SRMIST inaugurates the forth edition of T-Summit: Call To Develop Technology To Transform Quality Of Life In Rural Areas
- Ace nuclear physicist Rajagopala Chidambaram considered the ‘Hero’ of Pokhran-2 nuclear tests in 1998, said Friday that Technology has a pivotal role to play in transforming quality of life in rural areas.
SRM Institute of
Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, July 12: Delivering
the inaugural address to the SRM Technical Summit 4.0 on the theme of
‘Pioneering Social Innovation’ , Chidambaram said, “When the quality of life in
rural areas becomes comparable to urban areas, then only India can be
considered a developed country.”
Achieving the United Nations designated development goals is only the
starting point, he said urging engineering student delegates from across the
country to become creators of technology, not followers. This fourth T-Summit is a build up to the 13th edition of
Aaruush, the national level Techno-Management Fest of SRMIST, scheduled from
September 26.
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| SRM T-Summit 4.0 inaugurated by Dr. R. Chidambaram (Former director of BARC) alongside Dr C Muthamizhchelvan, Director E&T, Dr Atul Gurtu, Physicist, Dr. Vikram Chandra Thakur, Geologist, Dr V M Ponniah, Dean, Faculty of Management, Dr. A. Rathinam, Convenor, Aaruush |
Speaking on ‘Technology is Power’, he
noted that Indian engineers would play an instrumental role in developing
Gaganyan, the country’s first manned flight mission in space scheduled to be
launched before 2022 and Chandrayan-2 with Lander and Rover later this year.
Alluding to the Pokhran tests which he had supervised during his tenure, the
former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman stressing the indigenous scientific
effort said, “We stole knowledge from nobody.”
In contrast, China and Pakistan benefitted from borrowed technology, he
said.
On fears expressed by late physicist
Stephen Hawking regard Artificial
Intelligence taking control of human lives that might spell the end of the
human race, Chidambaram said Roger Penrose of the Tesla group had debunked this
theory by asserting that humans would always be smarter than AI.
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SRM T-Summit 4.0 Souvenir release
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Referring to futurologist Alvin Toffler’s
famous quote, “Yesterday Violence was Power, Today Wealth is Power and Tomorrow
Knowledge will be Power,” Chidambaram
said, “Today Technology is Power.” The
former director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre said Indian scientists and
researchers had to be in the forefront to create new IP to make the country
immune to technology control regimes imposed by certain developed nations.
In his keynote address, high energy
physicist Dr Atul Gurtu who led a 70-member team which participated in the CERN
Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle
accelerator, said collaboration and cooperation within the international team
comprising was in itself a transforming experience as it made the scientists
inter-dependent on one another.
Guest of honour, noted geologist and inc
fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences Dr. Vikram Chandra Thakur, urged students to come up with solutions for
environmental degradation of various
hill towns in India in the Himalayan region. He expressed grave concern over
the scenario of vanishing agricultural land and green cover due to expansion of
concrete jungles. The water problem in river rich areas and reduction of water
table in Punjab were matters of great concern, he said. He lamented that
funding of projects to prevent landslides remained unimplemented on the ground.
In his presidential address, Director
Engineering and Technology, Dr C Muthamizhchelvan, said higher education
institutions were no longer rigid in offering multi-disciplinary courses if
they resulted in more innovation in research. He asked engineering students to
extend their interests beyond their selected courses. Dr V M Ponniah, Dean,
Faculty of Management, welcomed the delegates from 24 institutions including
IITs and NITs.
