Project by GOI and also bagged the Award of excellence in the Best ITMS project category by GOI, made everyone realize what visionary planning and effective governance can achieve. A model which has tragically failed in States like Delhi has been executed so well and efficiently in Gujarat goes on to say that the leadership does matter. The group also visited the Sabarmati River Front and the Kankariya Lake Project which is one of the highly acclaimed and awarded urban
development project nationally. Longest trip in the 3 days was to Charanka (130 km) which houses a huge solar park which produces 600mw of electricity, a project which has helped Gujarat put itself as an energy surplus state from being an energy deficit one few years back. Visit to Mahatma Gandhi Ashram brought into light the rich cultural and historical role Gujarat plays on the national map. The warm reception by the senior team at Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) was very appreciated by everyone in the group. The last but certainly not the least, visit was at BISAG (Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo- Informatics). The group was pleasantly shocked to see what a small team at BISAG is able to achieve which remains a distant dream in the other states of country. With the effective use of space technology and its innovative usage in solving regular rural and urban issues sets high benchmarks for the other India states to achieve. The group couldn’t have asked for more. One hour free flowing unrestrained chat with one of the most popular leaders of the country, Hon Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi. And what inspiring aura that he carries, everyone got awestruck with his presence. Rather than choosing to hear laurels of his government he instead kept on insisting everyone to give him feedback and suggestions to further improve the governance of the state. Towards the end he appreciated RMP for its efforts and invited more such group for the governance tour of Gujarat.
JANMARG :: AHMEDABAD BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM
GUJARAT SOLAR PARK
GUJARAT STATE PETROLEUM CORPORATION
GUJARAT MARITIME BOARD
Indeed the trip was a memorable one for all of us. Ravi Pokharna
SABARMATI RIVER FRONT
March 2013 | Engineering Watch
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Pawan Kumar
Anand Shekhar
Jagriti Chhateja
Mesmerised By 96
The ownership spirit of Gujaratis for their state.
The Ownership and Pride demonstrated by different departments of their role and contribution to the development of Gujarat.
The Economic growth and the percolation of benefits till the lowest class and villages unlike in many other states.
3 Differentiators of Gujarat Industry oriented planning and development.
Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ
World Class Infrastructure Motivated work force Team work and conjoint action (bureaucracy and polity)
Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ
Organised Government work Support to businesses that in turn leads to economic growth Facilities even in villages (such as 20hr plus electricity which is difficult even in cities in my home state of UP)
Opinion about replicating the Gujarat growth story to other states of the country Others state can copy the 'willingness' and 'approach' of Gujarat to development. Copying the model might be challenging keeping in view different contexts for different states.
Gujarat has demonstrated a feasible and doable model of development comprising of conjoint planning and action by bureaucracy & polity facilitated by IT and technology to monitor progress and performance.
I think it is not going to be easy, but it is possible. But what it needs more than anything else is the willingness from the political parties/leaders and stringent actions against bribes.
One project you visited made you feel like visiting a facility of global scale and repute Gujarat Solar Power Project producing 500 MW power is really very ambitious, sophisticated and fascinating to visit. Private-Public partnership at such a scale and with such a futuristic approach is appreciable.
GSPC :: They seem to be emerging as a n a t i o n a l t re n d s e t t e r a n d s e t t i n g benchmarks for the sector.
Kids City, Kankaria Lake.
Single most important factor which has led to the immense progress which Gujarat has made Trust and backing of Gujarat people on their political leadership allows the government to function and perform. It generates a strong political will and vision for the government. This becomes a vicious circle over time.
www.engineeringwatch.in/gujarat
Political leadership and commitment of Mr. Narendra Modi.
Stringent laws against corruption and bribery. A professional & progressive work environment even in Government.
From L to R Nikita Dugar, Abhishek Chaudhari, Mukul Priyadarshi, Pawan Kumar, Ravi Pokharna, Mohammad Shahbaaz, Vinay Mavalankar, Rachit Sharma, Jagriti Chhateja, Anand Shekhar, Naitik Vyas, Anoop AJ, Ankur Sharma
Naitik Vyas
Rachit Sharma
Ankur Sharma
Mesmerised By Satellite education
The vision of the Government of Gujarat which is not thinking of just the 5 year political terms but undertaking ambitious projects like BRTS and GIFT which will create immense value in the long run.
