North East Rising

Guwahati, September 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that, the future of the nation is what its youth thinks today.

Addressing the students at the 22^nd convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati via video-conferencing, Prime Minister Modi said that – “Your dreams are going to shape the reality of India. The time today is to be future-ready and future-fit.”

PM Modi louded about the New Education Policy (NEP) and said that, the NEP will establish India as a global education destination and it will play a vital role in creating ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

“The NEP will connect education with technology. The NEP has been made multi-disciplinary. It will connect education with technology and will make technology an integral part of our students’ thinking. NEP has opened the way for the introduction of artificial education and increased usage of online learning. Research will become a habit for everyone. It will become a part of your thought process. There are no boundaries for knowledge. The NEP talks about opening up the nation’s education system,” PM Modi said.

He also said that education is gradually becoming a new medium of engagement with our neighbours.

“IIT Guwahati can become a pivotal centre for the same. To enhance the development in Northeast, infrastructure in railways, airways, roadways and waterways is being developed. There are immense possibilities in research in the sector of solar energy, wind energy, biomass and hydroelectric energy. Rice, tea, bamboo are indigenous of this region. There’s biodiversity in this region, as well as huge traditional knowledge. The states of Northeast invest a lot of energy and efforts in fighting off disasters such as floods and earthquakes,” Modi said.

PM Modi requested IIT Guwahati to start a Centre for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction and it will provide expertise to combat these calamities.

“300 students are getting PhD degrees today and it is a positive trend. Do not stop here. Make research a habit, a part of your thought process,” Modi said.

1,803 students of IIT Guwahati including 687 BTech and 637 MTech students have gotten their degrees during the convocation.

Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal have also addressed the youth of the nation through video-conferencing.

Guwahati, September 22: A medium-intensity earthquake rocked Assam and other parts of the North-Eastern region early on Tuesday.

Officials said that, there is no report of any casualty.

The earthquake of magnitude 4.2 occurred at 1-28 am on Tuesday in the state.

The National Centre for Seismology said the epicentre of the earthquake was at a location latitude 26.27 and longitude 91.20 and at a depth of 71 km.

The location of the epicentre is located in Barpeta district.

It is the fourth earthquake occurred in the North-Eastern region in the last 48 hours.

Assam, September 21: Assam’s Kamakhya Temple To Open From September 28 but With restrictions.

Only 500 devotees will be allowed to enter the temple per day for which passes have to be bought online, while only 100 people will be allowed at a particular time in the day.

Assam’s Kamakhya Temple has been shut for over six months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After being shut for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, Assam famous Kamakhya Temple is set to open its gates to devotees from September 28, the state government has said.

Only 500 devotees will be allowed to enter the temple per day for which passes have to be bought online.

The temple atop Nilachal Hills, one of the four Maha-Shaktipeethas, was for the first time since 16th century, when it was renovated by Koch Dynasty, shut down amid the four-day Ambubachi Mela — the biggest religious congregation in the Northeast to celebrate Shakti Goddess Maa Kamakhya. The Ambubachi Mela was also cancelled due to the pandemic.

According to the Kamakhya Devaloy Bor Doloi (head priest) Mohit Sarma, the temple had a footfall of over 15002000 devotees per day earlier. The festival, meanwhile, drew over 20-25 lakh devotees from all over the world. “However, we will adhere to the guidelines of the government to ensure people’s safety. These are testing times,” Mr Sarma said.

The Assam government has released a standard operating procedure (SOP) for running the temple amid the pandemic.

According to the SOP, the temple authorities have to issue online passes to the devotees with timestamps so that there is no mo than 100 people inside the premises at a single time. The devotees will be allowed to stay inside only for 15 minutes.

A medical team will be stationed at the temple’s office that will test the devotees for coronavirus, and only those who test negative in the in Rapid Antigen Tests will be allowed to enter.

Guwahati, September 21: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati organized an interactive session for the students of the first batch of MS (Research) in e-mobility programme with NITI Aayog CEO on September 19.

The session was attended by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Anil Srivastava, Mission Director, NITI Aayog; Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, faculty and students of MS (Research) in e-mobility of the Institute.

Speaking during the session, Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “The faculty has put together a multi-disciplinary programme which much before the National Education Policy 2020 was announced and also brought in industry partnership.”

