Technology is a non-linear tool
which can effect fundamental changes
in economic competitiveness

I am delighted to address and interact with the students of DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jalandhar. My greetings to all of you. I take this opportunity to congratulate all the Faculty members of DAVIET, who are in the mission of developing all round personality among the students by making them not only excellent professionals but also good human beings. I have been propagating a three dimensional development comprising education with value system, religion transforming into spirituality and inclusive economic development for promoting the development of enlightened society.

When I see you all, the students, teachers and professors of DAVIET, I am reminded of my guru, a great academician, a leader, an institution builder and above all a great human being. I joined Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in 1958 at Aeronautical Development Establishment at Bangalore as a Scientific Assistant. There, I took up the development of Hovercraft. Hovercraft design needed the development of a ducted contra- rotating propeller for creating a smooth flow with balancing of torques. I did not know how to design a contra-rotating propeller. Some of my friends told me that I could approach Prof. Satish Dhawan of Indian Institute of Science and seek his guidance to design the propeller.

I met Prof. Satish Dhawan, who was sitting in a small room in Indian Institute of Science with stocks of books around and a blackboard on the wall. Prof. Satish Dhawan asked me what the problem was that I would like to discuss. I explained the problem to Prof. Dhawan about my project work. He told me that it was really a challenging task and he would teach me the design only if I attend his classes in IISc between 2.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. on all Saturdays for the next six weeks. He was a visionary teacher. Before commencing each session, he would ask critical questions and assess my understanding of the subject. I realized how a good teacher prepares himself for teaching with meticulous planning and prepares the student for acquisition of knowledge. This process continued for the next six weeks and I acquired the capability for designing the contra-rotating propeller. Prof. Dhawan told me that I was ready for developing the contra-rotating propeller for the given hovercraft configuration. That was the time I realized that Prof. Satish Dhawan was not only a teacher, but also a fantastic development engineer of aeronautical systems.

After reaching the smooth test phase, contra-rotating propeller went through 50 hours of continuous testing. Prof. Satish Dhawan witnessed the test himself and congratulated me. That was a great day for me, when I saw the contra rotating propeller performing to the mission requirement in the hovercraft. It was a great environment in IISc, where even a scientific assistant could approach a professor for design guidance, the professor took it seriously, the student really would never forget the teacher. What a beautiful environment! I always cherish this experience. Such inherent teacher's quality has to shine in the NIT campus.

With the economic recession, fear of less jobs and the commitment of expenditure made for engineering studies, parents and students have genuine apprehensions about future. Our country has many opportunities for budding engineers. There are 600,000 villages and many urban areas to be developed. With this huge challenge, we have need for products which can also be exported. If you concentrate on the basic engineering science and work hard, there are opportunities abound, demanding your innovative skills. It is normally said that the intersections of disciplines and sciences result in many innovative products. While being with you, I would like to discuss with you on the “convergence of technologies”.

The information technology and communication technology have already converged leading to Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Information Technology combined with bio-technology has led to bio-informatics. Now, Nano-technology is knocking at our doors. It is the field of the future that will replace microelectronics and many fields with tremendous application potential in the areas of medicine, electronics and material science. When Nano technology and ICT meet, integrated silicon electronics, photonics are born and it can be said that material convergence will happen. With material convergence and biotechnology linked, a new science called Intelligent Bioscience will be born which would lead to a disease free, happy and more intelligent human habitat with longevity and high human capabilities. Convergence of bio-nano-info technologies can lead to the development of nano robots. Nano robots when they are injected into a patient, my expert friends say, it will diagnose and deliver the treatment exclusively in the affected area and then the nano-robot gets digested as it is a DNA based product.

Convergence of ICT, aerospace and Nano technologies will emerge and revolutionize the aerospace industry. This technological convergence will enable building of cost effective low weight, high payload, and highly reliable aerospace systems which can be used for inter-planetary transportation. Now let me discuss about the importance of research for high quality teaching.

