INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH BY DIRECTOR

PROF. T. SRINIVASA RAO, AUGUST 15th, 2013

Good morning and my hearty greetings to you all on the occasion of the 67th Independence Day of India.

The very mention of the word Independence brings back nostalgic memories to all those who love their

beloved country. They are moments of sheer magic when a nation held in bondage for centuries breaks free

from the shackles of foreign rule and breathes in winds of freedom. The country that suffered slavery is the

very country that has been admired by many in the West. We need to be proud of that legacy. No less a

person than Albert Einstein has said of India: “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to

count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” The famous German

scholar Max Muller observed, “If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed

some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found

solutions, I should point to India.” And Mark Twain who is known for his satirical comments observes

seriously that India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history,

the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive

materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. Such a great nation that was the fount

of wisdom is ours and ours only. But today, we see that freedom that was won by sacrifice, blood and toil is

being taken for granted. Most Indians are not keenly appreciative of the blessings of being born an Indian.

In the face of skepticism and even ridicule from others, India stood up to the challenge of making a

success of its independence and proved its critics wrong on many counts. Today, it is the largest democracy

and is poised for keeping its tryst with destiny. It is true that there are many hurdles at present, and some

major failures on certain fronts, but the country is relentlessly surging ahead. The progress may not always

be dramatic, but it is sure and steady. To begin with, the GDP has slowed down to 4.5%, but it is expected to

improve. It is the lowest in a decade, on account of poor performance of manufacturing, agriculture and

services sectors. On the positive side, the construction output expanded 5.8 percent and financing, insurance,

real estate and business services grew 7.9 percent. The country is facing unprovoked and unwarranted

assaults from Pakistan and still managing to maintain its calm. The world knows that our military strength is

unquestionably superior and hopefully a timely and firm signal of no-nonsense will set things right. The

political situation in the country is fluid with General Elections fast approaching. Again, the political

sagacity of the average Indian voter has been high and the nation will keep moving forward. We as people

are peace-loving and committed to progress. The Sensex zoomed up and came down but it is hovering

around 20000 mark, which seemed impossible a few years back. Despite the fall of the rupee, markets will

hopefully shoot up again. The Indian Space programme is recording one amazing victory after another. The

successful launch of INSAT-3D, IRNSS-1A and PSLV-C20 carrying SARAL and six commercial payloads

underline our mastery in this field. Recently, INS Arihant’s reactor achieved criticality making India a proud

member of an elite club of only five nations in the world to have nuclear-powered submarine. And the latest

news is that INS Vikranth the first indigenous aircraft carrier is ready for launch. In sports, while the Indian

cricket team continues its saga of wins, some badminton stars are setting new milestones of excellence,

particularly Kashyap and Sindhu from our own state, not to mention Saina Nehwal who chose to live in

Hyderabad.

Coming to our institute, we are, I am sure, already started on the way to take NITW where it belongs., as our

Chairman, Board of Governors put it, at the top of the NITs and as a competitor to IITs. On the academic

side, we started a new M.Tech. programme called Materials and Systems Engineering Design in

collaboration with NFTDC, Hyderabad with the students carrying out lab work and projects in that industry.

NIT Warangal has been witnessing an impetus in its research capabilities and performance in the recent

times, thanks to generous funding from MHRD and the dynamic leadership we are enjoying under the

Chairmanship of a highly accomplished and internationally renowned scientist and industrialist, Dr. Ella

Krishna. The faculty are now recharged with enthusiasm, commitment, and a mission-like zeal to revitalize

themselves to conduct high quality research in areas of cutting-edge technologies and science.

The BOG of NIT Warangal was very generous and exhibited its foresightedness in earmarking a recurring

grant of Rs. 200 lakhs every year as Research Seed Money (RSM). Many young faculty members across all

Departments were given financial support from this Fund in order to encourage them to continue their

research pursuits.

Our Institute is now acknowledged as the most active and BEST Indian Partner in the Erasmus Mundus

Indo-Europe Academic Exchange Programme, HERITAGE with Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France, as the

European Coordinating Institute. About 33 of our NITW students and staff out of a total 100 from India are

selected for the first phase of academic mobility to European Higher Education Institutes. Further,

HERITAGE scheme is inviting applications from the students and staff for the Cohort 2, meaning the

second session. The last date is 16th September.

Yet another Erasmus Mundus Indo-Europe Academic Exchange Programme, by name, EUPHRATES

(European Union for Promotion of Health by Research in Applied Technology, Education and Science), is

also finalized by the European Commission with University of Santiago de Compostela, A Coruna, Spain, as

the European Coordinating Institute. HERITAGE PLUS is also submitted and is expected to be granted.

There are about 5 Centres of Excellence with specific mandate to carry out interdisciplinary research in

cutting-edge areas of applied science and technology. The Centre for Automation and Instrumentation is

housing a host of modern and sophisticated equipment to cater to the needs of material diagnostics and

characterization as a Central Instrumentation Facility. The Computer Centre with hundreds of terminals and

necessary software is helping the computational needs and simulation studies of the researchers. A unique

centre, Centre for Innovation and Incubation is providing an avenue for the Institute to encourage

innovations, industrial liaison, ink MoUs and file patents. The Centre for Sustainable and Alternate Energies

has just started its activities with funds from the TEQIP-Phase II. The Centre for Advanced Materials is

focusing on investigating smart materials including nanomaterials and nanotechnology. Centre for Urban

Transportation Studies is recognized as one of the national level nodal centers for research in transportation

engg. Further, every Department is supported to start Mini Centres of Excellence to sharpen their niche areas

of expertise. With the kind of buzzing R&D activities and the ongoing recruitment to about 200 more faculty

positions, I hope we are creating a great deal of intellectual space for all the faculty members to engage

themselves in multifaceted research activity.

