November, 2013 volume 3, issue 11 www.mriu.edu.in
buzz
INBRIEF
Tribute to the Late Chancellor
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Aditya M Chanana from FET reached the semi-finals of Clean & Clear Delhi Times Fresh Face 2013
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Udaan: Orientation at FMS
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EPSI Conference at Chandigarh was graced by Haryana Chief Minister
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Dr. N.C.Wadhwa talks about modern education and Indian values
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Know about the Manav Rachna Innovation and Incubation Centre
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Major Gen. Bakshi speaks on dynamics of Campus placements
PAGE 15 MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE FORM OF ARTICLES Campus Buzz welcomes articles, view-points on any topic which you may want to discuss with your friends and colleagues. Suggestions are welcome. It is your newspaper so let’s make it interactive. Send us your articles so that we can carry them in our next edition. Write to us with your contact details at: pen@mrei.ac.in roma.pr@mriu.edu.in
TEAM MEMBERS OF CAMPUS BUZZ Editor-in-Chief: Dr Amit Bhalla Editor: Roma Ghosh Team Leader: Aman Bhatnagar Core members: Sugandha Singhal, Mohit Behl, Salony Bansal, Aakash Mandal, Mohit Behil, Amit Kumar Singh
THE LEGACY CONTINUES... Dr O.P.Bhalla left for his heavenly abode on September 16, 2013 and left the gargantuan legacy of Manav Rachna in the hands of his dynamic sons, Mr Prashant Bhalla and Dr. Amit Bhalla. They will take his vision forward and take the flag of Manav Rachna not only across the country but globally while they continue to provide quality education . All of us at Manav Rachna will continue to honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to the work he loved so much. It is the commitment of each one of us which will reflect on what he meant to all of us and to the world at large Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life -- think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. - Swami Vivekananda
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hancellor Sir’s was a humble beginning. When he decided to initiate the Co-operative Housing Movement in the late Eighties leaving his flourishing medical practice, it must have been a difficult step. It was uncharted territory – but then that was what Dr. O. P. Bhalla was all about. Chancellor Sir loved diving deep into the unknown. That housing initiative at Fairdabad’s Sainik Colony spread out over 200 acres near the Badhkal Lake – the first of its kind in the city – meant to provide shelter to lower middle and middle class citizens at highly affordable rates at a ‘no-profit, no-loss basis’ is today a prestigious address. As President of the Ex-Sainik & Karamchari Co-operative House Building Society, Dr. Bhalla did the groundwork for one of the most modern and self-dependent mini townships. It had its own water supply, electric sub-stations, metalled road network, prestigious schools, most renowned temple of Faridabad, a shopping complex,
Dr. O. P. Bhalla with his sons, Prashant Bhalla (to his right) and Amit Bhalla to his left
community centre, parks and beautiful horticulture. The hard work was recognized: Sainik Colony was awarded the first position in Northern India in Co-operative Housing Sector in 2000 by the National Co-operative Housing Federation of India. All because of the ‘Quality Seeker’ Dr. O. P. Bhalla. Even his initiatives in the co-operative field got him recognition at the international level where he represented India at various forums in Switzerland, Bangladesh, Singapore, United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong among many others. That co-operative movement was the beginning. It established Dr. Bhalla as a leader: he was elected Director of Haryana Cooperative Housing Federation and later became Director of
the National Cooperative Housing Finance Corporation, New Delhi. But it also made Dr. O. P. Bhalla a builder – indeed a builder in more senses of the word than one. In one grand move, he had not only understood the concept of cooperation but found it possible to infect it with his ultimate dream of achieving quality in everything he did. That search for quality saw him play a lead role in establishing the Shiva Temple in Sainik Colony. The magnificent edifice boasts of a majestic Shiva Linga of 21¼ feet height and 6 feet diameter. A deeply caring man, he was also one of the key activists of Samanvaya Mandir established by Swami Satyamitra Nandji, former Shankaracharya and founder of the Bharat Mata Mandir, Haridwar.
TRIBUTEBUZZ After establishing the foundation for a better environment – the Sainik Colony- Dr. Bhalla turned to nurturing young minds. He joined the M R Education Society in 1995 and started the first private unaided engineering college in Faridabad in 1997: Career Institute of Technology & Management. The Institute was granted autonomous status by the Government of Haryana from the 2008-09 academic session and has been accredited twice by National Board of Accreditation. Ministry of Human Resource Development, and conferred the ‘Deemed to be University’ status to Career Institute Technology & Management in 2008. Dr. Bhalla’s initiative acquired speed and there was no looking back. It was a double-pronged move: while he guided the institutions and kept on adding courses, on the other, he pursued his quest for quality. Then came the M R College of Education and the Manav Rachna College of Engineering in 2004. In 2006, the Manav Rachna International School at Sector 21-C, Faridabad, was established along with Manav Rachna Dental College. From then on, schools were established at a blinding pace: the Manav Rachna International School at Sector 14, Faridabad came in 2007, the Manav Rachna International School at Sector 46, Gurgaon was set up in 2008 and the Manav Rachna International Schools -at Sector 51, Gurgaon and at Eros Garden, Faridabad – were born in 2009. A great believer in the youth of India and the heights that the country could reach, Dr. O. P. Bhalla was well aware of the vast pool of talent that the country possessed that had to be tapped and nurtured. The creation of the schools and colleges and ultimately the university was only a small step toward the achievement of the dream of providing quality education that was at par with the best institutions in India and abroad at affordable costs. The other part of the dream was bringing the best from across the world. Many multinational companies and foreign Universities joined hands with Dr. O. P. Bhalla through joint R & D Projects, Sponsored Projects, Faculty and Students Exchanges, etc. to enrich the quality of education at Manav Rachna. Among these institutions and multinationals are KPMG, HAY Group, Learningware, Curtin University, Australia, Hiram College, iCarnegie and Mosaica Education Inc., of USA, University of Toronto and Algonquin College of Canada, AIS St. Helens, New Zealand, Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Finland, Leeds Metropolitan University and Teesside University, of UK, University Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia, Tsukuba University, Japan, University Sains, Malaysia, Kunskapsskolan Inc., Sweden and many others with whom the process of cooperation is on. Dr. Bhalla with his undying interest in the betterment of human beings was not satisfied with the setting up of schools and colleges. His concept of a human being was one who was not merely fit in mind and body but lived in a conducive environment. He undertook social welfare projects for the benefit of the community. The Radio Manav Rachna which he so fondly shaped aired programmes for the benefit of society belonging to different strata. Whether it was programmes for the youth or for the
rural housewife, for him every channel was important as long as it spread the message of well-being. Apart from providing liberal scholarships to meritorious boys and girls, handicapped and economically backward students, Dr. Bhalla initiated a “Health for All” movement that included arranging Blood Donation Camps on a regular basis, establishing Free OPD Clinics in Dental Care and Physiotherapy at the Siddhadata Ashram, Sector 21-C, Faridabad, Mahavir International Centre, 5, NIT, Faridabad and a Mobile Clinic for the neighbourhood, arranging Thalassaemia awareness camps and workshops for Prevention and Eradication of Dengue, etc. Today, Manav Rachna Educational Institutions are regular recipients of awards for Blood Donation and Horticulture promotion by the Red Cross and district authorities. In between, he also adopted village Dekola for all round development. Chancellor Sir’s work did not go unnoticed. Honours and awards came from across the nation and foreign shores.
November, 2013
n January 13, 2011: Swami Vivekananda National Award for building New India through Excellence in Education.
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Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya…
n November 17, 2011: Indira Gandhi Priyadarshni Award at a conference on “India of Indira’s Dream” to mark the 94th Birth Anniversary of Late Smt Indira Gandhi n January 25, 2012: Hind Rattan Award by NRI Welfare Society of India for promoting Unity, Progress, Friendship and Cooperation. n June 17, 2012: Honorary Doctorate Degree by Medicina Alternativa affiliated to The Open International University for Complementary Medicines, Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the proceedings of the World Congress of Integrated Medicines held at Kuala Lumpur, Malyasia. n June 20, 2012: International Achievers Award for the year 2012 in International Achievers Summit at Bangkok by Indian Achievers Forum and India-Thai Business Association, Thailand, jointly for his distinguished services in the field of education and social development.
n June 17, 2005: Vikas Sheromani Puraskar presented by his Excellency Lt .Gen (R) Ajay Singh (Hon’ble Governor of Assam) awarded by the institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi. n August 5, 2005: Bhartia Sheromani Award presented by H. E. Mr. A. R. Kidwai, Hon’ble Governor of Haryana.
n November 22, 2012: Toppers in Engineering Education Award by Hon’ble Union Minister Mr. K. Suresh at a conference organized by Business Sphere Magazine.
n November 19, 2005: Foundation against Thalassemia presented Dr. O. P. Bhalla, a certificate of appreciation for organizing Blood Donation for their course.
n August 15, 2013: Lt. General (Retd) H. E. Mr. K. M. Seth (former Governor of Chhattisgarh) at the 32nd Annual Conference 2013 of All India Conference of Intellectuals conferred ‘Haryana Ratan Award’ for his contribution in the field of Education and Social Welfare.
n December 22, 2005: Rashtriya Nirman Gold Award presented by Mr. Manik Rao, Hon’ble Home Minister (State), Government of India, and Mr. E. V. F. Evong, Hon’ble Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, for “Individual Achievement and Excellence” organized by Indian Society for Industry.
Dr. O. P. Bhalla, Founder and Visionary lives on in our lives. His work, his achievements – indeed his life – will always guide us to attain what he always desired: to spread his message of peace and prosperity amongst the people of India and the world at large.
n August, 2006: Rajiv Gandhi Excellency Award by Executive Director of Economic Studies.
RJ Diksha with Chancellor at Radio Manav Rachna studio mile on face, brightness in eyes, a futuristic vision in mind and a dream of providing quality education. Dr. O.P.Bhalla the visionary, philanthropist and most importantly a person with a golden heart. Dr. O.P.Bhalla the man who gave a gift of true education and knowledge through Manav Rachna Eduactional Institutions in 1997 and changed the identity of the city from industrial town to an Educational Hub. He introduced in July, 2009 another beautiful gift RMR 107.8 FM, the only and first community Radio Station of Faridabad. His idea of starting a community radio station gave another strength to the community through various programmes be it sports, health, current affairs, music and civic issues. RMR 107.8 airs 24* 7 various programmes but most of the programmes like health, news and educational programmes were the concepts of Dr. O.P.Bhalla who personally took keen interest in conceptualisation and designing of the shows. During his visits in RMR 107.8, he always tried to gave new ideas and concepts for the shows. Programmes related with industries and achievements of the students and our city Faridabad. He was the one who played the role of true guide ,mentor and a motivator for the city only “RMR 107.8” and the whole team. Once during his interview with me on radio manav rachna107.8 FM he shared his success mantra i.e. “always Speak Truth”. The path of truth is little tought but it gives you the assurance of success and a peacefull living. Being a radio jockey I personaly would like to describe his personality and life with a famous song “Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya,har fikr ko dhuyen mein udaata chala gaya” ……… His words and his vision will always motivate us to do the best throughout our lives for the society. Thank you sir for showing us the path of truth and humanity.
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Diksha Bhaskar Bhatia RJ Cum Project Manager Radio Manav Rachna107.8
A STUDENTS’ MAN Chancellor took pleasure in being with students
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1. Dr Khanna, Dr O.P.Bhalla, Mrs Satya Bhalla with students from FAS 2. Sports was always his pet subject. Dr. Bhalla always welcomed students to perform in inter-collegiate sports and appreciated their laurels 3. The New Year always began on a religous note 4. Dr.O.P.Bhalla with the students and their MR V2 car 5. Saving Mother Earth was priority for Chancellor. Never left an opportunity to plant more trees 6. The project carnival by FET was very much valued by
5 Chancellor 7. Dr Khanna with Chancellor Sir and students and Ms Gurjeet from FAS after their visit to Japan 8. Celebrating his last birthday with students and well-wishers 9. Appreciating the achievements of students from MRCE together with Dr Naveen Parakas
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SPIRITUALBUZZ Remembering Dr. O. P. Bhalla, his thoughts, his inner life
COL. V. K. GAUR, ADVISOR, MREI, DIRECTOR, MRCED, TRACES THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PHILANTHROPIST DR. O. P. BHALLA
Col. V.K.Gaur with Dr. O. P. Bhalla, Dr. N. C. Wadhwa and Dr. M. M. Kathuria
Diamonds are diamonds for ever !
he icy hands of destiny snatched away a true Karamyogi, Raj Rishi, Our Mentor, Role Model and Architect of MR family of institutions on Monday 16, September. As was his wont, whole life he continued his normal office duties till the last working day. His death leaves behind a gaping void which would remain a challenge to all his admirers. Dr. O. P. Bhalla, the founding father of MR left behind a trail of stirring professional derring-do which will continue to be a beacon for posterity amongst members of MR Family. Having made a humble beginning as early as 1997, Dr. OP Bhalla’s irrepressible urge, evangelistic zeal, astute professionalism, pragmatic approach and indomitable courage propelled MRIU to its present imposing status. During this journey of 17 years, establishing six international schools, a deemed university, an Engineering College, a Dental College, a college of education and a community radio station are achievements which transcend human endeavour. Besides, Dr. O. P. Bhalla always engaged himself in philanthropist service to the society through a legion of health camps, blood donation camps, scholarship to the needy, awareness programmes against life threatening and terminal diseases, promotion of art, culture and other disciplines of fine arts. He established a sports academy and an international shooting range which are comparable with the best in the National Capital Region. He adopted Mr. Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar as brand ambassadors of MR. His tremendous love for cricket has been translated into a corporate cricket tournament where the talented players rub shoulders. He endeared the presence of the icons of Indian Cricket, Bishan Singh Bedi, legendary Kapil Dev, the ever stylish batsman of the yesteryear, Mohd. Azharuddin, Madan Lal and Chetan Sharma for guidance and motivation of the budding crop of talented cricketers. His vision for higher education revolved around quality, research and extension of service to the society. He translated his vision by developing symbiotic relationship with industry and collaborating with a large number of leading universities in Europe, USA, North America, Australia and NewZealand. He rendered yeoman service to the citizenry of Faridabad to the extent that a large number of our students occupy coveted positions in Corporate, Public Sector, Government both civil and the armed forces. The perennial inadequacy experienced by the people of Faridabad for career opportunities was addressed in a most accomplished manner by his untiring efforts. A great societal service this ! In fact Dr. Bhalla’s unbridled love and affection for residents of Faridabad never waned even after 25 year of unparalleled service in broad sectors of education and cooperative housing. Dr. Bhalla, leaves behind two sons: Prashant and Amit as his illustrious progeny to be bequeathed with his rich legacy to enable the MR Family to scale the pinnacle of excellence. Mrs Satya Bhalla, his wife, has heen a fountainhead of inspiration and encouragement behind Dr. Bhalla’s sterling achievements throughout his life. His innings had been a cachet of rare genius and altruism. MR fraternity in tribute to him, who rose above the challenges of time to leave an imprint of effort and achievements that has shaped our present and will inspire our future. We shall always treasure the memories of the great soul with great affection in our hearts.