Roads(Highways)
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3 Differentiators of Gujarat Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ
Bureaucrats’ attitude Marketing strategy Leadership quality of Chief Minister
Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ
Commendable law & order Professional Management of public service points No lags or corruption faced by the citizens in getting issues resolved.
Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ
Peace(Law and order) Uninterrupted Power Supply Roads(Highways)
Opinion about replicating the Gujarat growth story to other states of the country More interaction with youth of the same state to find new ways of doing things. Also doing the marketing for their project in better way. May be use of social media.
It will be very difficult unless the leadership desires it. Gujarat has been able to create an atmosphere where development has become the core and it will be extremely hard to replicate unless similar leadership is shown by other states.
It requires a Strong will power of a State head, so I don't think my state(Uttar Pradesh) can replicate this…..atleast in next 5years.
One project you visited made you feel like visiting a facility of global scale and repute Gift city
The solar project in its scale, novelty and ambition is absolutely world class.
Gujarat Solar Park
Single most important factor which has led to the immense progress which Gujarat has made Leadership quality of Chief Minister and vision as well.
The clear, concise political will which instated by Shri Narendra Modi. The leader defines the path on which the office bearers tread.
Strong Will Power
March 2013 | Engineering Watch
OPINION Indian universities are able to establish their credentials as far as research is concerned and also when their work culture improves. Foreign students may come to India, but it is most likely that they would be from the Third world and not from the developed countries. The small number that may come from the developed countries would be basically to get a 'feel' of the Indian environment and also to develop linkages that could help in trade or other business ventures later. India's middle class is growing and the parents have the propensity and the capacity to pay for their higher education. Further, as the middle class expands, more job opportunities are likely to be created within the country, thereby, motivating Indian graduates to remain in India rather than immigrate. In that eventuality the number of students going abroad for higher studies may drastically reduce.
Brig (Dr) R S Grewal, VSM Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University
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REVERSING
THE BRAIN DRAIN Shifting the focus from teacher, text and tests to problemsolving and small-group collaboration Indian higher education institutions lack a research culture. The main reason for the state of affairs is that the country's universities suffer from "the 3 T's" - i.e., too much emphasis on teacher, text and tests and too little engagement in problemsolving and small-group collaboration. Thus, many students go abroad for higher studies mainly because of the quality of education. On the other hand not many students from developed countries opt to study in India. This one-way flow is likely to continue till the time Indian universities are able to ensure that meaningful research is carried out, preferably, in collaboration with the Industry and other research establishments. In addition, involvement of local communities in encouraging research is vital. Indian society would also have to adopt philanthropy as a concept to give a boost to the research activities in the universities. That can happen only when the
www.engineeringwatch.in/rsgrewal
Such a development would have an adverse effect on the capacity of universities in the developed world. In addition, the recession in the world economy has had an adverse effect on the budget allotment and consequently the research activities in the developed world. The universities in the West are apprehensive that consequences of paucity of funds may trigger a more robust two-way flow of talent between Asian countries, on the one hand, and North American and European nations, on the other. Such an environment may motivate students, faculty and university administrators from the Western countries to accept assignments in Asia. If the Indian politicians, regulatory bodies and the bureaucrats show the required political will and maturity, the higher education system can still be rejuvenated. Lack of good quality research is a big inhibitor to attract talent from abroad and to motivate NRIs to return. The budgetary allocations for research may have to be increased substantially and the academia would have to ensure that it measures up to the faith reposed in it by being sincere and diligent in developing a credible research culture. An expanding higher education sector in India faced with shortage of good faculty and academic administrators would be able to absorb talent from abroad easily. If we want to compete with China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, Indian policy planners would need to initiate steps to ensure that we pay attention to the quality of research in our universities.
e-books and e-highlights! Some of the best uses of technology for
you and me!
the real point of this story. While reading a physical or ebook, if I come across a great quote, an interesting story, an anecdote or a lesson, I highlight it. (Yeah, I know... it ruins the physical book etc etc, but that's the only way I can speed-revise my books!!) So, this is what a typical highlight in a physical book would look like:
Alok “Rodinhood�
Kerjiwal As a digital entrepreneur, I often feel that there is a great divide between people who 'get' technology and those who don't. For those who don't dig technology (and I am sure for good reasons of their own), I observe that these people get intimidated by Tech and withdraw from using 'it' (devices) and its services 'web' etc. I want to inspire them through this column by showcasing real examples of simple technology and how that can delight our daily lives. I want to push them to accept that tech adoption is a must! On this note, I invite everyone to be a contributor to these series to help and inspire others!!