This year two more clubs/ students chapters are being started –Heritage-SPIC Macay club, for the promotion

of Indian Culture and Arts among the youth and Honeybee Network – NITW Chapter to promote the culture

of Innovation and entrepreneurship among the student community, social innovation and social

entrepreneurship in particular. Technozion 2013 is planned from September 27 to September 29. I am glad

to say that the newly constituted BOG has given a big boost to the B.Tech III year students. A total of 18

students will be sponsored and sent for summer internship for four to eight weeks to universities in the USA,

Europe and other countries with which our institute has entered into MOUs.

A good deal of construction and renovation work is going on. The roads of the campus are now widened and

black-topped –a long-pending demand. Now, some of them look like runways. The old hostel blocks 6, 7

and 8 and some A-type quarters are upgraded. Another vexing issue of toilet blocks is addressed as several

old toilets are upgraded. External and internal painting of CAM and CAI buildings is nearing completion,

three 250 KV generators are installed, one of them near the Ladies Hostel. Two new mega buildings at a

cost of Rs.140 crores to house the Metallurgy and Chemical departments are approved and work will start in

a few months. Construction of second floor over the Indoor Games Complex is entrusted to CPWD at a cost

of Rs.72 lakhs and a dining hall in the Ladies Hostel over the existing hall is approved. Tenders are finalized

for the construction of three big water sumps of 4 lakh litre capacity to improve and sustain ground water

levels at a cost of about 1 crore rupees. First floor for the Ladies Waiting Hall is being taken up, the expense

running to about 40 lakhs. Proposals are put up for upgrading the Centre for Continuing Education building

at a cost of 1 crore. An internal road skirting the compound wall and the construction of a multipurpose

community hall along with G+9 floor quarters for teaching and non-teaching staff are the other highlights.

Also, it is proposed to renovate the Institute Auditorium and IT Theme Centre at a combined cost of about 1

crore. Under TEQIP Phase II, 17 programmes were conducted for Faculty in the form of seminars,

conferences and

workshops on advanced areas, 10 programmes for staff, students and scholars. 15 Faculty members

presented papers abroad, about 50 in India, and 90 Faculty members have gone through training in

Management. Sophisticated equipment worth Rs. 2 croes has been procured already and there is

commitment for another 3 crores.

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering has contributed another dimension to the institute’s

profile by actively conducting a series of activities collaborating with National Mission on Education

through ICT (NME-ICT) . As a part of this, a Coordinator’s workshop was conducted at IIT Kharagpur on

Analog Circuits. Four more workshops sponsored by MHRD were conducted at NIT Warangal in

association with IIT Bombay. A prestigious national level research project under MHRD called Design

Suitable Pedagogical Methods in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur is being coordinated by Prof.

Somayajulu. Around 30 developers from NIT warangal participated. In addition to the above activities, the

Institute is participating actively in A-View weekly discussions organized by A-View, Amrita University

since 2009.

Procurement process has been initiated to set-up dedicated E-classrooms with the entire IT infrastructure for

each department under TEQIP and PLAN grants. Caller ID telephones have been provided for all the

teaching staff and to non-teaching staff upto superintendent level. For the remaining administrative seats

also, we will plan soon to provide caller ID instruments to facilitate call back. BSNL SIM card facility to all

the permanent employees of the institute, teaching and non-teaching, free of cost with unlimited calls within

NITW group will be provided by the end of this month. Internet bandwidth from BSNL has been enhanced

from 32 Mbps to 155 Mbps. Students hostels have been provided with a bandwidth of nearly 200 Mbps from

National Knowledge Network (NKN) and BSNL line together. New Ladies Hostel is being provided with

WiFi internet access in addition to the existing wired access. Providing Smart ID card to all the students and

employees has been initiated. Better security arrangements are being made by means of CCTV cameras.

The intercom telephone facility will be extended to all the non-teaching staff staying in Dtype and F-type

quarters. An Internet Café will be set-up in the north campus (in F/D type quarters) for the benefit of the

children of non-teaching staff. The number of WiFi internet access (hot spots) on the campus will be

increased to cover all the key places like conference halls, auditorium, hostels, departments, staff quarters,

Library, cafeterias etc. Access control mechanism at the entry of important places like main building,

hostels, central library etc., is under process. Centralized internet facility will be provided to the students in

the hostels who do not have laptops /desktops at present.

“Go Green” concept implemented everywhere including using non-conventional energy resources, waste

management, power management, paperless office to the extent possible etc. Cashless payment at hostels,

canteens, mess dues, exam fees, cooperative stores etc., to avoid long queues and waste of time, on-line

facility for allotment/booking of hostel rooms, digitization of all the important official records for easy

storage and retrieval, asset tracking etc. Complete automation at central library using latest technologies like

RFID to avoid queues and wastage of time will be introduced. Upgradation of the existing MIS, and

providing latest computers to the faculty are under consideration.

I appeal to all sections of our institute to put their minds and hearts together and take NITW to a high

pedestal. Let us proudly participate in fulfilling that destiny. I am sure the institute and the country will have

progressive and prosperous times ahead.

Jai Hind!