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A SALUTE TO A PERSON WHO BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN THOSE AROUND HIM AND GIVE LOVE , INSPIRATION , FAITH AND ENCOURAGEMENT. roadly Speaking ,human beings have viewed life from two extreme positions : from the standpoint of the physical body and from the standpoint of the spiritual self . It is the tendency of man to take the first . No philosopher is needed to teach him this . To take the second requires culture . The basic need of the world for the effective solution of its problems is a change of outlook on life . Man’s serious outlook has to be transformed in to the spiritual by progressive training . The whole process is the key to his material as well as spiritual greatness. The key to the solution of life’s problems is the right determination of the goal and the way of life . Man’s plan of living depends on his idea. The search for the meaning of life ends with the finding of man’s true nature and the process of its fulfillment . The fundamental difference between man and what we call the lower order of life is not in the physical form but in the psychical function. In human life the mind has reached a level at which it can think. Man not only sees , but In human life there is an ideal , a regulative principle , a philosophy . Man’s outlook on life determines his way of life . To Man the art of life is more important than mere living. A life devoid of meaning and purpose is regarded as of little value . He who has no aim in life is like a breathing machine in human form . Man alone considers it glorious to sacrifice his life for the sake of the ideal . Such martyrdom immortalizes him . There have been martyrs in religion , in philosophy , in science, in nationalism . We revere them as Heroes . In man self consciousness is much more developed than in other living beings . He is fully aware of himself as an individual distinct from the rest of the world. He can analyze his own being. He can distinguish the self from the non-self. He draws a distinction between the body and the mind and knows that he has an outer as well as inner life . He finds that his inner life is greater , deeper and more glorious than the outer life . The physical body , however dominant and fascinating forms but only the exterior of his personality. The intellectual, moral, aesthetic and spiritual aspects of life are the expressions of his inner consciousness.
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By Ar. J. Saigal, a close associate
Diamonds are diamonds for ever !
To Sir, With Love The loss is immeasurable, the memories vivid and the learning unmatched. I bow my head in gratitude to the legend who shall remain unparalleled.. For those of us lucky enough to get to work and sharing our moments with Dr O.P.Bhalla, it’s been a lucidly great honor. Dr O.P.Bhalla helped usher in the era of quality education and then led a cultural transformation whether it was through his various projects of community radio station, thalessimia campaigns, blood donation campaigns or plantation projects, or the immense interest he had in sports towards creating a healthy mind and a healthy body. Through his extraordinary leadership, Chancellor helped to transform the campus
November, 2013
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THE JEWEL IN OUR CROWN Dr. N. C. Wadhwa, Vice Chancellor, Manav Rachna International University, recounts the many facets of the gem that was Dr. O.P. Bhalla, the origin of all that Manav Rachna stands for today
pointed to his dream as a founder: Manav Rachna would be one of the top educational institutions in the country. The effort of collaborating with foreign universities only went to show the zeal which he wanted to inspire within the students. He understood the dream which r. O. P. Bhalla, who many youngsters had of going shaped an abroad to cherish and enjoy the educational movement comforts of a foreign lands. called Manav Rachna So that they could get the left for his heavenly best of both worlds, he abode on September focused on getting his 16, 2013. But his students to intern in mission will continue foreign countries for with Manav Rachna atleast one semester. Educational His magic touch Institutions dedication transformed everything, to train and equip and everyone, who its students with came in contact with Dr.N.C.Wadhwa welcoming the Chancellor the latest him. An important to the 6th Manav Rachna Corporate knowledge and characteristic of our Cricket Challenge Cup in March 2013 skills. extraordinary Keeping in Chancellor is that he mind the values, the visionary strived for, always referred to himself, in all humility, as our students are trained to face global an ordinary man. His belief was that challenges which mould them to become anything could be achieved with ideas and responsible citizens of India. A work culture flair. Generous and always encouraging, of theoretical and applied research leading though his rapidity of ideas could to creation and dissemination of sometimes be challenging to implement, Dr knowledge, is imbibed in our students. Bhalla remained throughout a strong While Dr. O. P. Bhalla is no longer with us, champion of interests of the institutions. but his rich legacy is a standing testimony One of the missions closest to his heart of excellence at work, the fragrance of was Research and Development. He left no which will continue forever to inspire us. stone unturned to provide facilities for Dr.O.P.Bhalla was more than our research. He encouraged the Teachers and Chancellor: He was a progressive students of all disciplines to put in their educationist fired by high ideals, a visionary very best efforts and find path-breaking and with a practical approach and a pious original solutions to identified problems. believer but secular in outlook. He had New innovations by the students achieved infinite faith in human beings – that was with the help of their Faculty members the most important element of his life and were always encouraged by him. He pushed one that took him to create the institution them to do better and betterand never as it is today. The visionary’s extraordinary stopped to appreciate the smallest efforts. interest in everything around him, his love Unlike most of us, he never hesitated to for sports and eagerness to engage our compliment improvement and excellence. It students in games, besides studies and extrais, therefore, not surprising that a record curricular activities was amazing. number of research papers were submitted His commitment to the cause of ‘quality at national and international forums. education to all’ was total and it inspired Taking Manav Rachna to the global map him to move ahead ceaselessly till his last whether it was through students’ exchange day. What made him so special was that he programmes, new collaborations or he was a man with a ‘vision’ — a vision of being honoured with a doctorate at something new in education, of something Malaysia, spoke volumes about the wide so necessary and easily acceptable at this horizon he was able to foresee and point of time in history. We vividly visualize. remember one of his last speeches to the The Revered Chancellor has left the students of management: Why do we need huge responsibility of the gigantic to go to IITs, he asked. Without belittling Institutions on the able shoulders of his the IITs and their work, Dr Bhalla dear sons Mr Prashant Bhalla and Dr. Amit promised that Manav Rachna would be Bhalla, who with their valuable experience equal, if not better than the IITs in the and clarity of thoughts will concretize his future. That must have fired the students to dreams and take Manav Rachna to greater do well and aim high. His words also heights.
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into a modern research university with diverse programs. He helped to set the university on a path to growth, vitality and inclusiveness. His rich legacy will live on forever through the countless initiatives that began during his tenure and will continue to thrive under the able leadership of his sons Prashant and Amit Bhalla. He never took one step backwards, always marching forward, together, and as he often said in many of his addresses, “I need to sanctify a dream and once I dream I take all steps to turn it to reality,” such was the vision of the dynamic personality. The University’s very name Manav Rachna reflected his unconventionality. In an era when educationists tended to describe their Institutes with the names of their districts or states or
even their own names, the Visionary believed in coining a name which related directly to every human being who pronounced the name. For him Manav Rachna or Creating Better Human Beings was the foremost purpose of his life. For Chancellor Sir , education was a force for social and economic change. He always believed in providing the best teaching methodologies.He has left the reigns of his legacy in the dynamic hands of his two sons and they will fulfill his vision with the guidance they have received from him. And each one of us will have to be there to contribute to the growth and fulfillment of a vision which a living legend left for posterity. Roma Ghosh Editor, CAMPUS BUZZ
TECHBUZZ
November, 2013
FUELLED BY CHANGE Electric cars using renewable energy sources might replace liquid fueled vehicles. While liquid fuel can also power cars, the engine is typically about one third as efficient as electric drive. Here is an analysis of what works best for cars he amazing success of the Tesla model S proves that electric cars may have a chance of replacing liquid fueled vehicles in the long run. Skeptics point out that most of our electric power today comes from coal which is dirty and inefficient. We must shift to clean, renewable energy sources. But the question that naturally arises is whether that that is really practical. The Tesla has proven that we can use photovoltaic solar power to recharge pure electric cars. Let’s calculate how
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180 acre Alamosa Solar plant will generate an estimated 76,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Dividing by 180 acres, we get 422,000 KWh/yr/acre. Since we can drive three miles on a kilowatt-hour, we find that we can drive 1,266,000 miles per year per acre which is quite encouraging! CPV uses an array of magnifying glasses to concentrate the sunlight onto tiny photovoltaic chips. This only works well under clear sunny skies. In areas with many cloudy days, we would use fixed photo-
Concentrated PV solar electric
1,266,000 miles/year/acre
1/94 acres/car
PV panels solar electric
729,000
1/54
Algenol, Joule algae ethanol
234,000
1/17
Wind power electric
165,000
1/12
Palm oil diesel fuel
21,500
1/2
Sugar cane ethanol
15,600
.86
Corn ethanol fuel
10,200
1.32
Soy diesel fuel
2,679
much land is needed to renewably fuel a car using several possible electrical and biofuel approaches. We will calculate the number of miles per year that can be driven using an acre of land to produce the power. We can then compare the miles/year/acre numbers for some real-world renewable energy approaches. Let’s start with the most efficient first---a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) plant in Colorado. Amonix’s
miles/year/acre. Wind can be combined with solar energy on the same land and can produce almost twice as much at sea where winds blow steadily. Liquid fuel can also power cars but the engine is typically about one third as efficient as electric drive. In
26x9,000 = 234,000 miles/year/acre. Sugar Cane ethanol powers many of the cars in Brazil. It produces about 600 gallons per year per acre so you can drive 26x600 = 15,600 miles/year/acre. Corn ethanol has been heavily subsidized so it is really available in
my opinion, the best efficiency biofuel operation is a pilot plant in Florida run by Algenol. They grow a genetically altered cyanobacteria (algae) that ‘sweats’ ethanol in large, soft plastic tubes. They claim to have produced 9,000 gallons/acre of ethanol in this pilot plant. Since ethanol has only 72 percent of the energy content of 91 octane gas which would be enough to drive
great quantities but it makes very poor use of the land and a lot of water and fuel is used to grow it. It typically yields about 400 gallons per acre which translates to 10,200 miles/acre/year. Palm oil diesel produces about 500 gallons/year/acre in tropical climates. Palm oil has 20 percent higher energy content than 91 octane gasoline so let’s assume 43 miles per gallon. 43x500 = 21,500 miles/year/acre. Soy diesel yields about 57 gallons/year/acre so 47x57 = 2,679 miles/year/acre. To summarize, here are the results, arranged in order of land use efficiency, with an additional column showing the acres needed to support one car based on 13,476 average miles driven per year: Though solar electric is the clear winner based on land use, biofuels are still in the race (particularly if commercial scale) designer algae becomes a reality. Biofuels have a gigantic advantage in remote areas because no power lines are needed. The liquid fuel can simply be picked up and delivered by trucks and ships. High-capacity power lines are very expensive to build and are seldom found in remote, tropical areas where land is cheap. The existing sources of biofuels from soy and corn are an embarrassing result of political influence and heavy subsidies. We must stop letting politicians make technical choices! Palm oil is a productive source of biofuel. Malaysia has 12 million acres in cultivation but many of the new sources are developed by burning peat and clearing jungle habitat.
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This is a boom for Indonesia and Malaysia but countries who burn coal and have already cleared their wilderness are hypocritically protesting. Oil palms are not the problem. They are guilty only of being very productive. Peat is the precursor to coal. Perhaps it can be sold as fuel as it is in Ireland. In the long run palm oil could be an almost carbon neutral source of energy that is far better than petroleum or coal. But more productive crops such as Algenol’s algae could greatly improve the efficiency of land use. The yields for algae can potentially be even higher than shown on the table. Another algae startup promising even higher output is Joule Unlimited. They have predicted
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voltaic panels that can also capture diffuse light from cloudy skies. For example, the 100-acre Jacksonville solar plant in Florida generates 243,000 kilowatt-hours per year per acre. If we multiply by three, that is enough to drive 729,000 miles/year/acre. We can also look to wind power as another approach. The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas generates 55,000kWh/year/acre, enough to drive 165,000
One of Delhi’s hottest fuchchas is from Manav Rachna A student from FET Mechanical Engineering, Aditya M Chanana did Manav Rachna proud as he reached the semi-final round of the competition Clean & Clear Delhi Times Fresh Face 2013. He extends his thanks to the Management of the University for giving him this huge platform It’s been a breathtaking experience reaching the semi-final round of the Clean & Clear Delhi Times Fresh Fac“It’s been a breathtaking experience reaching the semi-final round of the Clean & Clear Delhi Times Fresh Face,” says Aditya Mohan Chanana. This student from FET Mechanical Engineering just walked into the competition which was organized by Delhi Times without much hope of reaching as the winner at Manav Rachna. “Honestly it wasn’t easy reaching the first position at the college event. I was truly nervous in the talent hunt round but once I cleared that I confidently cleared the question and answer round which took me to attain the first
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position in my University.” And according to Aditya – that was the beginning of a real new experience. Around 100 fresh faces were chosen across the capital and NCR who had the opportunity not only to visit the TOI office in the film city in Noida, but also had the experience of personal interviews and photo shoots. “I assertively cleared these rounds and was short listed to 16 contestants. Out of these 8 were girls and 8 were boys,” says a jubilant Aditya. “But the high point of the competition was when we went to Amjad Habib’s hair studio where we were given a total make-over,” he says. The youngsters were amazed to see how they looked before and after the makeover. “It was an amazing experience wearing designer clothes after our make-over session with trendy haircuts and makeup. I had never experienced anything like this before,” says the student of Manav Rachna. “I have to thank my University Management for bringing such a huge event to the
campus and I am glad I was a part of it. I never imagined that I would be able to go right upto the semi finals. This event has made me rub shoulders with big personalities in the fashion world. And this would never had been possible without the huge platform that the event gave us.” It was a roller-coaster ride as Aditya puts it but it has made the youngster more confident and most of all grateful for such an opportunity which has been an out of the world experience.
ethanol production of 25,000 gallons/year/acre and also direct production of biodiesel using another algae strain. Algae has been difficult to tame, but it has great promise for remote, sunny areas where land is cheap. Salt water or polluted water can be used and fresh water is distilled out in the process. Most growing plants waste large amounts of energy building supporting structures but algae can just float in water. Electric cars are now my favored bet in the horserace between electric and fuel power. History has shown that progress in electronics generally outruns everything else. Solar photovoltaic power is progressing at its usual breathtaking pace. Soitec is already working on a next generation CPV design that will use four-layer cells with four different semiconductor materials stacked to capture a very wide bandwidth of light. The efficiency of this chip is an amazing 43.6 percent, which should make it possible to increase the numbers on the table above even further. It will be an exciting race and I’m ready for whatever happens.
