IIT Alumni raise a toast to its economic ambassadors

New Delhi: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi's Alumni Association (IITDAA) celebrated the excellence achieved by its alumnus, today, at a high profile ceremony of distinguished alumni members.

The IIT Delhi Alumni Association felicitated three awardees this year with its 'distinguished alumni' award — K Venkataramanan, member of the board and president operations, Larsen & Toubro Ltd; Dr Krishan K Subnani president, networking research, Lucent Technologies, USA, and Dr Raghuram G Rajan, economic counselor and director of research, IMF Inc, USA.

Venkataramanan, a chemical engineering student from the first batch in 1966, has been recognised as a corporate leader who has earned international recognition in the area of engineering and project management.

Dr Krishna K. Subnani, founder of wireless networking research department at Bell Labs, USA, has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to the field of electrical engineering.

Dr Raghuram Rajan, economic counselor and director of research, IMF Inc, and author of the bestseller Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists has been recognised for his colossal contribution to the theory and practice of finance and economy.

Previous awardees from include: Vinod Khosla, co-founder SUN Microsystems; Rajat Gupta, Worldwide partner, Mckinsey and company; M S Banga, chairman, Hindustan Lever Limited; Y C Deveshwar, chairman, ITC and; Kiran Bedi, Indian Police Service

The distinguished alumni award is regarded as the highest recognition from, IITD. Each year the institute felicitates the accomplishments of the most meritorious of its 27,000-strong alumni in the fields of academics, business and entrepreneurship and profession and / or public policy and service.

According to Prof Kothari, director, IITD, the institute also is planning to approach the central government and the armed forces for adoption of three indigenously developed products — the Mangal turbine, the blood group card and the water purifier rod. of these inventions.

Vivek Luther, president, IIT Delhi Alumni Association said, "Its an honor to witness the excellence that IITD Alumnus are achieving in their lives. The 'distinguished alumni' awards acknowledge the intellectual excellence amongst the alumnus and inspire the students of IITD".

At the felicitation the association reiterated its 'Vision 2020' of becoming among the top five engineering and technology institute in the world. The institute is planning to substantially increase the scale of postgraduate programs, ally with top global institutes to introduce exchange programs for better mentoring and development opportunities for students.

Earlier this year, IITs earned an eminent distinction with a resolution from The House of Representatives, USA, acknowledging the contribution of IITians to USA."

Homegrown innovators
Some recent innovations from the portals of IIT Delhi include:

New blood grouping card developed by IIT Delhi's Centre for Bio-medical Engineering (CBME) is a new blood grouping card that has the potential to save people from the trouble of going to a lab to identify their blood group.

The card is the first step of a project given to IIT by the union government's Department of Science and Technology. The objective is to develop a similar card by which the ELISA test for HIV and other diseases can be conducted.

The card can be stored at room temperature and hence will be especially useful for soldiers. CBME is also developing a porous insulin delivery capsule that will be helpful for diabetes patients

Improved design of the Mangal turbine for irrigation and power generation in rural areas is a joint effort of IIT Delhi's CRDT and the mechanical engineering department. Mangal Singh, a farmer of village Bhailoni Lodh (UP) designed a water wheel with wooden and iron blades for lifting the water from the nearby river for irrigation.

A faculty team from CRDT and the mechanical engineering. department. visited the site and held discussions with Mangal Singh to understand the efficiency and other features of Mangal turbine. Realising substantial potential in the gadget by introducing certain scientific and technical inputs the project was taken up with financial support from CIMMYT.

Water purifier rod is a silver coated rod used for purification of water for drinking. Even a small quantity of water can be purified by placing the rod in the water to be purified. This rod has a huge potential in the defense forces, particularly in accessible areas.