Good teaching emanates from Research. The teachers’ love for research and their experience in research are vital for the growth of any institution. An Institution is judged by the level and extent of the research work it accomplishes. This sets in a regenerative cycle of excellence. Experience of research leads to quality teaching and quality teaching imparted to the young in turn enriches research.

During the last 20 months, I have visited and interacted with students and faculty members of 19 foreign universities (10 in America, 6 in Europe and 3 in Asia) and 50 Indian universities. During these visits, I found that all foreign universities and few Indian universities are concentrating on research. For example, Waterloo University, I saw a solar powered car developed by the students which has been driven many parts of the world. The famous Black Berry is the product coming out of Waterloo research. Carnegie Mellon University had developed a robotic car which has participated in an International Competition. Arkansas University and Rice University have realized a solar photovoltaic cell using carbon nano-tube in the laboratory with 50% efficiency against the present 20%. At Banaras Hindu University, I saw the nano-technology based water filter. At Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, I saw power-generation through blood flow using carbon nano-tube. The research and development in these universities has enriched the quality of teaching and the quality of teaching is enriching the research and development. Wherever I went, I saw that research teaching research each is re-enforcing the other. I am sure; these examples will be emulated by the faculty members and students of DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology.

Dear friends, when I am with the young students who are in the process of shaping the vision of life, I would like to share the uniqueness of two great minds, both of them Nobel Laureates, each one having unique traits such as science as a life time mission and creativity under difficult circumstances. Certainly I believe this will enable you to imbibe confidence and formulate you vision of life. First let me talk about Chandrasekhar Subramanyan.

Science as a Life time mission: Chandrasekhar Subramanyan’s most famous discovery was the astrophysical Chandrasekhar limit. The limit describes the maximum mass (~1.44 solar masses) of a white dwarf star, or equivalently, the minimum mass for which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star or black hole following a supernova. The limit was first calculated by Chandrasekhar while on a ship from India to Cambridge, England. The Chandrasekhar Limit led to the determination of how long a star of particular mass will shine. In 1983, Chandrasekhar Subramanyan got the Nobel Prize for this discovery. Two of Chandrasekhar's students in 1947 were the doctoral candidates Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang in Particle Physics research. Even though Chandrasekhar Subramanyan maintained his office at the Yerkes Observatory in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, he would regularly drive the one hundred miles to Chicago to guide and teach Lee and Yang and others many a times in difficult weather conditions. In 1957, these two of his students won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in particle physics research. This also brings out Chandrasekhar Subramanyan’s commitment to science and there by to his students. Science indeed is a lifetime mission for Chandrasekhar. It is this characteristic which makes youth to become passionate towards science.

Birth of Creativity in a difficult situation: Mario Capecchi had a difficult and challenging childhood. For nearly four years, Capecchi lived with his mother in a chalet in the Italian Alps. When World War II broke out, his mother, along with other Bohemians, was sent to Dachau as a political prisoner. Anticipating her arrest by the Gestapo, she had sold all her possessions and given the money to friends to help raise her son on their farm. In the farm, he had to grow own wheat, harvest; take it to miller to be ground. Then, the money which his mother left for him ran out and at the age of four and half years, he started sometimes living in the streets, sometimes joining gangs of other homeless children, sometimes living in orphanages and most of the time hungry. He spent the last year in the city of Reggio Emelia, hospitalized for malnutrition where his mother found him on his ninth birthday after a year of searching. Within weeks, the Capecchi and his mother sailed to America to join his uncle and aunt.

He started his 3rd grade schooling afresh over there and started his education, interested in sports, studied political science. But he didn’t find interesting and changed into science, became a mathematics graduate in 1961 with a double major in Physics and Chemistry. Although he really liked Physics, its elegance and simplicity, he switched to molecular biology in graduate school, on the advice of James D Watson, who advised him that he should not be bothered about small things, since such pursuits are likely to produce only small answers.