By Akash Mandal General Secretary International Engineer Federation Civil Engineer 4th Year, FET-MRIU
SPORTSBUZZ
November, 2013
5
Meeting the Challenge
Sporting Talent
Manav Rachna College of Engineering students showed their true mettle in sports when they participated in Chakravyuh-2013
The sports teams of Manav Rachna International University participated in Udgosh 2013, IIT Kanpur, and made us all proud by bringing back several laurels
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he sports-inclined students of Manav Rachna College of Engineering had been to IMS Ghaziabad, for participating in the Open Sports Meet, Chakravyuh 2013, held from 7th -11th October 2013. The Manav Rachna sports brigade, which comprised of 65 students and 3 officials, took part in different games like Volleyball (Boys & Girls), Basketball (Boys), Cricket(Boys), Badminton (Boys), Football (Boys) and Table Tennis (Boys). About 2,500 Participants from various Universities/Colleges took part in Chakravyuh 2013. Our teams excelled in their chosen fields.
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The team which participated at Chakravyuh-2013
Results are as follows : 1. Football (Boys) defeated by Sharda University
3-0
Semi Final
2. Basketball (Boys) defeated by NIU Ghaziabad 3. Volleyball (Boys) defeated by IMS ,Noida
22-14
Quarter Final
21-16,16-21,21-14 Quarter Final
4. Badminton (Boys) defeated by YMCA, 3-2 Delhi 5. Table Tennis (Boys) defeated by SRM 3-2 University 6. Volleyball (Girls) defeated by NIU 21-12,21-18 University
Quarter Final
7. Cricket (Boys) defeated by IMS Ghaziabad
First Round
6 Wickets
Quarter Final First Round
The students had an awesome experience and enjoyed themselves to the fullest. They realized that physical fitness is of core importance in the life of a sportsman. No wonder, physically fit people are able to meet life’s toughest challenges.
t Udghosh 2013, organized by IIT Kanpur, our MRIU teams of Basketball (Boys & Girls), Volleyball (Boys & Girls),Football (Boys), Cricket (Boys), Table Tennis(Boys) and Squash (Boys), put in their very best efforts, and came out for the most part, in flying colours. The The winning cricket team event, which was held from 26th September to 29th September 2013, had around 3000 participants from around 45 Universities of the country. Most of our teams did very well, specially MRIU’s Cricket The sports team which participated at IIT Kanpur team which won the gold medal. personal glory but an index of One of our cricket players Master Manav Rachna’s bright future in Shahbaz was declared as the Best the field of sports. Batsman, Best Bowler and Man of the Tournament . Such achievements are not just about The Results are as under: Finals (Gold Medal) 1.
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE Faculty of International Programmes organized a technical presentation to help students develop team spirit, confidence, and ability to use language, knowledge of technology and improvement of their public speaking skills.
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he Technical presentation ‘WELCOME TO THE FUTURE’ demonstrated a high degree of critical thinking, innovation and creativity. The students from FIP were asked to identify topics related to the prevailing technologies across the world. They were asked to research about the topic and gather data and convert the same into a presentation using inputs they received during classes. With constant and round the clock support from their Programme Co-ordination (PCO) and Assistant Professor, Ms Nidhi Talwar students made power point presentations on topics given to them . But Rajvinder Singh, one of the students of BSc , IT, 1st semester created videos and animations using softwares like cinema 4 D, blender and adobe after effects CS6 which was totally outstanding and spoke volumes of his creativity and knowledge. Rajvinder said, “I thoroughly enjoyed working on the project using the latest
Cricket (boys) defeated Trichi University
by 7 Wickets
Semi Final (Results) 1.
Volleyball (Boys) defeated by IIT Kanpur
2.
Volleyball (Girls) defeated by Trichi 21-18,21-19 University
3.
Basketball (Girls) defeated by Laxman Garh Football (Boys)
26-17
Table Tennis (boys)defeated by IIT Kanpur
11-7,11-9,11-8
4. 5.
lost by 2 points as they counted all the gaining point.
Lost its position due to a point
Hostel Women’s Sports Meet The first hostel women’s sports meet was held at MRIU. This was a stress-buster for students technologies. I do want to thank my teachers for all their support and enthusiasm.” Highlight of the event was the heartwarming presentation by visually challenged student Ratul Arora. His classmates and his PCO left no stone unturned to support and guide him throughout the presentation. Ms. Meenaakshi N Munjal – HOD IT motivated students from time to time to come up with innovative ideas. Dr. Anil Sarin – Professor and Dean FIP was the Chief Guest for the event. He blessed students with his valuable inputs and encouraged them to come up with more events of such sort. Other faculty members – Ms. Meenaakshi N Munjal – HOD IT, Ms. Nidhi Talwar PCO and Assistant professor, Ms. Neha wadhawan Assistant professor, Ms. Divya Gupta Assistant professor and Ms. Chitra Jalota Assistant professor were also present at the event.
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ore than 100 students residing in the hostel participated in a sports meet held on September 14, 2013. Some of the games organized were banana race, three legged race, lemon race and tug-of war which the Hostel women’s sports team hostelites played with a lot of enthusiasm. Prachi and Garima who were participants said, “Such events are a welcome change.” Divya and Mehek also felt that these events were stress busters and Manisha felt hostel life was fun and it was home away from home. The sports meet was inaugurated by Dr. Ashok Kumar Arora, ED, Admin, MRIU,
ACHIEVEMENTBUZZ
November, 2013
6
MISS ASIA PACIFIC WORLD 2013 IS A MANAVITE Shrishti Rana makes all of us at Manav Rachna proud! An ex-student of BJMC, the lady has taken the Indian flag across the globe. We congratulate her on her success hrishti Rana, a 21 year old poised lady is from Faridabad and has been a student of Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication at Manav Rachna. It is with pride that we all join in to congratulate Shrishti Rana on being crowned :Miss Asia Pacific 2013., This young beautiful lady over shadowed 49 other contestants in Korea and went on to win the coveted Miss Asia Pacific World 2013 in Korea on October 30, 2013. Home coming to Faridabad was not only be a huge moment for Shrishti but for the entire Manav Rachna Family. We welcome her with grace and poise and with a lot of pride for having done her University, her city and the country proud. Shrishti Rana a BJMC from the 2012 batch from MRIU said while sharing her thoughts “I wanted to join the media, so I joined mass communication course. I would like to thank my faculty and management at Manav Rachna International University for helping me become more confident. It’s a
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dream come true for me to achieve victory at an international platform. ” Shrishti who looked gorgeous in a Falguni & Shane gown also won the best National Costume Award in an outfit depicting the national bird of India – Peacock. “It is the support of my parents, my friends which gave me the self belief to participate in a beauty contest. The encouragement which I received at all levels , helped me to go ahead. My Faculty members at Manav Rachna sowed the seeds of confidence and with the good wishes of the Management, I took big strides and am where I am today.”
Congratulating Shrishti on her big victory, Mr. Prashant Bhalla, Chancellor, Manav Rachna International University said “We always knew that Shrishti had the inner potential, she has always been poised and we were sure that with her grace, she would be able to achieve victory at a global platform”. Dr Amit Bhalla,Vice President, MRIU said, “It surely is a moment of pride not only for the Manav Rachna Family but for the citizens of India. We take pleasure in congratulating Shrishti and wish her luck for future fashion pageants .”
Shrishti is a student of Manav Rachna
LAURELS AT IIT GUWAHATI For the students from Manav Rachna College of Engineering, it was a learning and winning experience at IIT Guwahati EVENT DETAILS AT IIT GUWAHATI 1. PRISON BREAK
The event, as its name suggests, was the human thirst for freedom being conceptualized at the level of robots. After the war subsided, one of the high ranking officers (the autonomous bot) was found to be imprisoned by the enemy forces. An agent (the manual bot) was appointed by the high command to rescue the prisoner officer. The agent had somehow hacked through the security system of the enemies and just had to go to the required positions and through the switches, opened the gates and disabled the security sirens to enable a speedy escape of his commander. Seems easy? Let’s find out!!
bots, it has tack, starting, pit, pole, ball and a base to play.
TRACK: Track consists of white concentric circles on a black base. Two straight lines marked as A-A’ and B-B’ joined the circular grid with the Bot 2 starting point A/B. Width of white line was 30mm or 3cm. Bridges connected two concentric circles. Outermost circle was marked as 1. Circle adjacent to circle 1 was marked as 2 and similarly circle 3, circle 4, circle 5 etc. MOC (Material of construction): Flex (polythene sheet) printed in CMYK mode. MDE (Maximum dimensional error):< 1%
was marked as P. Pit was square in shape with outer edge length of 250mm or 25cm. Inner side length of pit was 230mm or 23cm. Height of pit is 20mm or 2cm from the track/base. There was a pit indication marker on the BOT. Pit indication markers could be used to sense the position of the pit. It was a white line perpendicular to the circular track. The width of marker line was 30mm or 3cm. The perpendicular distance of the pit indication marker from the outer edge of the pit was 100mm or 10cm. Length of indication.
POLE:
2. ESCALADE
PIT:
Pole was placed adjacent to the bot 2 starting point. Cross section of the Pole was square with outer edge measuring 2 inches. Height of pole was 700 mm or 70 cm from “Base of pole”. The perpendicular distance of the outer edge of the pole from point A/B (end point of line AA’/B-B’) is 10mm or 1 cm. Colour of the Pole was red for team A and blue for team B. There was a ball placed at the top of the pole. MOC: Aluminium bar covered with red or blue vinyl sticker. MDE: 2mm for pole and 10% for pole to point A distance.
A pole climbing and maze solving event done by automatic
Bot 2 had to drop the ball in the pit to complete the run. Pit position
BALL:
STARTING AIM: To construct an autonomous bot that is capable of following a white line and do the tasks assigned in the game play. There is a combination of 2 bots manual and automatic-breaking a prison and reaching the destination in the shortest time
Bot 2 had to start from its starting point only. Starting point for team A was marked as A and B for team B. There was a pole just adjacent to the Bot 2 starting point. MOC: Same as track and the base MDE: NA
Team which brought laurels from IIT
Ball was placed at the top of the pole. Diameter of the ball was 40mm or 4 cm. Weight could vary from 2.7gms to 15gms. Colour of ball was different for team A (red) and team B (blue). MOC: Standard table tennis ball (**weight may vary) painted with blue or red acrylic paint. MDE: 1mm
BASE Base of the pole was a cuboid with dimensions 100mm x 100mm x 200mm (l x b x h). Edge of the pole’s base touches point A/B (end point of the line A-A’/B-
B’).Colour of base was the same as that of pole.
3. BROBOZEST The participants should build an autonomous robot that can follow the given path in minimum possible time. The aim of the event is to check the stability and sensing capabilities of the robot in comparison with other opponents. It should successfully complete the track overcoming all obstacles laid down in the path. Bonus points can also be obtained details of which will be given in Rules.
List of events along with participants names and positions won EVENT NAME
PARTICIPANTS
PRISON BREAK Ajay Kumar Saini, ShubhamGoel, Ankit Sachdeva, Shanu, Vimish Madaan, TanishPulani
POSITION 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Clean Sweep)
ROBOZEST
Ajay Kumar Saini, Shubham 3rd Position Goel, AnkitSachdeva, Shanu, VimishMadaan.
ESCALADE
Ajay Saini, ShubhamGoel
Finalist
FMSBUZZ
November, 2013
7
FMS ORIENTATION: UDAAN 2013 Faculty of Management Studies, Manav Rachna International Studies Welcomed new students of MBA, MA (Applied Psychology) and B. Sc. (Hotel Management). ‘Udaan 2013…A New Journey’ was held from July 22- August 24, 2013 daan 2013 began with the pious Havan. The formal welcome address was delivered by Director, FMS, Dr. Chavi Bhargava Sharma. She talked about the 3S mantra of Spark, Smile and Shine. Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, MRIU, Dr. N C Wadhwa enthused the students to have a "fire in the belly", which would motivate them to excel in life. Dean- Academics, MRIU, Dr. V K Mahna also welcomed the new students and introduced them to the fine facilities and resources which are available to them at MRIU. Head of the Department of Psychology, Delhi University, Dr. N K Chaddha and eminent psychologist, Dr. Sanjay Srivastava, Dr. Samir Parikh, DirectorMental Health and Behavioral Sciences, Fortis Healthcare, . Guniess record holder, Dr. B K Chandra Shekhar, Rishi Nitya Pragyaji from The Art of Living Foundation addressed the students RJ Naved- popularly known as Dilli ka Don on Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM narrated some interesting personal experiences.
