Meeting of Members of All Hostel Councils and EW

We had a meeting with members of all hostel councils, executive wing, GCU, Council of Wardons and DoS. The purpose was to take a proactive action in order to curb ragging. Overall it was a very essential step towards addressing this problem.

As a followup of that I have started visiting hostels. After dinner I had a round of Godavari and Ganga hostels.

Check for advance payment for wheel chair handed over to Naga Naresh

I handed over the cheque to Naga Naresh for paying 75% advance to Callidai Motors to buy the electric wheelchair. At that time Harshit, Bhushan and some other secretaries and also some students from Sarayu were present. This amount is sanctioned by DoS from the Students Welfare Fund. Tommorow we will make actual payment to the Callidai.

Estimate of expeses for availing Educational Loan for students

Some new girls from MSc class have applied for educational loan. They wanted to get an estimate of academic expenses from the institute in order to submit it to the bank. AR-Acad has clarified saying that this estimate can be sent by academic section directly to the concerned bank. The bank has to contact the Acad Section.

Microsoft Exchange Server as a platform to the email for students

At around 1045h I received phone call from DoP about Microsoft Exchange Server as a platform to the email account for students. He also informed that the interface was same as the Hotmail interface. He wanted my opinion about its usefulness. I told him that if the interface was going to be same as Hotmail then usefulness wise MES would be welcome. The price for the required number of licenses was being negotiated and DoP had found that the proposed price was ‘not bad’. Already 2000 licenses are given free for faculty accounts.

General Secretary’s Address - Welcome to 1st Year Students of MSc, MBA, MTech, MS and PhD Programme

Good morning to all. I am Prasad Dudhgaonkar, the General Secretary of student body of IIT Madras. On behalf of all students, I welcome all new students of MSc, MBA, MTech, MS and PhD.

I will briefly tell about myself. I’ve done Bachelor of Engineering from Shivaji Vidyapeeth Kolhapur in Maharastra, then Masters from IIT Bombay, then have worked in engines R&D of an automotive manufacturing company. And in last three years I am persuing here at IIT Madras, my doctorate in the area of spray atomization and its application in the aviation gas turbine engines.

Having said that I would like to mention one thing, which is like any other world class institution IIT Madras also demands academic excellence. At the same time we should take enough care of ourselves so that we stay fit, both physically and mentally. To help us do that life in IIT Madras has a lot to offer you. Here I will mention briefly a few things in the student life at this campus.
We will have extramural lectures by eminent personalities from all corners of the world, encompassing various aspects of life, which include science and technology, sports, social work, politics, business and entrepreneurship, culture and entertainment. These lectures provide us excellent opportunities to interact with great persons and to draw inspiration to become one like them. We will also have intra-hostel and inter-hostel events, departmental technical festivals, national level annual technical festival, which is popularly known as Shaastra, annual cultural festival - Saarang, many exhibitions, seminars, conferences and what not!

I should not forget to mention the Hobby Club and its activities. Here you get opportunity not only to pursue your current hobby but also to develop interest in new hobbies. We have here a photography club, robotics club, astronomy club, aero-modeling and some more clubs. You may also come with suggestions of other hobbies. Your suggestions will be certainly appreciated. Being a member of Hobby Club will not cost you a single rupee.

It is essential here to mention that all these activities are conducted by students, under able guidance of honorable Director, Dean of Student Activities and faculty advisers for sports, co-curricular and cultural activities. I look forward for your enthusiastic participation in these activities.

Another information… sports talent search will begin immediately. So start practicing your favorite games. In our campus, you can practically play every game except golf and formula one racing… Don’t forget this is only university campus which is situated in a beautiful reserved area of a national park. So please appreciate this identity. You can do it by participating in various activities of Prakriti. Prakriti is and organization for conservation of environment in our campus. Dr Manu Santhanam will talk in detail about Prakriti at a later stage.

I would like to conclude by wishing you a very pleasant, healthy and a successful stay at IIT Madras.

Thank you.

PG Chief Coordinator for GCU

We selected Jignesh Sutaria (MS – Aero) as the Chief Coordinator (PG). Selection of his deputy will take place soon.

General Secretary's Address - Welcome Function for 1st Students of BTech/DualDegree Programme

A very good morning to all. I am Prasad Dudhgaonkar, the General Secretary of student body of IIT Madras. Basically I am a PhD Research Scholar from Department of Mechanical Engineering.

I welcome all new students of BTech and Dual Degree programme and their parents on behalf student community of IIT Madras. We also congratulate new students for making into IIT Madras through a tough competition.

You may already have become aware of the life in our institute through the wep-portal and earlier speeches... not to forget the beautiful brochure made by Guidance and Counselling Unit.

Like every other world class institution, our institution also demands academic excellence. Thus our first priority should be academics. At the same time, we should never forget to take enough care of our own development as a good person with an excellent character and also our development as a good citizen of the nation.

To help us achieve this goal, student life in this institute will provide you many many opportunities in various forms. We will have extramural lectures by eminent personalities from all corners of the world encompassing various aspects of life which include arts, culture, science and technology, business and entrepreneurship, entertainment, social work and also politics... and remember your attendance for these lectures is compulsory!

We also will have intra-hostel and inter-hostel sports events and cultural events, departmental technical festivals, national level annual technical festival, popularly known as Shaastra, annual cultural festival Saarang and many more events. These all events will be conducted by students under able guidance of honourable Director, Dean of Student Activities and Faculty Advisers for Sports, Co-curricular and Cultural activities. So prepare yourself to conduct at least one of the modules of these events some day... of course, without compromising academics.

Finally a word about ragging. Most of you know using internet and many of you use cellphones. If you face ragging or notice ragging, you should immediately report to your hostel warden, or to me, or to any student secretary. You should note our cellular phone numbers from the telephone directory. These directories are kept in all hostels, departments and also on internet. But I appeal you not to be oversensitive as it is quite likely that the other guy may be trying honestly to introduce himself to you.

I conclude by wishing you a very pleasant and a fruitful stay at IIT Madras/

Thank you.