His objective was to do gene targeting. The experiments started in 1980 and by 1984, Capecchi had clear success. Three years later, he applied the technology to mice. In 1989, he developed the first mice with targeted mutations. The technology created by Doctor Capecchi allows researchers to create specific gene mutations anywhere they choose in the genetic code of a mouse. By manipulating gene sequences in this way, researchers are able to mimic human disease conditions on animal subjects. What the research of Mario Capecchi means for human health is nothing short of amazing, his work with mice could lead to cures for Alzheimer’s disease or even Cancer. The innovations in genetics that Mario Capecchi achieved won him the Nobel Prize in 2007. Noble laureate Capecchi life indeed reveals: -

“When you wish upon a star,
Makes no difference who you are”

With this background of unique traits of great minds, dear friends, I am sure you will think big. “Higher you elevate your thoughts”, the “higher achievements are possible”. In the environment of DAV Institute, I was thinking when you complete your education, you have to take different assignments in different institutions in the country. Many a times you have to take the leadership position also after acquiring experience. Now I would like to share with you, the technological challenges to be taken up by you during the next two decades.

Five technological challenges await you when you enter in your professional career.

Information and Communication Technology: India has to become “Knowledge System Powerhouse” instead of software powerhouse. Also to achieve global operations, we have to consider introduction of virtual platforms for development of knowledge products based on national experience in engineering design of multiple systems.

Energy: As the President of India, when I addressed to the nation in 2005, I have set a goal of realizing Energy Independence by the year 2030. We have to meet our increased demand from the existing 1,45,000 MW has to come from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, nuclear energy and hydro-electricity. For the transportation sector, energy has to come from bio-fuel and bio-diesel. Institutions like DAV have to work on the science and technology applicable for these systems of energy such as increasing the solar photovoltaic cell efficiency from 20% to 50%.

Automobile industry: Future Automotive systems will have characteristics such as Improvement in Combustion Efficiency, Improvement in Diesel Engines, systems using alternate Fuels and Hydrogen powered fuel cells, systems operated using CNT based solar cells for higher efficiency and design and development of robotic cars which obey traffic laws, merge into moving traffic, avoid obstacles, and negotiate intersections. The robotic technology is indeed taking shape and we may see in this decade Robotic Cars in many parts of the world. Indian automobile industry has to aspire for a business volume of US$200 billion by 2016.

Aerospace field: India has to work for 70 seater aircraft which should be so designed that with only change in fuselage length should be able to vary the passenger capacity to 50 or 90. With the technology available through various programmes, design development and leading to production of 70 seater passenger aircraft before 2020 is possible. This will lead to a business volume of US$15 billion.

PURA Mission: PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) envisages economic empowerment to a cluster of villages through the provision of physical connectivity, electronic connectivity and knowledge connectivity leading to economic connectivity. The theme of PURA, apart from concentrating on reinforcing agriculture, will emphasize on agro processing, development of Rural Craftsmanship, dairy, fishing, silk production, so that the non-farm revenue for the rural sector is enhanced, based on the core competence of the region. Also the rural economy will be driven by renewable energy. In this approach, the aim is to make sustainable development using the core competence of the rural sector. These PURA will be technology driven. The entire country will have 7000 PURAs (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) encompassing over 600,000 villages. Students and faculty members of DAV Institute can plan and execute a PURA called DAV PURA in the neighbourhood of the college. This can become a platform for conducting experiments on rural development programmes by the researchers of DAV Institutes and other engineering institutes of this region.

When the child is empowered by the parents, at various phases of growth, the child transforms into a responsible citizen. When the teacher is empowered with knowledge and experience, good young human beings with value systems take shape. When individual or a team is empowered with technology, transformation to higher potential for achievement is assured. When the leader of any institution empowers his or her people, leaders are born who can change the nation in multiple areas. When the women are empowered, society with stability gets assured. When the political leaders of the nation empower the people through visionary policies, the prosperity of the nation is certain. The medium for transformation to developed India is the empowerment at various levels with power of knowledge. Empowered youth can achieve the impossible and make the nation proud. For success in all the missions, it is essential to have creative leaders. Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect. For a prosperous and developed India, the important thrust will be on the generation of a number of creative leaders from our educational institution like DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology.