“From this year, we have introduced a policy such that every academic department should have at least 3 successful industry advisors who are successful in research and development in industry so that the curriculum can be inclusive of industry-relevant problems over a period of time. We can increase the internship and externship. Additionally, we have also started with the idea of appointing Professors of Practice (PoPs) at the institute, so that having faculty from the industry who can provide expertise in industrial oriented problems is also inculcated as part of our curriculum. If we look at the government’s policy, India wants to achieve 30 per cent of e-mobility by 2030 for which major initiatives which have been initiated,” Prof. T. G. Sitharam said.

As a part of the curriculum, the Institute offers to conduct sessions and seminars delivered by industry experts. The aim behind these sessions is to make the students aware of the state-of-the-art in the EV technology and foster industrial problem-solving skill in them.

Addressing the students during the event, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, said, “I would like to first congratulate the Director, faculty and students for starting such a unique course at IIT Guwahati.

This is a path-breaking initiative because India is in the middle of a mist of technological disruption and revolution. This disruption will lead to a huge and massive shift from combustion vehicles to electric vehicles and we are heading towards a shared and connected zero-emission world. The government has taken several measures to push for electric motilities – it has introduced FAME and FAME 2 scheme, it has brought down the rate of taxes on electric vehicles at 5 % as compared to 28 % for other vehicles & 43 % for hybrid vehicles. We also give tax exemption, up to Rs. 1 lakh, to people who are buying electric vehicles. As a consequence of all this, the focus on electrification will be huge and if India has to emerge as a leader in clean, connected and shared mobility there are two important things to keep in mind: One is that India is a major user of 2 and 3 wheelers and 80 per cent of people travel in these vehicles and secondly battery will be an important component.  Battery manufacturing and storage will be a key component and storage will have to be linked to renewable energy integration with the grid,” Amitabh Kant said.

He further said that – “During a mobility conference, the Prime Minister had stressed on the 7Cs: Common, Connected, Convenient, Congestion free, Charged, Clean and Cutting-edge. And the course should focus on how India can achieve these objectives.”

While addressing the questions, Anil Srivastava, Mission Director, NITI Aayog, said that – “We are looking forward to making more energy-efficient and less costing batteries. The e-vehicles are not required to give much tax. India is a great user of two and three-wheelers and e-vehicles will make a great opportunity in it.”

He further said that – “In the case of batteries we also have to see the market interest that what materials will be good to undertake the making of the batteries. We have to think practically what sources can be undertaken for the success of e-vehicles.”

While highlighting the unique features of the curriculum, Prof. Praveen Kumar, Coordinator of the MS(R) programme said – “We have given the emphasis on project work, and the projects will be executed in collaborations with industry partners. Moreover, industry expert lectures, from India, European Union (EU), and Japan, on topics related to e-mobility such as vehicle design philosophy, light-weighting, new battery chemistries, are planned. Furthermore, Professors of Practice (PoPs) will deliver lectures on niche topics like AUTOSAR, advanced control techniques, vehicle design, and we will develop a centre of advanced research in e-mobility at the Institute.”

The adoption of EVs has opened new opportunities. To prepare and train the next generation in EV technology and to extract maximum out of this unique opportunity, IIT Guwahati launched this unique programme. It is being jointly offered by the Departments of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and the classes began in September 2020.

The syllabus cover topics such as E-mobility, Electric and Hybrid Vehicles; Modelling, Dynamics and Control of EVs; and, Energy Storage and Conversion. The Institute is offering a total of 20 seats for the programme. 10 seats are for the students who have completed their B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Production Engineering.

The other 10 seats are for the industry-sponsored candidates. The programme also covers topics such as smart mobility, EV drivetrain design and control, EV testing standards and protocols, charging infrastructure and V2G, among other topics

Guwahati, September 21: Three people of a family including a child were killed and one child injured when a speeding train rammed into their vehicle at a railway crossing in Assam, Kamrup district on Sunday.

The incident took place at Nadhiyapara area under Boko police station.

The deceased persons were identified as Abdul Jalil, his wife Saniya Begum and their daughter Afreen Akhtar.

Their 4-year-old daughter was severely injured in the accident and she was rushed to nearby hospital.

According to the reports, Abdul Jalil hailing from Chhaygaon area in Kamrup district Assam, and his family members were headed towards home.

The train en-route to Bongaigaon mowed down the vehicle carrying the family members of Abdul Jalil as it tried to cross the railway line.

Three people of the family died on spot.