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Mrs Anita Choudhary, Retd IAS officer talked about good governance. A workshop was conducted by Mr. Anil Nayyar and his team from Mudra Holistic Healers. A number of leading names from the corporate world shared their views: Mr Siddhartha Balakrishnan, Mr Saran Prasad (Sr. Vice President- Technology and Client Services, Accenture India). Mr Jasmeet Singh (AGM, JCB India) , Ms. Gitanjali Solanki (human resources professional and etiquette trainer) Ms. Solanki provided tips , Mr. Bhuwan Kapoor (former VP, Amway India,) Mr Venkatesh Mahadevan, having more than two decades of experience in Fortune 50 companies. Mr. Arun Malik, presently with Quest Forum as Executive Director of their India operations, shared their experiences We were blessed to have amongst us Col. (Retd.)V K Gaur, Prof. Umesh Kalra, Maj. Gen. (Rets.) A S Bakshi and Mr. Mukesh Gambhir. They talked about our value system and the
FMS STUDENTS BAG INTERNSHIPS rofessional courses make the prime choice of those aspiring to achieve success. The MBA course means serious business from the very beginning. At FMS, MBA is a training in itself- 2 years of academic rigour, along with event management, corporate networking- all this and much more. All activities are planned to make students prepare themselves for the challenges in the corporate world- which is their preferred job destination. The first corporate ‘work stop’ during the MBA course comes after the first year, in the form of the summer internship programme (from June- August). It’s a matter of pride for FMS that in the year 2013, our students have been able to get through some coveted companies for training. Foremost among these is KPMGpart of the Fortune 500 companies, and the leading name in providing risk, financial & business advisory, tax & regulatory services, internal audit, and corporate governance. Three of our students (RipuDaman Chaudhary, Firoz Khan and Suraj Nair) are with KPMG for a 2- month internship programme. FMCG major Marico Industries Ltd. has picked up Dipanshu Chaturvedi for coordinating their media campaigns in semi-urban and rural areas. In the pharma/ health care sector, Ruchika Dhamija and Gunjan Bansal are associated with Ranbaxy and Fortis Hospital respectively. Students are engaged in projects with companies across various sectors, viz., real estate, telecom., iron and steel, banking, education, online marketing etc. Students of B. Sc. (Hotel
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changing times in which we live. Dignitaries at the Grand Finalé of Udaan 2013 were Honourable Chancellor of MRIU, Dr. O P Bhalla. Honourable ViceChancellor, MRIU, Dr. N C Wadhwa, Member of MREI Board of Management, Mr. M M Kathuria, and other senior dignitaries of the MRIU family. Dr. O P Bhalla, urged the students to have faith in
Management) from FMS are also undergoing training at reputed properties in the hospitality sector. The list includes the ITC group, Radisson, Crown Plaza, Le Méridien and many more. During the 2month training, students get an opportunity to test and further enhance their skills in food production, client servicing, house keeping and other essential hospitality functions. FMS students of the MA (Applied Psychology) course are undergoing training in clinical psychology at specialized psychology centers of Vimhans and Sunflag Hospital. Being associated with experts, students get a chance to interact with and observe individuals to understand their emotional, cognitive and behaviourial patterns. The summer internship buzz engulfs the FMS premises with the onset of Semester II of the respective course(s). Companies start visiting the campus for selecting candidates. Competition is in the air, but the students at FMS face this challenge with determination and preparation. From the very beginning of the MBA and Hotel Management programmes, students are trained for certain Life Skills. This is done through a holistic program called STEPPES (Structured Training for Enhancing Personal, Professional and Employability Skills). Through workshops, role plays and class room teaching by experts, students are provided guidance on the all- important areas of communication skills and life skills (understanding of self, working in teams, career planning, positive attitude etc.). The academic backbone is strengthened with such attitude management, and goes a long way in fulfilling the FMS objective of holistic learning to make our students better human beings and global citizens.
themselves, work hard and stay away from ills like anger. Sir made all students of FMS take an oath, which read: “I swear in the name of Almighty that I shall abide by all the rules and regulations of MRIU and its campus. I shall keep my attendance as per norms. I shall maintain discipline. I shall do my best to achieve the goal for which I am here. I shall not indulge in any kind of ragging. I
shall do justice to the hard earned money of parents”. On this occasion, Dr. O P Bhalla and Dr. N C Wadhwa presented certificates to students of B. Sc. Hotel Management, who worked as volunteers during DLF Indian Premier League 2013. The first volume of FMS’ Journal of Human and Work Management, along with a souvenir for Udaan 2013 were also released
MRIU SIGNS MOU WITH UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS ARLINGTON, USA MRIU has signed an MOU with University of Texas Arlington, USA (UTA) recently to establish a framework by which each of the party will provide assistance to each other for strengthening their academic programs and exploring the possibility of joint R&D activities. University of Texas Arlington, USA is a public University under Universities of Texas Systems established in 1895. Its campus is spread over 420 acres of land and it enrolls about 34000 students in various UG/PG and Doctoral programs. The University has on its roll more than 2100 regular teachers. The UTA consists of 12 colleges and schools
offering courses in the fields of Science, Engineering, Architecture, Business, Nursing, Humanities, Health and Education etc. UTA is home of a university-based nanotechnology research facility, NanoFab Research and Teaching Facility. The UTA Research Institute (UTARI) is a research and development unit of UTA specializing in applying cutting-edge technologies to realworld engineering problems. MRIU and UTA are working together to identify the areas of common interest and some joint academic programs are proposed to be launched soon.
INDUSTRIAL VISIT
processes such as blanking, stamping, lean manufacturing, robotic manufacturing etc. The visit provided the students ample opportunity to learn the various aspects of assembly line operations. In the other visit to Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Ltd. which is a private beverage company and a subsidiary of The Coca Cola Company USA. The plant head introduced the students to the company and took them through a tour of the facility showing different lines of production, manufacturing soft drinks, juice and mineral water. The plant runs on total automated systems and every operation is carried out by machines. The students saw washing conveyers, bottle loading conveyers, syrup room, treatment plant etc. The company maintains hygiene and takes care of employees. Quality philosophy of the company is: “It’s our heritage. It’s our promise to consumers. It adds value to our system. It makes us different, better and special”.
n 23rd August 2013, another flavor was added to Udaan 2013- The Leadership and Management skills workshop. Both first and second year students of FMS visited the manufacturing facilities of two leading brands- Maruti and Coke. The visits were organized and coordinated by FMS faculty member Mr. Jayant Sundaresan. MBA students of FMS, MRIU found wheels to their routine curriculum when they visited the Manufacturing facility of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.(MSIL) at Gurgaon. MSIL is a leading four-wheeler automobile manufacturer in South Asia and the Gurgaon unit is spread over 300 acres housing the plant as well as the residential block for employees. The students were first shown a presentation about the company and the Gurgaon facility followed by a guided tour of the facility through various manufacturing
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INFRABUZZ
November, 2013
8
ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI), a catalyst nodal agency, organized its National Conference at Chandigarh recently. The topic of discussion was: “A New Era of Industrial Development in The Northern India – Role Of Private Sector Educational Institutions”. The conference was inaugurated by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana. Also gracing the occasion were dignitaries: Dr. G. Viswanathan, President, EPSI , Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Alternate President, EPSI, Mr. Prashant Bhalla, Chancellor, Manav Rachna International University and Treasurer, EPSI. he conference was held on October 18, 2013. Speaking at the conference in Chandigrh,, distinguished leaders from the Education sector and Corporate Sector spoke about the contribution of private sector institutions in the development of the industrial sector. They all agreed that the Government(s) should encourage the private sector educational institutions and encourage Public- Private- Partnership. Almost 180 Institutions participated in the meeting and they were addressed by the following dignitries: Dr. G. Viswanathan, President, EPSI, Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Alternate President, EPSI, and Mr. Prashant Bhalla, Treasurer, EPSI . Inaugurating the conference, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana, said that Northern States have seen a big leap in Private Self Financing Professional and Vocational Institutions in the last 15 years and have also made a reasonably good progress in industrial development. He also pointed out, that Haryana in particular had done exceedingly well in both the sectors in the last one decade. He emphasized that time has come when both the sectors are required to compliment each other by sharing knowledge base and resources. Industry is the largest employer of students who pass out from educational institutions. The Chief Minister emphasized that his Government would make all efforts to increase industry academia interaction. He also applauded the efforts of Education Promotion Society for India for their commendable work. Dr. G Viswanathan, President, EPSI and founder of VIT University said, “While government dismantled the License & Permit Raj for the industry in 1991, the same continues in the education sector. The current laws that the MHRD is mooting are retrograde to the growth of education sector.” In order to expand Higher Education the Goverment. should encourage more private investment to be made in Universities & Colleges. He mentioned that private sector has contributed immensely towards increasing GER. However, to leap from the current 12% to 25%, a lot of private sector role is envisaged. Government must facilitate rather than obstruct the growth of private sector. Mr.V. Ramaswamy, Global Head, Small & Medium Business,
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Tata Consultancy Services in his speech said that Indian Education System had seen a huge transformation from gurukul centric system in ancient India to modern day technology driven institutions. He said that educational institutions traditionally have been knowledge centric and have nurtured talent in this direction, whereas the industry has been skill-centric and has its processes revolving around skill at the work force. The time has come to plug this gap by more and more interaction at all levels. He observed that some of the institutions in India have leveraged technology to make improvement in the quality of teaching learning process but this aspect needs to be proliferated in a big way. He appreciated the efforts of EPSI in bridging the gap between industry and academia. Dr. Chaturvedi emphasized, “Indian Higher education sector has played an important role in developing demographic dividend of India. But, to move forward, we need to have cooperative environment from the policy makers.” Government must facilitate rather than obstruct the growth of private sector. We need to ensure a positive climate for growth of education sector. Self regulation is also a power tool. He further said, “EPSI and Private sector institutes have tried to reason out with the government, but the regulators have been snubbed repeatedly.
Chief Minister Honourable Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the EPSI meet together with dignitaries He also requested that Government should open up the education sector, rather than over regulate the sector with draconian laws. If education system has to flourish in India, increasing competition is the only answer.” Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Prashant Bhalla, Chancellor, Manav Rachna International University and Treasurer, EPSI put forward his valuable thoughts and said: The topic of the theme has been chosen carefully by EPSI looking at the growth and development of Industry output in Northern India in general and Haryana in particular in last decade under the stewardship of Ch Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana. Private Sector Educational Institutions have taken the onerous responsibility of providing access, equity and quality in Education, supplementing the efforts of the Government. In past two decades, Northern States attracted huge capital investment in academic infrastructure in professional courses including Engineering & Technology, Medicine, Dental Sciences, Allied Health Sciences,
Management and Computer Application etc with Haryana taking the lead. Dr. O.P. Bhalla, founder visionary, Manav Rachna Vidyantariksha established first self financing Professional College in Faridabad & South Haryana in the year 1997 which ultimately led to ‘Manav Rachna’ adding on Institutes, University, Schools in Delhi-NCR. Now also a campus in Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Sonepat, a dream project of our Hon’ble Chief Minister Sh. Bhupinder Singh Hooda Ji, where Key Education Entities from Govt. / Private Sector have started setting up campuses. The Government. of Haryana under the able leadership of Sh. B.S. Hooda ji has provided whole hearted support to Private Initiatives in the field of education in the State. We are indeed personally indebted to Hon’ble Chief Minister Haryana in supporting us for all our initiatives which later changed the education canvas of Northern India. EPSI boasts of members across the country consisting of almost all reputed Universities, Colleges and
other Institutions established by eminent Education providers in the Private Sector as well as some of the Public Sector Universities, Associations of Educational Institutions, Corporate / Industry Members across sectors such as IT, Consulting, Manufacturing, Services etc. Since its incorporation in 2005, EPSI has been organizing large number of activities across the country. It has the privilege of having eminent Indian personalities as Chief Guest on various occasions and platforms including Former President of India, Minister of HRD, Govt. of India, Deputy Chairman – Planning Commission, Central Ministers, His Excellency Governors and Chief Ministers of States, Chairman Knowledge Commission and many others. EPSI with a mandate from education University(s) and institutions across the country shall be able to carve out directional path to support and build educational infrastructure, quality delivery and futuristic vision to enable our stake holders meet their objectives effectively.
The God of Small Blossoms: Nanotechnology Apologies to Arundhati Roy for "borrowing" some part of the title of her moving book-The God of Small Things. There seems to be a great buzz amongst the scientific communities and the public at large about the possible but unimaginable applications and devices to be made available by the nanotechnology- the technology of God! Will nanotechnology give us the ability to do what only God can and should? Can we somehow thwart God's plans, and take control of our own destiny? Or is there nano-knowledge that should be forbidden? Looking far into the nanotechnology future, it is not hard to imagine that nanotechnology will provide the ability to profoundly change how long we live, and the quality of that life. Many of the breakthroughs will come through fusing Nanotech
know-how with other fields of advance, especially biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (http://2020science.org/2008/01/1 2/nanotechnology-and- the-godof-small-things/). We all know that nature- one of the God's main manifestations, loves symmetry- be it a nano scaled creation, micro or macro object. Nature employs a greater role in formulation of materials irrespective of life sciences or material sciences. Its patterning is same both at nano-/micro level as well as macro level.It plays a big role at all levels in defining morphological features of any object in existence in this universe. Here are some of the lab synthesized nano-/micro flowers mimicking macro sized floral entities made of metals,
semiconductors and other similar materials testifying to the above statement. SEM Fig (a), (b) and (d) had been produced by the nanotechnology research group led by Prof. S. K. Chakarvarti and won accolades in the Cover Competition entries in an international Journal Materials Today and short listed as one of the best final 10 entries. This was a lone entry from India. For more information, please log on tohttp://www.materialstoday.com/c over_comp_2006.htm. These are made up of copper metal. The metallic micro rose shown in the fig (a) is merely one-fifth of the thickness of the human hair! Fig(c) shows Raspberry-like silica particles of size 700 nm diameter which were prepared by attaching amine-functionalized followed by bonding these to cured cross-
linked polymer film making this as a super-hydrophobic film. Fig (e) shows an SEM photograph of Y2O3 nano-flower; the Figs (f, h) show the silicon-carbide nanoflowers whereas the Fig (g) presents lead-sulfide micro flower. It is interesting to note that these synthesized nano-/micro floral products not only present a blooming disposition but also have device applications as field-ion emitters ( as ‘cold emitters’ and thus energy savers), provide ultra hydrophobic surfaces like Lotus leaves exhibit whereas the bulk materials are hydrophilic. They have applications in water-repellent paint industry. Prof. S. K. Chakarvarti Associate Dean Research & Development Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad.
EDUCATIONBUZZ
November, 2013
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The perfect blend: Modern education and Indian values Dr.N.C. Wadhwa of Manav Rachna International University, talks about how modern education and Indian values need to go hand-in-hand for an all round development of a student What is Manav Rachna International University’s (MRIU) philosophy? Manav Rachna International University (MRIU) is dedicated and committed to train and equip its students with latest knowledge and skills in their chosen fields in the backdrop of Indian ethos and values to enable them to face global challenges. How is this inculcated into everyday university life? The essence of MRIUis infused into students through academic and administrative policies, processes and procedures. The objective is to impart knowledge to the ignited minds through various professional domains while inculcating soft skills, including leadership, espirit-de-corps and communication. What according to you signifies complete education? How does the university encourage this?
It is the development of harmonious personality with scientific and spiritually trained minds. The university encourages this by conducting seminars, conferences, declamations, sports, colloquia, mandatory course scholastic activities, and other cultural and student oriented activities.
t knowledge and soft skills to enhance employability and relevance to employers
learning processes are indispensable. We use a learning management system in our pedagogical delivery.
What is the one intangible educational/ learning element that the students are offered at MRIU, which sets it apart? Besides imparting excellent domain knowledge and skills of highest order, we believe in imparting rich values through which students remain rooted with their culture and heritage and are able to face global challenges with ease.
Since your tenure as the Vice Chancellor of the MRIU, what changes have you brought about? I facilitated this Campus in its transformation from a college of repute into a university framework through introduction of competence based curriculum, robust examination and evaluation system. I have also introduced latest teaching learning processes through pedagogical techniques while establishing symbiotic academiaindustry connect and developing collaborations with international universities.