This is from page 335 in the book 'Miracle of Love' stories about Neem Karoli Baba compiled by Ram Das. However much I may want to, it's difficult to share all these actual highlights and sentences in physical books with my friends and family. Now, consider what I suddenly discovered when I was reading the book 'Autobiography of a Yogi' by Paramhansa Yogananda on the Kindle app on my iPad (the book was bought by me on Amazon.com available to be read via the Kindle app for iPad):
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So, this is my physical book library at home:
Now, imagine carrying this book shelf with me on a plane, or into a hotel. It's impossible. You may ask me, "Why on earth would you carry a bookshelf on a trip? Just carry a couple of books, and don't behave like a moron.... I 'would' have agreed, until the tablets (iPad, Kindle) allowed me to actually carry as many books and bookshelves with me, wherever I wanted - in a plane, in a cave, on a mountain top, in a bathroom. Check out my iPad 'e-book' shelf:
So, e-books help in ease of reading, transportability, etc etc etc. Now, we knew that all along, didn't we? So, let's move on
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Kindle (Amazon) actually records what other people reading the same book, have highlighted in their version of the book; and then gently suggests the same to me when I am reading the same book!! What better and more delightful example of consumer delight technology can there be, better than this one? How Amazon does it, is so simple. Regularly, 'ehighlights' of all e-books get pushed by the tablets they are being read on, to the Amazon servers for compiling and indexing; and these highlights get pushed back into each book as often as possible, with combined scores and counts! So, going forward, I need to read an e-book, and while I may be lazy, or may not be that attentive in reading the subtler parts (especially in a religious book), these 'Crowd Sourced' highlights, that pop up in non intrusive ways, could delight me and make me understand and appreciate the book even better!! These highlights could even be used as 'excerpts' for me to read before buying a book, since they would give me a great glimpse of what's in the book, by regular readers like you and me (rather than some fancy reviewer)!
March 2013 | Engineering Watch
MOOCs Massive Open Online Courses
Opening new gateways to premium quality higher-education Manish Upadhyay (Co-founder, LIQVID) & Amitava Maitra (Head –Content, OKS Education)
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Higher education: The problems of scaling quality and business models which don’t work Like any other service, quality education is tough to scale. In today’s era where knowledge is becoming increasingly complex, interdisciplinary, highly specialized and prone to very rapid obsolescence – quality higher education as a consequence has proven to be very resistant to scaling. This has resulted in a panworld scenario where while there have been unprecedented demand, the supply of premium education has been restricted to the elite few who have the wherewithal to gain entry into the hallowed precincts of a very few niche institutes of higher learning. Across the world, it’s a well-known fact that most of these premier institutes are either funded by governments or run off by massive endowments set up by some philanthropic trust. Most other institutes find it nearly impossible to find faculty who are both knowledgeable and have the ability to teach such courses. Simply put, in a scenario where there are a vast number of geographically distributed and dispersed students with modest financial means and a few institutes with the capability to offer a high quality education, conventional brick and mortar based education business models just don’t work. And just to compound this is the fact that increasingly in the future people will need to continuously upgrade their skills in niche areas – a fact which renders the traditional higher education supply chain incapable of passing muster. Feeble attempts at solutions It’s not that this problem had not been recognized in the
www.engineeringwatch.in/moocs
past. Solutions have been tried out in the garb of distance education and in the past through various forms of technology based learning including Television and computers. However, they have consistently failed because of few, simple reasons. For starters these materials have never been pushed by some well-known brands be it elite institutions or celebrity professors. Two – related or unrelated to reason one- the quality of materials have been fairly poor and mostly non-interactive in nature. Thirdly both the print and the early computer or internet based materials failed to deliver on the social aspect of learning –they simply did not allow students to form communities and learn together. Technology and MOOC Today’ technologies however allow for all the above and that’s ushered in a completely new movement called MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses. It must be pointed out that while open content has been around as a while, the packaging into distinct open courses which run with start and finish times, with on-line batches of students has been a fairly recent one. But already there are quite a few names which have become famous. MIT has launched MITx, Harvard has Harvardx and together they will offer courses on a platform called EDx, as has Stanford. And if numbers are anything to go by, the response has been more than staggering. Stanford’s MOOC in “Artificial Intelligence” attracted over 100,000 students from across 90 countries. Udacity which offers a course called “Building a Search Engine” has seen around yet another 100,000 students enrolling. And
