Port Blair, Sept. 17: The 51st Engineers Day was celebrated by The Institution of Engineers (India), (IEI) A & N State Centre (ANSC) & DBRAIT on Saturday, 15th September 2018 at Port Blair with an Inaugural & Technical Session which started at 930 AM at DBRAIT Auditorium, Pahargaon. The Theme of Engineers’ Day was “Digital Transformation : A New Industrial Revolution”.
In his address, the Chief Guest, Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai, Director – Chandrayan, ISRO, popularly known as Moon Man, paid tributes to Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesaraya whose birthday every year is being celebrated as Engineers’ Day. He then through an IBNLive short film capsule traced his humble beginnings from a “cowshed” classroom to ISRO glory & ISRO Hero, Challenges Ahead”. As he explained later in the course of his address he informed the Engineers that his primary classes were attended by him in a cowshed which had to be cleaned of the dirt, liquid and solid, washed and dried by the students and after that their teacher used to come and take classes. This was highlighted to the audience of Engineers, budding Engineers, students and others to drive home the point that it does not matter what background you come from but that the “passion” is the driving force behind your degree of success. The theme of the Day was also highlighted by the Chief Guest. Dr. Annadurai then made a detailed PPT presentation on satellites and how it is impacting the lives of the common people. Starting from Agriculture, Water Resources, harnessing sea wealth, weather prediction, GIS applications, Tele-medicine, Tele – education, Forestry etc. every sector benefits from the satellite. He also dwelt at length on the different types of satellites put into space. He outlined what has been done so far and the plans for the future. After this a short film on the making of a satellite was shown which explored the vast detailing and micro-detailing which went into the making of one. Dr. Annadurai said the making of a satellite is perhaps the only field in which all branches of engineering have an important role to play and ISRO employs engineers from all branches. Finally he said, ISRO is endeavouring so as to create in society and especially among the children and student community for developing a “Romance of Space” attitude.
The programme began with Invocation of lamp & devotional song followed by Welcome address by the Chairman, IEI, ANSC, Er. D. Sathyamoorthy, FIE wherein he outlined the total profile of the Moon Man chronologically up to date. It was followed by presentation of the Annual Report 2017-18 by the Honorary Secretary, Er. Johnson Abraham, MIE.
During the awarding ceremony Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai gave away awards to the winners of the Best Engineering Student Award 2018 to 09 students of DBRAIT, 3 from Graduate program and 6 from Diploma program. He also gave away awards to winners of competitions like Elocution, Poster presentation, PPT presentation, Painting, Collage making & Quiz on Digital economy for both school and college.
Dr. Annadurai also gave away Best Engineer 2018 awards to Er. Colonel P. Jayaram, Commander Works Engineer, MES, A & N Zone, Port Blair for his new innovative Modular Rainwater harvesting project which can be installed in the shortest possible time without additional space requirement and can easily be moved to another site with very nominal cost involvement. One such project has been set up in Coast Guard area in Port Blair. Er. N. V. Sajitha, Lecturer (Electrical) from DBRAIT was another recipient for her involvement in NBA accreditation of her department for two years and her involvement as guide in the making of Peltier cooler which is cheap, can be used in remote areas with storage power, easy to transport, does not use harmful gases effecting the environment etc. and another project involving the bicycle which can be driven with stored power and it can be recharged either by motive power of the bicycle or solar recharging station which was also developed and installed in DBRAIT campus.
During the function the other dignitaries present were Past Chairman Er. Manohar Singh FIE, Immediate Past Chairman Er. T. N. Krishnamoorthi FIE, Past Honorary Secretaries & Committee Members of the A & N State Centre of The Institution of Engineers (India). Also present were Senior officers of A & N Administration, Heads of Departments under A & N Administration, Heads of Central Govt. departments, Heads of Engineering Deptts. in Defence sector, Heads of Public sector organisations, Technical & Educational Institutions, Members of IEI & students of DBRAIT, many schools and colleges .
The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Dr. Shrabani Mallick, AMIE, Committee member of IEI, ANSC.
The Engineers Day celebrations concluded with a Cultural Evening for the Engineers and their families at ALHW Multipurpose Hall, Phoenix Bay.