What are the next big steps you would want MRIU to implement? The essence of MRIU is infused into students through academic and administrative policies, processes and procedures. The objective is to impart knowledge through various domains while inculcating soft skills like leadership, spirit de-corps and communication.
How does the University prepare its students for their career? We have a career development centre and a corporate resource centre, that helps in equipping students with relevan
What are your views on using technology to educate students? Does the university implement any technological learning tools? Technological interventions in teaching
What do you think would be the challenges for accomplishing MRIU’s goal? Availability of quality faculty, diminishing quality of student inputs and decline in value system would be some of the main challenges before us. What improvements according to you if any, in the existing education
“From being knowledgecentric to becoming skillcentric would be the biggest game changer’’ Dr.N.C.Wadhwa, Vice Chancellor, MRIU
system would benefit the students? The approach from knowledge centric to skill centric would be the biggest game changer to bring improvement in the educational paradigm prevailing in the country.
India expected to rank third by 2020 in education Vikas Mehra, Head Career Development Centre at Manav Rachna International University, speaks to RECRUITE magazine. With over 17 years of experience in sales, he has expertise in call-centre management and speaks his mind on crucial issues What is the current scenario of the higher education industry? In India only 13% of the students go for Higher Education as compared to up to 90% in developed countries. Universities offering higher education have gone up from 30 in 1950 to 634 in 2011. Students enrolled for higher education in 1950 was 397000 and in 2011 it was 16975000. In terms of Enrollment 86% enrollments happen at the graduation level, only 12% opt for post graduation and only 1% opts for research. India is expected to rank at 3 by 2020 in education which, for now, seems a very tall claim. Budget allocation Government of India for Higher education is about 6% which minimum should be about 10% to improve the present scenario. Basic education must reach to maximum number of children from different strata of the society so that they are eligible to pursue higher education Considering the declining placement figures it is very important for higher education institutes to make the curriculum in consultation with the industry. It is extremely important for higher education industry to understand the
need to encourage students on activities like sports, hobbies, vocational skills, soft skills, employability skills, industry interaction etc. for their overall development and better fitment for the corporate world Medical courses in highest demand but Engineering and MBA colleges have seen a decline in growth. As per AICTE in 2011-12, 146 new BSchools came up whereas 124 closed down. This year so far, 101 B-Schools have closed down, only 82 have started. 84 colleges terminated their MCA course and only 27 colleges started this course. Rate of closure of engineering colleges is also more than the rate at which engineering colleges are opening. Over the last year about 50 engineering colleges have closed across India How has the higher education sector performed in terms of hiring and recruitment this year? Graduates The employability of graduates varies from 2.59% in functional roles such as accounting, to 15.88% in sales related roles and 21.37% for roles in the business process outsourcing (BPO/
ITES) sector. A significant proportion of graduates, nearly 47%, were found not employable in any sector, given their English language and cognitive skills MBA Employability of management graduates ranges between 10 – 20% for roles involving client interaction. Employability of management graduates is below 10% for any functional role in the field of HR, Marketing or Finance. Only 7.69% Finance students are employable in the BFSI sector Engineering Out of the 1600000 engineers that pass out every year, only 17.45% of them employable in the IT services sector, 3.51% are deployed on Projects. Only 2.68% are employable in IT product companies, which require greater understanding of computer science and algorithms. MRIU has been able to place over 2200 students in the last 3 batches. Has the industry seen tremendous growth following the entry of private institution and university? What new skills are in demand with entry of private institutions? In 1950 the total number of universities were 30 (most of them government run or funded) and the number of colleges at that time were 695 which means on an average 23 colleges per university. In 2011 the numbers of universities has grown 30 folds and are 634 while the numbers of colleges are 33,023, averaging 55 colleges per university. Out of these 634 universities, 100 are private. Around 16% of the higher education space is occupied by private universities Demand for the following skills has increased with the entry of private
institutions: (a) Aptitude Development Training (b) Employability Skills Training (c) Business Communication Training (d) English Language Training (e) Personality Development Training (f)Technical Skills Training like OS, Networking, Databases and Languages (g) Quality Tools Training like 6 Sigma and Lean Has the competitive environment changed with government institution competing with private institutions? Top government institutions like IIT’s, NIT’s, IIM’s, AIIMS, MAMC and other institutes of the same league are not affected with the entry of private institutions. However there are many private institutions that have started posing stiff competition to government institutions whether MBA, Medical or engineering by excelling on the following parameters: a. Developing Robust internal processes and systems b. Hiring Competent Faculty c. Admit good quality Students d. Intense focus on Training and Development of faculties e. Focus on Research f. Regular updation of academic content g. Industry specific curriculum h. Robust interaction with Industry i. Strong Training and Placement Activities j. Sound Infrastructure What impact does training and development have on success in the education industry? Training and Development has a huge impact on the education industry. The low levels of employability at Graduate and Post graduate level clearly spell out the need for a very robust Training and Development Environment in the
education industry. Training needs to imparted on the following areas for employability numbers to improve: a. Self Assessment Training b. Training on Behavioral aptitude c. Training of Aptitude Development – Quantitative and Reasoning d. Training on Employability Skills – CV, Cover letter, GD and PI e. Training on Personal Productivity Skills – Stress Management, Time Management, Goal Setting, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Teamwork, Leadership etc. f. Business Communication Training – Oral, Non – Verbal, Listening, Citation and referencing, Telephone Etiquettes, Email Etiquettes, Cross cultural communication etc. g. English Language Training – Reading, Speaking, Writing and Listening. MTI correction The above mentioned training, if done efficiently can have impact on employability of the student in the following ways: a. Students will know themselves better in terms of their Key Skills, Key Values, Areas of Improvements and Key Strengths. This will help them present themselves better b. Students will understand the job description better c. Students will be prepared with impactful and relevant CV’s and Cover letters d. Students will know more the industry and the company applied for e. Students will be better prepared for the GD and PI f. Students will perform better in Psychometric Tests and Aptitude Tests
VISITBUZZ
November, 2013
MANAV RACHNA POWERED THE TOI NIE KNOWLEDGE QUIZ Manav Rachna International University in association with The Times of India conducted the Times NIE Knowledge Quiz 2013-2014. The Regional Inter-School Quiz Competition was full of excitement and exhilaration
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f beating of the drums is considered loud and exciting, the cheerers at the quiz competition at the Manav Rachna Auditorium beat them all. There was so much participation, presentation and pleasurable moments at the quiz competition as Manav Rachna International University played the host to Times NIE Knowledge Quiz 2013 -2014, a regional inter – school quiz competition. Knowledge, buzz and excitement was in the air as Manav Rachna International University played the host to Times NIE Knowledge Quiz 2013 -2014, a regional inter – school quiz competition. The programme witnessed a musical beginning by
“Diverging Dreams” – the in-house rock band of MRIU who ,performed on a composition of their own – “Can’t you see I am alone”, followed by a solo guitar performance by Siddharth from Faculty of Engineering and technology, MRIU. Amongst the 60 schools who registered for the Quiz Competition, six schools which qualified for the quiz competition(on the basis of a written aptitude test) were Bal Bharti Public School, Noida ( Sector 21), Ryan International school, Noida(Sector 39),Don Bosco School, Alakanda, Amity International School, Sector – 46, Gurgaon, St. Georges school, Alakanda, Amity International School , Sector 44, Noida. The quiz master for the occasion was Dyu D’unha. The six categories for of the quiz were – Cryptic Headlines, Times Now, Times Global (powered by Manav Rachna International University as MRIU is a global name to reckon with), Times City, Times Classifieds and the final round being Times Buzziness. Bal Bharti School, Noida emerged
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sets of technical skills which are critical for the employability. Engineering colleges in general are knowledge centric, where student manage to pass their examinations by cramming or simply learning by rot and forgetting the fundamentals and facts. A Civil Engineer must be able to carry out the survey, identify and grade building materials, design structures & read drawings, know about various combinations of concretes, have fundamentals of transport and water resources and other relevant skills which are needed by various employers. Similarly a Computer Engineer must know programming logic, mastery in one or two programming languages, computer architecture and networking, cyber security and cyber laws with a practical approach. Such skills are normally missing. Fresh graduates even fail to define basics like force, pressure, stress, strain, elasticity etc and are not able to explain the basic laws of engineering. Lot of impetus is required to be given on lab work and tutorials. Students also need to spend a lot of time through self learning. 3. Updating Curricula as per requirement of the employer: In most of the engineering discipline, specifically the conventional one, the curriculum remains the same as it was 25-30 years ago. Technology is changing at a very fast pace and engineering colleges and universities have miserably failed to keep in pace. Engineering curricula addresses many things without going into depth of
MANAV RACHNA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE
TALENT HUNT COMPETITION – 2013 “Great ability develops and reveals itself, increasingly with every new assignment” outh have an ocean of hidden talent amongst them, and it was displayed at Faculty of Applied Science, Manav Rachna International University on 2nd August, 2013 at the Talent Hunt Competition. The event was co-ordinated by invited Radio Jockey, Shahdab, Radio Manav Rachna. His high energy and enthusiasm made the programme very entertaining, interactive and exciting. Dr. G. L. Khanna, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science, blessed the students, giving hope of bringing good luck and success in their future endeavors. Students were full of confidence and enthusiasm. The competition included various categories – Solo Song, Duet Song, Group Song, Solo Dance, Duet Dance, Group Dance, Hindi Poetry and English Poetry. Dr. Umesh Kalra, Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Humanities, also interacted with students. The students performed in various categories and enthralled the audience with their scintillating performances. Faculty members of Faculty of Applied Science also participated with enthusiasm. The competitions were judged by our esteemed judges – Dr. Kiran, Sr. Faculty, Department of B.Ed, Ms. Diksha, Radio Jokey, Radio Manav Rachna and Ms. Chitra, Asst. Professor, Faculty of International Programmes. Many students displayed their talent by singing, dancing, mimicking, taekwondo arts, skit, ramp walk and fashion show and left the audience spellbound. Ms. Gurjeet Kaur Chawla, HOD, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and Dr. Pooja Anand, HOD, Department of Physiotherapy congratulated all the winners and appreciated them for their versatile and talented performances. The event was supported by Cadbury India Ltd., which also celebrated Friendship’s Day engaging the students in fun filled activities. The event helped the first year students to break the ice with their batch mates as well as their seniors.
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The NIE Knowledge Quiz in progress as winners, the second position was held by St. George’s, Alakandana. The moods were high as the cheerleaders from different schools kept the enthusiasm of the participants and audience going. Awards were given out for best banners and best cheerleaders. There were prizes for the common and yet not so common events: a prize for cheer leaders and a prize for the best banner only brought out more and more enthusiasm in the crowd. What the participants had to say: Every student who came to the quiz praised the arrangements which Manav Rachna had laid out for them. ● Niketa Bhardwaj and Keshav fro K.R.Mangalam said, “It was a great
experience to participate in the quiz where so many schools were participating.” ● Students from Suncity School, Gurgaon Anmol Kapoor and Shubham said, “The standard of the quiz was really high and we wish we had read more newspapers. Very intelligent questions were asked and the overall experience was informative and educative. ● On the other hand students from Army Public School felt that the quiz questions were easy. Rohit Despande and Suyan Ramesh said, “I wish we had done a little preparation. But we are pleased with how we performed.” Their teacher Reena Hooda said, “More events like this should be organized and all praises for the organizers.”
