Yuva Sangam, which celebrates India’s diversity, rejuvenates the spirit of oneness and highlights the strength of India’s democracy and education system, added a beautiful chapter from a four-day tour of youth group from NIT Warangal Telangana to IIT Roorkee between April 29 and May 4.
The Telangana contingent visited various central facilities of IIT Roorkee, state-of-the-art laboratories, incubation centers etc. This allowed the students to explore the 175-year-old institute and witness cutting-edge research being carried out at the Institute. The contingent visited the supercomputer PARAM Ganga and interacted with the technical staff. The students were briefed about various problems which the high-performance supercomputer is currently being used to solve. The students had a wonderful discussion with the technical staff and have shown a keen interest in understanding the working of supercomputers and what kind of problems the PARAM Ganga is currently trying to solve.
The Telangana visitor also toured the TiDES (Technology Innovation and Development of Entrepreneurship Support), an incubation centre at IIT Roorkee. TiDES provides support and resources to innovative start-ups. The students interacted with the start-ups currently being incubated at IIT Roorkee. They explored the Tinkering lab and iHub, which are centers for innovation and creativity aimed at providing students and faculty members with a platform to ideate and develop their ideas. The TINKERING LAB showcased many prototyping and product-building facilities, such as power tools, CNC Lathe, 3D printers and 3D scanners.
The participants also visited the Ambuja Cement and Everest industries in Bhagwanpur. They were briefed on how cement is manufactured and how the industries are putting various measures in place to reduce the carbon footprint in the manufacturing process. Then they also went to see the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences Nainital, a research institute specializing in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Atmospheric Science.
The Telangana contingent also visited Rishikesh and enjoyed the scenic beauty of nearby places. A visit to a nearby village was arranged for the Telangana contingent to engage them in the Buddy program. The students will be acquainted with the various cultural aspects of village life in Uttarakhand. This provided them an unique opportunity to interact with the rural public of Uttarakhand and learn about their cultural practices, food, way of living, customs etc. The students also witnessed how the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is helping to make the villagers empowered and self-reliant.
Applauding the spirit of Yuva Sangam, Prof Mukesh Kumar Barua, Dean of Students’ Welfare, IIT Roorkee, comemnted, “Through the course of the programme, students interacted with each other in the areas of language, literature, science, tourism, cuisine, festivals, cultural even events and more. It gave them a first-hand experience of living in a completely different geographical and cultural scenario.”