there are many other organizations which offer MOOCs –such as “Coursera” and “Udemy”. How do MOOCs work? Typically MOOCs are created by top professors from top universities both of whom have iconic statuses. While there are many variants, a typical course has video tutorials with embedded quizzes and tests. On-line technological platforms allow learners to collaborate and answer each other’s questions, discuss topics and review and critique each other’s assignments and reports –thus fostering a sense of community and peer based learning. The collaboration based creation of courses and learning makes for rapid changes, improvements and additions in terms of moderated user generated content. The large numbers of learners on a technology platform also allows the meaningful deployment of ‘learning analytics’- a branch of study which looks at how learners learn. This then can be taken into consideration in the next version of the course – thus completing the classical loop of the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) model . While today’s courses feature mostly recorded video tutorials, in the future materials are bound to include simulations, games and technologies which allow on-line project work and assignments which can be evaluated through a blend of technology and human interventions. Sites like “Academic Earth” actually provide recordings of live lectures (instead of specially recorded faculty only video of Coursera type of sites), thus making the experience a fairly authentic one. Business Models While many institutions offer free MOOCs, some organizations are for-profit. But by and large, the learner benefits by getting free courses. Accreditations or certifications are what students have to pay a modest sum of money for. This makes sense for both the educational institution and the student. While the institutions get to reach out to huge number of students which using ordinary delivery channels they would never be able to, the students get to attend courses for free and have to pay only for certifications or other premium services. As is the case with other internet enabled ventures, innovative business models will surely come into play too. For example, Udacity, which is a for profit organization plans to make its monies by offering a list of students with proven skills to recruiters and collect a fee in return. MOOCs in India: Some imperatives Infrastructure and Policies: In India where broadband penetration is still very poor, educational organizations can also leverage their
existing infrastructure to provide internet access hubs where students can come and learn. Further investments also need to be made to provide cheap broadband connectivity and low cost computing devices such as tablets which can then be used by students to access MOOCs. Policy initiatives should ensure that MOOCs are recognized as ‘legitimate’ learning and as a result are recognized by both the government and industry. Needless to say, this cannot happen without developing proper assessments and certification infrastructure involving proctored, technology driven systems. Higher Education India has an acute shortage of premier institutes in the realm of higher education and thus the case for low cost, high quality MOOCs is very compelling one given the large demand in terms of sheer volumes. While leading Indian universities and institutes of learning have to take the initiative in developing MOOCs where the content is India specific, for other domains – they can collaborate with universities abroad to localize the content. While the theoretical and knowledge aspects can be dealt with in MOOCs, the brick and mortar infrastructure can focus on lab, practical work and skill development. Also other institutes which do not carry the ‘premier’ tag and perhaps lack high quality teaching manpower can facilitate the delivery of MOOC content rather than in trying to build and deliver original content. The combination of these two factors can free existing capacity and build scale. Vocational Education As per estimates of MHRD, MLE and NSDC, India needs to train more than 500 million people in vocational skills. Though there is in theory a massive demand this is also an extremely price sensitive audience and thus the cost for ‘premium’ learning becomes a hampering factor. Thus it becomes a ripe case for investments in MOOCs which can be jointly funded and operated by the industry which needs this trained manpower and the government which wants to facilitate the training. Just as we described in higher education, MOOCs can allow an optimal usage of ‘brick and mortar’ infrastructure for practical, hands on work and thus help in scaling high quality content delivery. Conclusion The MOOCs and the open learning movement they embody is here to stay and it’s not just the students who stand to lose out if such offerings are not made available in India, even the institutes who don’t participate in this movement will be in the long run wiped out by those who do.