HOW TO EVOLVE EMPLOYABLE HUMAN RESOURCES FOR INDUSTRY – IDENTIFYING GAPS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION n India, there are about 1.4 Million seats in BE / B.Tech Programs in about 4000 engineering colleges / University departments out of which about 80% seats are in private self financing institutions. In last 2-3 years, it is estimated that about 25%-35% seats have remained vacant. It is also a common knowledge now that large majority of passing out Graduates are not considered to be employable by the industry, trade and commerce. It is important to understand what are the gaps and how this situation can be salvaged. It is another matter of concern whether we actually need those many seats in engineering colleges in commensuration with the availability of appropriate jobs. As per personal experience of the author in dealing with Civil Engineering projects, following gaps are clearly visible: 1. Lack of communication, leadership and team building skills: Majority of the passing out graduates lack effective communication, leadership and team building skills. Such skills can be imparted as part of the curricula through the teachers who are actually trained in such skills. Moreover, students can be sensitized right in first year about the importance of those skills so that they could acquire the same through various activities outside the classroom as well.Various clubs and societies may undertake such activities beyond normal working hours. 2. Lack of relevant Technical skills: Each branch of engineering has its own
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anything. We need to maintain a proper balance of breadth and depth of curricula. If the fundamentals and skills are not taken to the logical depth, an engineering student never understands the basics of engineering and also does not develop the capability of self learning. The curriculum also needs to be flexible to amalgamate new technologies at the earliest as and when they are introduced in the market. Now a days large number of projects are being implement through Public Private Partnership mode on Design, Built, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis and other combinations thereof. So curriculum of conventional engineering discipline should also touch such developments along with Finance Management. 4. Industry / Site Visits: Engineering & Technology can be best learnt through practicals, tutorials and field visits. Students must visit industries and project sites to see what is actually happening in the world of work. They would be able to assimilate the basics and laws better when they see the things actually functioning on ground. Industry needs to co-operate with engineering colleges for facilitating such visits and some experts explaining the functioning at site. 5. Faculty Development: Most of the Faculty members have little or no industry experience and hence they themselves follow the theoretical approach. There should be a good mix of teaching and industry experience for an engineering teacher or alternatively a teacher also must undergo appropriate
industrial training during non teaching period. Engineering teachers need to be aware about the industrial processes and functionalities so that they could co-relate their teaching with what is actually happening in industry. 6.Knowledge of Labour and Contract Laws: A field engineer needs to have practical knowledge about various labour laws including Industries Act, Minimum Wages Act, Workmen’s Compensation Act, ESI Act, Contract Act, Arbitration Act etc which he or she needs to apply in the early stage of their career. They must have knowledge of atleast interpreting Contract Agreements in the beginning and must develop the competency to draft such agreements at the earliest. 7. Project & Time: Management: Project Management is the most crucial skill an engineer must have in the beginning of his / her career so that he / she understands the processes, resources, priorities and timelines. The cost of the project totally depends on the timely completion of the project. Knowledge of softwares like MS Project can be a very big strength of an engineer and hence this must be acquired as part of curricula. The academic fraternity needs to be open minded enough to impart training in such a manner that fresh graduates are employable in industry without any initial training, which has, unfortunately, become a trend of the day. A transition from knowledge centric education to skill centric education is now imminent and must
be undertaken without losing much time. Student need to be committed to learning, unlearning and relearning so that they are able to assimilate the new technologies and they also need to devote sufficient time for acquiring the necessary skills. Although Indians have traditionally strong analytical and logical skills but not much of effort is put by the students to exploit the inherent strengths to develop competencies which can ensure a successful professional career for them. About the Author He is a qualified post graduate Civil Engineer and Research Scholar at MRIU. He is working as Chief General Manager in National Highway Authority of India and looking after the National Highways and Expressways in the whole country. He has a rich experience of construction of buildings & roads and management of Civil Engineering projects of very high value to the tune of Rs 5000 crores and even above. By B.S. Singla
RESEARCHBUZZ ANTI CRACKER RALLY BY FMS O
ne step forward to save Mother Earth: that is the message which Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI) wanted to spread when Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), MRIU, Chancellor, MRIU, Mr Prashant Bhalla flags off launched a three-day the anti cracker rally campaign . The crackers to our friends and those Honorable Chancellor, Mr Prashant around us.” Akshay, Karan and Bhalla, flagged off the rally on Sharad also felt that such campaigns October 26, 2013 from the were a great experience and these University campus. Speaking on the youngster moved around on their occasion, he said, “Chancellor Sir motor cycles across NIIT , Sector always encouraged focus on social 15 and other areas of Faridabad, issues whether it was anti-cracker spreading the message of observing rally or safety for women. We must a noiseless and pollution free all work towards that vision so that Diwali. youngsters of today contribute to Students from the MRIS schools their country which is marching also participated in the anti-cracker ahead by leaps and bounds. There rallies earlier in the week. The antiare difficult issue which our cracker rally held as part of FMS’ country is facing and we must try corporate social responsibility took to help in over coming these place under the guidance of Dr problems and be better citizens of Chavi Bhargava Sharma, Director, the country.” FMS, along with help from A nukkad natak was presented Faridabad Police. It succeeded in by students. Aurag, Dev, Mukesh sensitizing people from all walks of who participated in the street play life and urged them to celebrate a said, “Through our play we wanted safe and sound-free Diwali. to spread the message of no
MRIU SAE Collegiate Club and Automobile Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Manav Rachna International University, held a workshop on Engine Overhauling Fault Diagnosis and Wheel Balancing Inaugurating the conference one day workshop on engine overhauling fault diagnosis and wheel balancing gave the engineering students of Manav Rachna International University the perfect opportunity to identify car problems and engage in fault diagnosis. Organised by MRIU SAE (Society of Automobile Engineering) Collegiate Club and Automobile Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering & Technology (FET), MRIU, the workshop had Dr M.K. Soni, Executive Director & Dean, FET, MRIU, as the chief guest. Other dignitaries included Professor Naresh Grover, Director, FET, MRIU, Professor B.S. Gill, Professor & Associate Director, Mechanical Engineering department, MRIU, Professor I.K. Kilam, Dean, Students Welfare, MRIU, and Dr S.S. Tyagi, Professor & HOD, Computer Science & Engineering. In his inaugural address, Dr. Soni focused upon the importance of providing practical training to engineers who in today’s environment are mostly working on the theoretical portion of their curriculum. He emphasized that students should be given training in the actual field where a student himself has to work with his hands and sweat in the actual industrial environment. Dr Soni
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BE PREPARED FOR ROAD EMERGENCIES which reports the victim’s relatives and nearest health aid source about the emergency thereby guarantying effective and immediate Smart Skull Team medical health care. Smart Skull has been Force developed by a team of ● Bluetooth 2.1+EDR three students – Mohit Bahl, Mayank Dawar and Chaitanya Smart Skull Application Chabbra. ● User Interface ●
Features of the Smart Skull Device ●
Small and Ultralight Weight ● Low Power Consumption- 3.3 v. ● Impact Detection upto 200g
explained, “The workshop will help students acquire practical skills, so essential for Mechanical and Automobile Engineering students.” He encouraged the students to join the institute’s SAE chapter, since such participation--ensuring exposure at both the national and international levels—will help them in their placements and entrepreneurial ventures. He also congratulated the organizing students and faculty for successfully hosting the event. Addressing a packed audience, Dr B.S. Gill, Director of the Innovation and Incubation centre, MRIU, informed about the activities of the newly developed “innovation centre” which is equipped with the latest machines used in the industries. He suggested that students working on projects with innovative ideas can take the help of the centre in developing different parts for the projects. He further inspired the students to go for research projects that can boost their technical skills. Earlier, Dr. Devendra Vashist, HOD Automobile Engineering Department, MRIU, explained the important features of the workshop. He provided descriptions of the instruments, that is, wheel balancer, X-431 Diagun, 4 stroke diesel
Engine on which the practical part was conducted during the day. Further, he highlighted the achievements of the MRIU SAE Collegiate Club in the past and the future projects that are in the pipeline. He informed that one of student’s projects has been selected for the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2014 event which will be held at the Luneta Park in Manila, Philippines, from February 6-9, 2014. Dr Vashisht urged students to join the SAE Collegiate Club at the University since its primary aim is to enrich the knowledge base of automobile practitioners. He said that the current workshop will give students hands on experience and training--through a portable vehicle fault diagnosis technology (where a small handy equipment would help to analyze data and detect faults in the engine). The workshop would also show them the wheel balancing machine operation. “The workshop was devised to make students studying engineering like us to understand about the technological changes that are taking place in the constantly changing auto market, ” said Avinash Kumar from 1st year Mechanical. Gagandeep Singh Bakshi from 3rd semester Automobile Engineering said The auto industry today is working on two areas: one is how to make vehicles energy-efficient and second is, how to have a better control on the mechanical systems that are incorporated in vehicles. Both the objectives were fulfilled by the workshop Manish Kumar and Anshul Narula of 3rd semester also felt that they had learnt a lot from the workshop.
A SEMINAR ON AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR QUALITY
Use the Smart Skull device
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WORKSHOP ON ENGINE OVERHAULING FAULT DIAGNOSIS AND WHEEL BALANCING
Crackers are a bane to society and Manav Rachna believes in taking this message far and wide
tudents of Manav Rachna College of Engineering have innovated a smart skull device to help victims of road accidents to reach out for medical help at the earliest. This help would be through an inhelmet crash detection system that is paired with the rider’s smart phone which reports the victim’s accident to relatives and nearest health aid source about the emergency The smart skull device system builds a simple, immediate and effective safety protocol for bridging the gap between trauma victims, hospitals and emergency data centres. This is done by introducing an in-helmet crash detection system that is paired with the rider’s smart phone
November, 2013
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Bluetooth Connectivity Cloud Connectivity GPS Interaction Sensor Device Communication Past History Availability User Authentication.
An Interactive seminar on American Society for Quality (ASQ) was organised by the Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Manav Rachna International University.
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he aim of the seminar was to make students aware of the role of ASQ and its benefits so as to start the student chapter at MRIU. MREI is already an enterprise member of ASQ. Presently, the Mechanical Engineering Department has taken the initiative to start the student chapter at the campus. Two members of ASQ, Mr. Ciby James and Mr. Anil Kumar, gave a presentation on the theme of the seminar. About 200 students of the fifth semester of Mechanical Engineering department, 20 faculty members including Prof. S. S. Handa, participated in the programme. Mr. Ciby James, Advisor ASQ, highlighted the significance of ASQ, its benefits and the ways to start the
student chapter. ASQ, which is a knowledge centre for the global community, provides training to people. It has certificate courses on various topics related to quality which is applicable not only to the manufacturing sector but for every walk of life. ASQ also organizes various conferences and events throughout the world and round the year. Students as well as faculty members have the option of attending and participating in ASQ’s programmes. The ASQ members were asked various questions on the sponsorship of the projects, membership benefits, differences between ASQ and other professional societies by the students attending the seminar. Prof. B. S. Gill highlighted the significance of good quality and concluded the session. Prof. R. V. Singh, HOD-Mechanical, FET, MRIU, asked students to come forward and start the student chapter. He requested ASQ members to organize a session on Six Sigma and introduce the green belt and black belt. Prof. Virender Narula was asked to coordinate the ASQ activities and help students in forming the chapter.
INNOVATIONBUZZ
November, 2013
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MANAV RACHNA INNOVATION AND INCUBATION CENTRE Basic disciplines being considered at present are:
Apart from the participation in the technical competitions, MRIIC will also be dealing in the field of:-
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Mechanical Electronics ● Computer Science ● Biotechnology etc. Some of the knowledgeable minds who have demonstrated their expertise or shown inclination to work on research ideas have been identified and appointed. These will be the founding faces of MRIIC. ●
1. New product development, IPR activities, marketing etc 2. Providing solution to the industrial problems 3. Exposing the students to latest technology 4. Providing regular practical task for the students to polish their capabilities.
It was a fond dream of our Late Dr O.P.Bhalla, Honourable Chancellor, to promote research in a big way in Manav Rachna institutions. Under the guidance of our Honourable Vice President Dr. Amit Bhalla, the Manav Rachna Innovation and Incubation Centre (MRIIC) has been established to cater to the research and development needs of the students and faculty members of all educational entities under the Manav Rachna brand. ●
Two drilling machines Pedestial grinding machines ● MIG welding machine ● Hand grinder and hand drilling machines etc. 2. 100+ varieties of tools and tools kits. 3 Advanced measuring instruments. 4 Paint shop 5 Designing lab with two computers of high level configuration which will be able to run every designing software without any difficulties. Hand sketching facilities are also available. 6 Conference room 7 Change rooms and an attached pantry. ●
Director: Prof. B.S Gill
More than 20 research projects are currently in our list out of which some are about to get completed and released.
Research assistants:MRIIC is the one stop solution for all who show their interest in the field of research and development and with the help of which students will be able to demonstrate their talents, enhance their expertise in their respective fields and, in the process, will be able to highlight their resume with
their talents. Every competition listed above
S. Branch No. 1 Electronics and communication
Names
S. Name of the NO. competition
Status
Regarded dates
Mohit Bahl Manasvi Sihag Darpan Vats
1
IIT Bombay Techfest
Designing phase
October- December, 2013
2
ABU Robocon 2014
Entries invited
September 13- March 14
Mechanical Amit K Singh Karan Narula Nitesh Karnwal
3
NASA moon buggy
Not started yet
Coming soon
4
Imagine cup
Entries invited
October13- March 14
Computer Yugank Rastogi Science More research assistants will be appointed in the near future.
5
Shell eco Marathon
Not stated yet
Coming soon
6
BAJA SAE
Not stated yet
Coming soon
7
Supra SAE
Work going on
January 14
2
3
Facilities planned:
The upcoming competitions which MRIIC is focusing on are:has the capability of grooming the students in their respective fields with the help of practical exposure given to them.
The MRIIC will get equipped with latest machines and all the requirements of the students or any of our faculty members will be met
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Break”. In addition, the team also bagged 3rdposition in “Robo Zest”.
and “Hack-a-thon”- overnight app development competition.
1. India Innovation Initiative-i3 September,2013
4. Yahoo Accenture Innovation Jockey2
6. Intel Perceptual Challenge, 2013 (Result awaited) August,2013
August,2013
The project “Smart Skull” was selected as among the top 10 finalist out of 4400 entries in Yahoo Accenture Innovation Jockey Season2. Smart Skull is an in helmet crash detection system that aims at 2. Intel App Innovation Challenge, providing quick and effective medical 2013 (Result Awaited) emergency services to the victim. September,2013
Project “Smart Shopping” got selected as a finalist in Intel Perceptual Challenge and received newly launched Interactive Gesture Camera from Intel for the development. The project aims at revolutionizing the shopping experience of 21st Century through a gesture controlled application.
RECENT WORKSHOPS Windows Application named “Sargam” has been selected as world finalist (in top 500 around the world) in Intel App Innovation Challenge under “Entertainment” category.
1. Basics of Arduino and MATLAB image processing August,2013
5. IIIT Delhi
3. IIT Guwahati
September,2013 TechnoPlanet Labs. made a clean sweep in the IIT Guwahati annual fest named Techniche’13 securing 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions in an event named “Prison
1. Basic machine tools ● Three jaw chuck LATHE with DRO ● Four jaw chuck LATHE ● Milling machine with DRO
Some other labs like Electronics lab, Computer Gaming lab, Environmental lab etc are proposed to be established in G-Block in which there will be a museum on the ground floor showcasing the latest achievements of our institutes.
My Journey at Manav Rachna
Achievements A team from Techno Planet was selected as the Regional Finalist of India Innovation Initiative-i3 an initiative by CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) and Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
so that they can work on their ideas. Right now we have commissioned a fully functional MECHANICAL WORKSHOP near M block of MRIU. Equipment available is as follows:
August,2013 The team made a clean sweep in a line following robot event named “Robocon”. Also 2 teams were the finalists in “Prayatna”- Social Innovation Challenge
A workshop was organized by TechnoPlanet Labs. It was on the Basics of Arduino and Image Processing using MATLAB. About 70 students from various disciplines participated in the workshop. The winners got a direct entry in an event “RoboZest” in the technical festival of IIT Guwahati- Techniche’13.
College life teaches you to understand the person you are says Sugandha Singhal from BJMC-III Year ntering college is a terrifying and an overwhelming experience. It brings with it a fear of the unknown, which according to me is the greatest fear of all. This transition from high school to college is the most significant experience in our lives. Sadly, some college students believe that college is only about finding a job. I admit, I was one of those students. But my college experience has helped me realize that college is about finding yourself; who you are as a person and the type of person you want to be. In the first year, I realised life is not a bed of roses neither it is the bed of thorns. A person is himself or herself responsible for making his or her life either the bed of roses or the bed of thorns. College is something where you need to learn the art of balancing things. One needs to know how to enjoy the freedom, have fun but at the same time study hard. Success is not the ladder which can be climbed with your hands in the pocket. Second year of my college was full
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of practical exposure. To be seen on television for the first time, make your own newspapers and magazines, go out in the field for a survey, learn the art of photography, all these things changed my view of reading newspapers and watching television. And that was all because, I knew what happens behind the curtains. As I stepped into the third of my college, there was a feeling of seniority, a pressure to be seen as a role model for the juniors. But everything went on well in a smooth pace as the time passed on. And now, on the verge of ending of the college life, my heart sinks. It seems it just started and is finishing too early. Therefore, Manav Rachna is a place which will remain in my memories throughout my life. It has enhanced my communication skills and has given me the confidence to face the world. It has professors that care about you and want you to excel inside and outside the classroom. It has given me friends whom I will treasure for life.