My best wishes to all of you in your educational mission.

May God Bless you.

Questions from the Students of DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jalandhar, 25 March 2009

Rishi Singh, EE- 3B
1 Sir, is it still possible to realize your dream of “Transforming India into a developed nation by 2020 in view of the prevailing recession and continuous terrorist attacks?
Ans. In a dynamic growing society, there will always be certain types of problems. We should not get frightened of the problems. We should defeat the problem and succeed. Now our GDP has come down to less than 6%. I am sure, by 2010 we will again start growing at higher rates. Regarding Terrorism, the youth should participate in the National campaign for eradicating terrorism. At Delhi University, I recently inaugurated a National Campaign for Combating Terrorism organized by the students. Fortunately, we have a protected economy, and it has been able to withstand the economy turbulence without much difficulty. This is the time, nation in-stead of getting lost in the world recession, we have to smartly engage ourselves in bringing dynamic growth for our rural economy through creation of large number of PURA complexes.

Rajat Khanna, EE – 3B
2 who was your inspiration in the formative years and who is your role model now?
Ans. Shri Sivasubramania Iyer. My role model will be confident youth of the nation who will say “I can do it”, “we can do it” and the “India can do it”.

Binnie Arora
3 Why machines have overpowered human’s emotions & what is the remedy?
Ans. If you mean, dynamics of our life are being electronically governed from morning to night through e-mail, internet, cyber tool, TV, computer/laptops, mobile telephone, I would like to state the following: It is the experience of many that all these tools assist in enlarging the knowledge and make our actions more efficient. But at no time we can allow computers to be our masters and it is not possible, since human creativity will always be superior to the machine intelligence.

Abhijit Singh, 76/07
4 Can India and Pakistan ever come to mutual understanding on Kashmir issue?
Ans. One thing I can say from the history, European nations were fighting with each other for centuries and even they created two world wars. Today, 27 countries of Europe have joined and formed the European Union and they have a Parliament to govern their economic development with prosperity of nations as focus. American group of nations and the earlier Russian group (USSR) of nations, for nearly 50 years were differing with each other vehemently and accumulated 10,000s of nuclear war heads. Today, they are talking about world peace and they are sitting across each other in the peace table. I am sure, within another few decades, any nation can become a friend of any other nation.

Sahil Bhandari, EE – 1B
5 Surrounded by self-seeking politicians what were the major problem you faced during your tenure as President?
Ans. I did not face any major problem.

Sieca Bhanot, 244/08, ECE – 1B
6 What is the basic reason of brain drain from India and how we can arrest it?
Ans. I do not consider movement of a small percentage of technical personal to foreign countries for education or employment is a matter of serious concern. India is generating nearly a million professional every year. Out of this, if few go abroad, it is a healthy phenomena of knowledge exchange and creation of global awareness.

Harmandeep, 2216 MCA – 2nd Sem
7 These days every Indian says we need Bhagat Singh, Gandhi & Subhash Bose, but nobody wants to be Bhagat Singh or Gandhi, How can we strengthen feeling of patriotism among Indian youth?
Ans. I believe, nobody can make anybody else patriotic. At the school going age young minds of the children can be transform to love the nation by the parents and teachers. For example, I still remember the advice given by Mahatma Gandhiji’s mother to Mahatma Gandhi, she says, “Son, in your entire life time, if you can save or better someone's life, your birth as a human being and your life is a success. You have the blessing of the Almighty God".
This advice has made a deep impact in the mind of Gandhiji, which made him to work for the humanity throughout his life.

Shalini Wadhera, CSE – 6th Sem
8 Successes and failures are an integral part of scientific research. How did you manage to keep your cool and retain enthusiasm during the difficult times while heading nuclear missile and rocket development program?
Ans. Failure management in ISRO.

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