March 2013 | Engineering Watch
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INSTITUT
E
OG
Y
KA
LI
10 Glorious
TECHNO L
CH
OF
A RA N NIG
AM
KALI CHARAN NIGAM INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BANDA No. 1 Engineering College in Bundelkhand Region
YEARS
in the service of Bundelkhand
2003-2013 KCNIT is a glaring example of an Institution inspired & instigated by the ideal of creating a meaningful difference through techno-managerial education. Established by Mr. Arun Kumar Nigam, a former IFS officer, KCNIT organizes an annual contest namely Bundelkhand Pratibha Samman which reaches out to the remotest terrains of this backward region and hunts for the future Ramajunams and Ramans. Probably, Mr. Nigam and his dedicated band of team is delivering much more for the cause of Bundelkhand than their political and bureaucratic counterparts. Following are glimpses of Bundelkhand Pratibha Samman 2013 which has assumed the stature of a sacred ritual amidst the students of the region.
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Mr. Arun Kumar Nigam Chairman Kali Charan Nigam institute of Technology, Banda
Mr. Shyam Ji Nigam
AMBALA YAMUNANAGAR KURUKSHETRA
Training & Placement Office, KCNIT
SAHARANPUR
MUZAFFARNAGAR BIJNOR BAGHPAT MEERUT
JYOTIBA PHULE NAGAR
GHAZIABAD
RAMPUR
MORADABAD GAUTAM BUDDHA NAGAR BULANDSHAHR
PILIBHIT BAREILLY LAKHIMPUR KHERI
BUDAUN ALIGARH
SHAHJAHANPUR
KANSHI RAM NAGAR MATHURA
MAHAMAYA NAGAR
SHRAVASTI
ETAH
BARABANKI LUCKNOW
UTTAR PRADESH AURAIYA
BHIND
SHIVPURI
JHANSI
FATEHPUR ALLAHABAD
NAGAR LALITPUR
SATNA
VIDISHA
SIDHI
SINGRAULI
SAGAR KATNI
DAMOH
RATLAM UJJAIN
SONBHADRA
PANNA
MANDSAUR RAJGARH
SHAHDOL UMARIA
SHAJAPUR BHOPAL JABALPUR
RAISEN JHABUA
ANUPPUR
MADHYA PRADESH SEHORE
NARSINHAPUR
INDORE
DINDORI
DEWAS ALIRAJPUR
MANDLA
HOSHANGABAD
DHAR HARDA WEST NIMAR
SEONI CHHINDWARA
EAST NIMAR
BARWANI
BETUL
BALLIA
VARANASI ST. RAVIDAS CHANDAULI NAGAR
CHHATARPUR
ASHOK
GUNA
JHALAWAR
DEORIA
GHAZIPUR
CHITRAKUT
TIKAMGARH NEEMUCH
JAUNPUR
KAUSHAMBI
BANDA MAHOBA
KUSHINAGAR
GORAKHPUR
AZAMGARH MAUNATH BHANJAN
PRATAPGARH
HAMIRPUR
ST. KABIR NAGAR
AMBEDKAR NAGAR
SULTANPUR
RAE BARELI
ORAI
DATIA
SHEOPUR
BASTI
FAIZABAD
UNNAO
RAMABAI NAGAR
KANPUR (URBAN) GWALIOR
SIDDHARTH NAGAR MAHARAJGANJ GONDA
KANNAUJ ETAWAH
MORENA
BALRAMPUR
UTTAR PRADESH
MAINPURI FIROZABAD
AGRA
BAHRAICH
SITAPUR
FARRUKHABAD HARDOI
BALAGHAT
BURHANPUR
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Mr. Ravi Pokharna,
Mr. Neeraj Sharma
Director Relationships, Engineering Watch
Co-Founder, Investors’ Forum India
Quiz Time 103
Free Laptop Distribution by Chairman Mr. Arun Kumar Nigam
Participants in Mega Final
Bundelkhand Famous Diwari Folk Dance
Prize Distribution
Career Guidence by
Mr. Himesh Madaan (Youngest Motivational Speaker)
March 2013 | Engineering Watch
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