MRIIICBUZZ
November, 2013
ROBOWAR COMPETITION AT CHANDIGARH Students from FET (MRIU) participated in the Robowar Competition at Chandigarh and were placed in the 4th position at the competition ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
S.no. Name of the participant Branch
Semester College
1.
Pranay Malviya
Mechanical
5thsem
MRIU (FET)
2.
Mehul Bhatnagar
Mechanical
5thsem
MRIU (FET)
3.
Manas gandhi
Mechanical
5thsem
MRIU (FET)
4.
Astha
Computer science 5thsem
MRIU (FET)
competed with several robots and our robot did really well. We qualified for the quarterfinals and made a place in the top 6 teams while competing with several teams from different colleges. Now the competition between top 6 robots was scheduled for the very next day which was September 15th. We again got into the arena, where we faced a TRIPLE THREAT fight in which 3 robots had to fight with each other; in this fight we survived two back to back rounds but in the
University Institute of Engg Tecnology in Chandigarh organised a technical fest on September 1415, 2013 . Several competitions were conducted in which several college teams participated. The competitions were as under: 1. ROBOWAR 2. LINE FOLLOWER 3. ROBO RACE
MRIU participated in this competition and prepared a
DELL WOMEN EMPOWERMENT CHALLENGE 2013 ABOUT THE COMPETITION: Competition DELL WOMEN EMPOWERMENT CHALLENGE 2013 Organizer – DELL Position secured- World Semifinalists
A team of 5 students lead by their mentors Manasvi Sihag and Mohit Bahl made it to the world semifinals of “Dell Women Empowerment Challenge 2013”. With 600+ teams participating from all over the globe, they made it to the top 50 in the world. “The team is working hard for its next submission and we will give our best to go to the next round,” said the mentors, who are Research
‘Let’s Interact’ Faculty of International Programmes conducted 'Let's Interact' on October 9, 2013 in which all the students and faculties participated. n event ‘Lets Interact’ was organized by BBA (Global) International Business 3rd year students on 9th October 2013. The students of 1st and 2nd year were also a part of the event. The students made presentation on various topics of International Trade in innovative ways. Mr. Alex Joseph and Mr. Praveen hosted a game in which the participants had to pick up chits of various topics and form a thread of statements. This activity encouraged the students to come up with creative thoughts by using the facts. A Talk Show was also organized which was hosted by Mr. Aman. The idea of the talk show was to make the students learn about early researchers of management. A group discussion was also organized and was hosted by Ms. Ayushi. The participants discussed on the topic ‘Hard Skills vs Soft Skills’. The main aim of the event was to make students learn about various concepts on International Trade by giving them a platform to hone their public speaking and presentation skills. Dr. Anil Sarin – Professor and Dean FIP was the Chief Guest for the event. Other faculty member – Ms. Meenaakshi N Munjal – HOD Information Technology, Ms. Kanupriya Shekhar – HOD International Business, Ms. Neha Wadhawan – Assistant Professor and Ms. Gauri Bhasin - Faculty International Business were also present for the event. Dr. Anil Sarin said in his address that “Nothing is possible without knowledge. Knowledge is a virtue that if used appropriately can make this world a better place to live in.” He also encouraged the students to perform better in their academics as it would shape their careers.
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defensive robot for the ‘Robowar ‘ category under the guidance of Prof. B.S.Gill and Mr Amit Kumar. What the students have to say: We left for Chandigarh on the morning of September 14, 2013 and got our registration done. Total of 45 teams participated in the competition and after that we
Competition – ROBOWAR 2013 Organiser – UIET (Punjab Technical University) Date of the event- 14-15 September 2013 Venue – UIET Chandigarh Position secured by MRIU- 4th position
third and final round, our motor went off due to high rage clash between the robot of UIET and ours. We finally secured the 4th place in Robowar competition at UIET Chandigarh. For us it was an exciting experience and we wish to continue our activities in this field.
THE ROBOT FROM MRIU: As the students from FET were participating in Robowar they had to create a robot which was capable of bearing heavy onset of destructive processes, high jerks and bearing attack of heavy metal mass from other robots. Therefore, a high strength robot was one of the main priorities, and secondly the robot actions had to be quick and fast. A
ACHIEVEMENTS FROM MRCE
very low ground clearance robot with minimal height was designed where 5mm steel plates were used to cover the robot from all around which would give strength to the robot. The students used 80 kg/cm torque and 100 rpm motors to give quick movements to their robots and very good quality of rubber wheels which would not slip over any surface and would help giving the robot proper control. They also added an additional weight to the robot by welding iron bars which made the robot weigh around 49 kgs. This heavy weight helped the robot against heavy jerks.
TEAM DETAILS: Team mentor Amit Kumar Singh (R.A)
MARK OF EXCELLENCE AT INNOVATE 2013
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
Assistants in MRIIC. Their innovation "Swasthya sanjivani" will help women get access to better health care services at nominal charges. With stakes getting higher, they have the best in the world to compete with for the finalist spot. So here's the team, the very best for the next round.
TEAM DETAILS: Teams mentorsManasvi Sihag (R.A) Mohit Bahl (R.A)
Left to right: Nikhil Dalmia; Saurabh; Manasvi Sihag (R.A.); Mohit Bahl (R.A.); Prashant Gupta; Pritam Singh
S.no.
Name of the participant Branch
College
1.
Prashant Gupta
CSE
MRCE
2.
Nikhil Dalmia
CSE
MRCE
3.
Pritam Singh
ECE
MRCE
4.
Saurabh
CSE
MRCE
5.
Hardik Garg
ECE
MRCE
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Competition – INNOVATE 2013 Organiser – SRM UNIVERSITY Date of the event- 3rd October 2013 Venue – SRM UNIVERSITY Position secured- winners (1st position)
SRM University In Ghaziabad had organised a technical fest on October 3rd and 4th. The fest was organised at their college campus in Ghaziabad where several competitions have been conducted in which several college teams have participated …
Team Robo Soccer and Line Following Robot Left to right: Ankit Sachdeva; Vimish Madan; Pranay; Devyansh; Kashish
teams were there who participated in the competition and after that we competed with several bots and our bot did a great job; though we could not win in this event, the learning experience was tremendous.
ROBO SOCCER There were several competitions like ● RC ROBO RACE ● LINE FOLLOWING ROBOT ● ROBO SOCCER etc….
RC ROBO RACE We participated in this fest to represent our college. We prepared a remote controlled automotive robot for the RC ROBO RACE competition. We got our work done right on time with the help of Mr. Nitesh Karnwal (R.A.) . We left for Ghaziabad on the morning of Oct 3rd and got our registration done. Total of 14
We built a robot customised to the theme and arena of the event ROBO SOCCER. Here our robot was supposed to play soccer and score goals within the least possible time. It was not a bed of roses for us since it required tremendous speed and the highest level of accuracy. A total of 18 teams participated in the event and after a close and vigorous competition, team MANAV RACHNA was declared as the winners with 1st position. Our efforts along with the guidance and motivation from
our mentor Mr. Karan Narula (R.A.) got us there.
LINE FOLLOWER A line follower robot was also prepared to compete in the line follower event. A total of 20 teams participated at the event. Team MANAV RACHNA was again declared as the winner. Our achievement wouldn't have been possible without the efforts and dedication of
our mentor Mr. Darpan Vats (R.A.) was rewarded. It was a great experience for which we would like to express our gratitude towards Prof. B.S Gill (Director, Meiic); Mr. Darpan Vats (R.A, Meiic); Mr. Karan Narula (R.A, Meiic); Mr. Nitesh Karnwal (R.A, Meiic) who were always there to motivate and encourage us. They guided us with our proceedings at every stage. We now look forward to get associated with more and more such events and even bigger projects.
TEAM DETAILS: Teams mentors Karan Narula. (R.A) Darpan Vats. (R.A) Nitesh Karnwal (R.A)
S. Name of the parno. ticipant
Branch
Semester College
1.
Mayank Sharma
Mechanical
3rd sem
MRIU (FET)
2.
Nishant Verma
Mechanical
3rd sem
MRIU (FET)
3.
Subham Karnwal
C.S
5thsem
MRIU (FET)
4.
Raman Joshi
Mechanical
3rd sem
MRIU (FET)
5.
Vimish Madaan
E.C.E
5th sem
MRCE
6.
Ankit Sachdeva
E.C.E
5th sem
MRCE
7.
Kashish Jain
E.C.E
5th sem
MRCE
8.
Devyansh Mahajan E.C.E
5th sem
MRCE
9.
Pranay
5th sem
MRIU (FET)
Mechanical
November, 2013
ACTIVITYBUZZ LITERARY CLUB ACTIVITIES AT MANAV RACHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING The Literary Club Meet provided lots of avenues for fun and entertainment. Students enjoyed themselves while bringing out their creative talent on October 5, 2013. It was also a time when they put on their thinking caps for Quiz Mania where their GK, IQ and awareness levels were put to the test. The Club’s activities acted as a great stress-buster and showed MRCE students at their creative best
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t the recent Literary Club activities meet, the Literary Club members and students of MRCE, were given an opportunity to show off their imaginative aptitude. They were asked to speak extempore on a wide variety of topics, write poems on what took their fancy, give quick answers to riddles and puzzles and recognize voices of singers and celebrities. The literary meet provided lots of avenues for fun and entertainment. According to Dr Saru Gupta, Faculty Coordinator of the Literary Club and Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, MRCE, “The Literary Club activities are meant to help students overcome their inhibitions and enhance their public speaking skills. Our
The Quiz in progress students are also encouraged to assume responsible roles as coordinators and organizers so as to help them learn multitasking and effective time management. The Club provides the perfect opportunity for talent hunts among the students, be it for anchoring, poetry writing or debating.” Radio jockeys from Radio Manav Rachna along with students of MRCE anchored the event’s proceedings. The participants aired their opinions on subjects like ‘Different Laughing Styles’, ‘My Embarrassing Moments’ and ‘Short cuts of Getting Rich’ as part of their extempore speech. Jokes and tongue-twisters provided comic relief to the event. In the Club’s second round of activities, students took to writing their own poetic compositions on topics like ‘Love’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Unsung Heroes’ and ‘Martyrs’ and won appreciation from the judges. The budding
‘poets’ would be given a chance to recite their poems on Radio Manav Rachna besides having their poems published in ‘Efficacy’, the Club’s in house magazine. The Literary Club’s third round of activities included Quiz Mania, where avid quizzers fielded questions on popular tag lines and logos. They were also asked to recognise voices of popular personalities. The literary meet, which was put together by students like Akanksha Saxena, Literary Club President, and a third year student of BTech (IT), Bhavesh Choudhary, Vice President, Literary Club and a second year student of BTech (CS); and Reeshti, a second year student of BTech (CS) and Co-ordinator of the Club’s literary, photography, documentary and magazine sections, gave students a wide platform to express their views on life and relationships.
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WHAT LIES AHEAD… igh School students can now look to the future with zeal and enthusiasm as they say goodbye to fear and trepidation. Caught at the crossroads of their careers, the students receive a much needed shot in the arm through a unique ‘Campus Walk Through Activity’ at Manav Rachna Educational Institutions. It is here that the students are being given a first hand experience of college life and the opportunities that await them. Through an initiative of Manav Rachna’s Admission Department, the Campus Walk Through Activity gives Grade XI and XII students a rare, one-of-a-kind opportunity to explore Manav Rachna’s world class infrastructure and vibrant institutions, meet and interact with faculty and staff and get valuable pointers on what they need to do to be successful in life. The Admission Department has been regularly organizing such campus visits for the Delhi-NCR school students with the aim of giving them a broad overview of campus life and preparing them for the future ahead. Once their Board results are out, the students, post this Walk, may no longer find college a daunting prospect. Take the case of the high school students of Bal Bharti Public School, Pitampura, New Delhi, for instance. Their visit to Manav Rachna’s sprawling campus on September 6, 2013, was packed with excitement. As the 80 students trooped in at the campus accompanied by their teachers, they were welcomed by Ms Hitankshi Thukral, Deputy Director, Admissions. The group was then sent to the auditorium for a motivational session with Colonel
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V.K, Gaur, Advisor MRIU and Director MRCED. He established an instant rapport with the students given his ‘down to earth’ nature and took them through a specially prepared presentation on Manav Rachna’s myriad educational institutes. A workshop on Time Management was next on the cards conducted by expert trainer Mr Varun Khanna who provided students with some useful time management tips. The children were awarded participation certificates and had their arms full, loaded with Reporter, Campus Buzz, a pen and a refreshment box. The crowd of eager students was given a taste of campus life as they were taken on a guided tour. Awed by the state-of-the-art infrastructure, latest facilities and equipments, the students were left asking for more. Taking a look at Manav Rachna’s well stocked library, they soaked in its academic ambience. Once they hit the outdoors, the students were excited to see the basket ball and volleyball courts, hostel premises, cricket ground and dental division. The tour ended with a visit to the much-awaited shooting range which has honed the skills of ace shooters and budding talents. The students spent a few hours and were hugely impressed with the wide spectrum of activities and eye catching infrastructure. As they boarded the bus to Delhi, the students knew they were taking back much more than a handful of memories. They were here for an experience which would turn their dreams into reality and pave the way for the future ahead. By Hitanshi Thukral, Deputy Director, Admissions
COMMUNICATION: MY WINDOW TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD One skill which is absolutely essential for every situation—whether personal or professional is —communication skill. The right language, the right format can often turn things in your favour or otherwise How many times have you wondered why people misunderstand you. Why can’t you express yourself even though your head is brimming with ideas? Why don’t people take you seriously and do not listen to you? Why are you not able to impress people? The answer, my friend is simple---You need to polish up your communication skills! In this fast moving world we constantly need to update ourselves and the need of the hour is to try and be better than the best. Apart from degrees and qualifications necessary for any job or business,
there is also a strong need to equip ourselves with as many skills as possible. One skill which is absolutely essential for every situation whether personal or professional is –communication skill. Some people have a ‘gift of the gab’ a skill they are born with. But don’t worry even if you are not born with it you can easily acquire it by practicing. Many people are not aware that this skill is not just about speaking. In fact listening, reading .and writing are also forms of communication and if you want to enhance your personality you should strive to be very good in all these spheres as all these go hand in hand.
Use your listening skills to the utmost: Most of the time we are so eager to speak that we fail to listen to others; and in doing so sometimes we fail to grasp something important. So we should pay adequate attention to listen to people and it will help us in both personal and professional situations. Every time you feel you are not in the mood to listen, think of that important message you may have missed which could put your life in danger or bring you out of it!! Or that same information which could fetch you millions!! So gear up my dear and make full use of your ears as God intended you to. I often wonder why we don’t listen to people!! Can it be that they are not impressive? Or their body language puts us off or the speaker’s posture and gestures are so irritating that we don’t feel like listening? Well this is all due to the
fact that people don’t pay any attention to their body language. As the dictum goes ‘actions speak louder than words’ our body language can convey so much. A strict stare from our father or teacher tells us very quickly that we are heading for trouble! A wrong expression or a blank face is enough to make one look like a fool. A smile can convey delight, happiness, approval or just simply peace which is a rare sight these days. As the saying goes-‘A smile is the only curve that makes things straight’. Reading is another skill which is losing it’s relevance in today’s world of technology. In fact among the younger generation it has almost become extinct. What the youngsters need to understand is that reading not just sharpens their vocabulary but also increases their attention span and patience-
a virtue which is fast losing its relevance. Reading for sometime at night ensures a good, restful sleep something which is definitely needed to kick start the next day well. Talking of Business, writing is an essential skill for a businessman to do well. Interoffice information, interpersonal relations, contracts, Government dealings all require writing skills. The right language, the right format can often turn things in your favor or otherwise. So friends nothing is impossible if you make up your mind and start brushing up these skills as they can put you on the path of success! So try and create the most promising `first impressions’ which can enhance your personality and you can leave your footprints in the sands of time!! By Dr. Radha Pandit, Asstt. Prof., FCH
PLACEMENTBUZZ
November, 2013
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DYNAMICS OF CAMPUS PLACEMENT ndoubtedly, placements symbolize performance and quality of any Institution of Higher Education. Acknowledging this reality, it has been the constant endeavour of Corporate Resource Centre (CRC), the central placement entity of Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI) including Manav Rachna International University (MRIU), to offer maximum job opportunities to all graduates and postgraduates of all streams in multinational companies and other prestigious organizations/industries. Accordingly, empowered by highly experienced and committed professionals, CRC, over the past four years, has established a robust networking with reputed corporate houses from diverse sectors. And, with every passing out batch, these linkages with the industry are expanding. Resultantly, there has been a discernible improvement in the campus placements with every batch.
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As against 724 placements in 2012 Batch, the figure swelled to 831 for 2013 Batch. Similarly, for 2012 Batch, whereas a total of 111 companies had organized recruitment drives, for 2013 Batch, the number soared to 124. Attaining meteoric increase in placement figures, despite consistent sluggish global economic scenario, is an affirmation of the holistic quality education imparted in MREI/MRIU. Today, our students hold coveted positions in prominent industries and have been excelling in their respective domains. In the true traditions of Manav Rachna Group, we are not to rest on our laurels but to evolve a strategy to surpass our performance in placements in the coming years. This warrants a synergetic effort by all the stake holders i.e the CRC, the Students and the Institution. In that, the CRC, would attempt to enhance its collaborations with industry for creating more job opportunities. As
regards the students, firstly, they would need to ensure that they remain eligible for participating in campus recruitment drives. Emperically, it has been seen that the twin eligibility criteria stipulated by most of the companies is 60% marks throughout with no active backlog (s) at the time of placement. This implies that the students must attempt to maintain their percentage in every semester to minimum 60% and avoid backlogs. However, if a backlog (s) is earned, the same must be cleared at the earliest. The students need to be extra cautious in their 4th & 5th semesters. Secondly, the students must remember that during the recessionary phase, most of the companies tend to become cautious and resort to selective/limited hiring. In such times, recruiters look for freshers who have a multi-faceted personality, have comprehensive domain knowledge, are IT savvy, possess immaculate soft skills, are
‘In today’s competitive environment, it is not enough to be the best in your field intellectually. Competency is only half of what you need to climb the ladder of success. The other half is the softer side of you - that part that will be liked, admired, trusted and remembered.’ Carole Nicolaides
Higher learning has to be in sync with the industry’ Major General A.S. Bakshi, AVSM (Retd) Director, Corporate Resource Centre, Manav Rachna International University writes his thoughts in the special report in Recruite magazine. The magazine which is powered by TIMESJOBS.COM a part of The Times Group. Excerpts from the interview: How important is an industryacademia connect? In the information age, the key drivers for growth are ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Skilled Human Resource’. The main repository of knowledge and manpower are the educational institutions i.e. academia and it is the industry which puts these two resources to use for generating wealth. In other words, if industry is an engine then the fuel is provided by the academia. Therefore, the relationship between industry and academia is symbiotic. The second important point is that at tertiary level of education, besides gaining comprehensive domain knowledge, it is incumbent to groom students for becoming job ready so that they can seamlessly switch to industry on completion of their studies. This can only happen if the students have the requisite skills that the industry looks for. For this, it is imperative that the teaching-learning pedagogy in the institutions of higher learning is in sync with industry. What initiatives should an institute take to build strong ties with industry? In today’s competitive world, for students pursuing higher education who aspire to grab a decent job after their graduation/post graduation, mere academic prowess is not adequate. Besides robust academic record, the students need to have good industrial exposure so that they understand the market dynamics and get acquainted
with latest technologies, systems, processes and procedures involved in various industrial sectors. For this, it is important for educational institutions to forge strong ties with the industry by resorting to joint research, faculty development programmes, evolving industry relevant curriculum, organizing, industrial visits, opening centres of excellence and engaging knowledge partners. Having understood as to how globalization and technology have transformed the landscape of higher education, Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI) have embarked on major initiatives for fostering meaningful relation with corporates with a focus to develop industry ready professionals. The first step was creation of Corporate Resource Centre, a central agency, to act as interface with industry. Thereafter, gradually a large number of memorandums of understanding were signed with prominent knowledge partners viz TCS, JBM, KPMG, NIIT, IFBI, Hay Group, Fortis and iCarnegie to name a few. The aim of these collaborations is to develop niche technical acumen and managerial skills in the students and rendering placement assistance in the related sectors. While forging industry ties, what should be the major focus area; training and research or job opportunities? All three are equally important. In fact, the academia-industry collaborations are multi-dimensional and multi-faceted
with lot of interplay. Let me explain how. As already brought out, in the globalised world, drawing up of students training programme in synergy with industry is of paramount importance. Training encompasses curriculum development, mentoring of faculty, holding seminars/workshops, conducting internships/projects and sharing of resources. An industry integrated training schedule helps in developing students in a holistic manner thereby enhancing their employment quotient. And, that leads to exploring suitable jobs for them in the industry. As regards research, it is an inextricable component of all higher education institutions. In fact, it is the research element that differentiates a university from college. It would be appropriate to mention here that besides the Academic Research that most of the universities are undertaking, perhaps the need of the hour is to focus more on Applied Research in collaboration with the industry. Remember, “Research and Innovation” are the keys for attaining sustainable growth. What are the factors that companies consider while empanelling institutions for Campus Placement? With lop-sided demand and supply situation in the dynamic job market, companies today scout for talent which has the right blend of domain knowledge, practical orientation, meticulous soft skills, immaculate
effective team players who can add value to the organization and project a ‘go-getter’ attitude. It is a tall order but for a conscientious and a focused student, who aspires to pick up a lucrative job, it is not something which cannot be achieved. All that is required is a determined and a calibrated approach right from first semester onwards. This, if done, would help students equip themselves with the above listed skills sets thereby making them job ready. It is here that the third stake holder i.e the Institution plays a major role. In MREI, corporate trainers have been engaged by all Faculties/Colleges who assist, guide and mentor students in honing their industry relevant competencies. Students need to take this personality development training seriously. Needless to state, polishing soft skills is a time extensive process and the
students have to make themselves available for such training to derive maximum benefit. Finally, suffice to state that with advancements in technology linked with fluid market dynamics, the campus placement landscape is gradually changing. In the job market, the worldover, demand is outstripping supply. Most of the companies today scout for fresh talent who has the requisite acumen to be billable from day one. It is against this backdrop that the teaching-learning pedagogy in MREI has been painstakingly evolved so that the students passing out of the Institution have a distinct edge in the highly competitive corporate world. ‘Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today’.
behavior/etiquettes, ‘go-getter’ and positive attitude and effective team player. With persistent recessionary trend, yet another important factor is ‘being billable’ soon after recruitment. Imbibing all the above mentioned traits/skills in the students, during their stay ranging from 2-4 years in the institution, is a tall order and can only come about in the institutions which have proved and retained its credentials over the years and have the requisite wherewithal listed in my answer to the last question. It has been our experience that most of the prestigious MNCs and other Tier 1 companies prefer to hold campus recruitment in the Government Institutions, NIT, IIsT and IIsM. It takes a huge amount of effort to urge these companies to visit private Universities/Institutions. They only agree when they are totally satisfied with the quality of education being imparted in these institutes. Some corporates even resort to accreditation process before empanelling.
taken. Simultaneously, endeavour was made to expand linkages across diverse sectors of the industry to cater for various streams/programmes being conducted in MREI. Simultaneously, a feedback mechanism was instituted to get inputs from the industry for improving the skill sets of our students. This led to a realization that besides good domain knowledge, industries lay great importance to soft skills. Therefore corporate trainers were engaged to polish up soft skills of the students. The traits the recruiters value the most in students, well every industry has its own eligibility and selection criteria and there are no compromises on that. Industries look for candidates who are multi-skilled and have sound domain knowledge with an ability to translate theoretical acumen for solving practical problems on ground. In soft skills, they look for excellent communication skills in English (both oral and written), an effective team player, having a go-getter attitude and lastly having commitment to value system. In sum, a fine blend of Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Moral Quotient (MQ).
What has been your experience in dealing with recruiters as regards campus placement? What are the traits they value the most in student. Campus recruitment in MREI has been going on since the year 2005. At that time, placements were done collegewise and consequently the placement apparatus was fractured and fragmented. However, consequent to the formation of deemed university, a Corporate Resource Centre (CRC) was created in August 2009 to act as a central agency for campus recruitment. Thereafter, over the last four years, a structured approach was adopted towards campus placement, being a key determinant of any vibrant institution. In that, actions like formulation of a placement policy, streamlining of recruitment modalities and documentation, counselling of students, issuing of advisories and creation of a dynamic website etc were
By Maj Gen A S Bakshi, AVSM (Retd) Director - CRC
How do you tackle issues such as recession: Do you promote enterepreneurship during these times? Needless to state, job opportunities are directly related to market buoyance and, therefore recession definitely has an adverse impact on campus hiring. In such a scenario, most of the companies become very cautious and resort to selective hiring and some even freeze higing. Some companies tend to postpone their recruitment dreive. In the prevailing downturn, sectors like IT, ITES, BFSI, Telecom and Automobile have been affected the most. But there are some sectors which remain resasonable recession-proof viz Healthcare, FMCG, Pharma and Infrastructure.
OPINIONBUZZ
November, 2013
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Press coverages at a glance
AN OUTLET FOR THE YOUTH: MOCK PARLIAMENT The Faculty of Commerce and Humanities (FCH) and Faculty of Media Studies (FMeS) in Manav Rachna International University, have started a new concept of organizing Mock Lok Sabha sessions which provide a platform to the youth to voice their concerns and views. These may also be called Youth Parliament ndia is called a young country meaning thereby that seventy five percent of its population is less than 35 years of age. But the irony is only 3-4% consists of the young representatives in the Indian Parliament today. The present day youth has its own vision for a country and they desire India to move in a particular direction with clean environment. Do we have a platform? Yes. With this end view, we, at the Faculty of Commerce and Humanities (FCH) and Faculty of Media Studies (FMeS) in Manav Rachna International University, have started a new concept of organizing Mock Lok Sabha sessions which provide such a platform to the youth to voice their concerns and views. These may also be called Youth Parliament. The mock parliament or the youth parliament that we envision, offers a chance to the students to channelize their energy
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into a no-holds-barred debate and speaking skills. It is basically more of a debate, providing the youth of the university an opportunity to put for the fresh perspectives and be pitted against the echelons of bureaucracy. A typical scenario of Lok Sabha is created. The responsibilities of Prime Minister, Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, Home Minister, Finance Minister etc. are assigned to the students who speak on a particular motion. The topic of the motion is always important which impacts every common folk today. Every student is given an opportunity to contribute to the thought process. Sometimes, it has been observed that the views given by the participants are so invaluable that could even be useful in policy formulations of the governments, both state and the central. The first step in this direction was taken on 6th September, 2013 when a mock Lok Sabha session was organized
for B. A. (Hons) English, 1st Year students to debate and discuss on a motion: “why English should not be replaced with Hindi”. The Speaker was Dr. Shivani Maini, Assistant Professor who managed the house. The beauty was every student participated with full enthusiasm and they gave different reasons as to why Hindi being national language, was not becoming popular among the masses. Since it has been proposed to organize such sessions for all the classes and also inter-classes, a second step was taken on 30th October, 2013 for the students of B.Com(Hons) who spoke on the motion: “Law and Order in Delhi and NCR”. It was observed that the students not only enjoyed the session but even demanded the extension of time for the debate. The responsibility of the Speaker was assigned to a student viz., Ms Aastha Rai and that of Leader of Opposite to Mr Sachine Tawetia. In this session,
the opposition was observed to be quite vocal on the rape cases, murders etc and spoke at length on the various issues affecting badly our society. They also gave useful ideas to the ruling party on the steps that could be taken by the government to improvise the present scenario. Apart from the sessions, being organized for the students, an exercise was also done for the faculty of FCH and FMeS to debate on a particular issue. This acted as a part of the faculty development programme. A mock Lok Sabha was organised for them on 4th October, 2013 to discuss and debate on the issue: “pace of economic reforms under UPA – II”. The duties of the Speaker were assumed by Dean, FCH & FMeS, viz., Prof Umesh Kalra. The issues were mainly on financial matters, the role of Finance Minister became very important which was staged by Ms Ruchi Mangla, Assistant Professor, FCH very ably. The Prime
Minister was Dr. Rajiv Singh and the Leader of Opposition was Dr Suresh Chander Naik, Assistant Professor, FMeS. The motion was put to vote by the Speaker and conclusion was that the pace of reforms has indeed slowed down for which both the government and the international factors were responsible. The beauty of the mock session was that it was covered in the state press viz., Dainik Bhaskar, the other day with the caption: “Heated discussion on inflation in mock Lok Sabha” Therefore, the benefits of conducting such mock parliament sessions are many. The students get an opportunity to vent out energy and they battle out on important issues, in an open debate where their oratory skills, depth of knowledge as well as self motivation is put to test. Prof. Umesh Kalra, Ex-IES Dean: FCH & FMeS