Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to Flag-off Agri-Food Techathon at IIT-Kharagpur to promote Agri and Food Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to Flag-off Agri-Food Techathon at IIT-Kharagpur to promote Agri and Food Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News 

MIDNAPORE, 24 JAN: IIT Kharagpur in association with NABARD is organizing the first of its kind Agri-Food Techathon (AFT 2021), to promote the participation of India’s youth in innovation and entrepreneurship in different domains of the Agri-Food sector.

The event will be inaugurated by the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on January 25, 2021. The foundation of the Agri-Business Incubation Centre will also be laid at the inaugural event, which will carry out the mandate to incubate innovative ideas in agriculture and food technology domain for creating Agri-preneures.

Agriculture is the largest employment vertical with a GDP share of 14%. Over the years, India has witnessed a substantial increase in yields, crop diversity due to mechanization and knowledge dissemination programmes. However, the steeping consumption due to population explosion has been a constant challenge demanding rapid progress in the agricultural sector.

Talking about the initiative Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur opined, “While India is moving at an accelerated pace towards automation and digitization, there is a crucial need to complement it with automation in the rural livelihood and farm sector and warrant uniform progress. To

achieve this goal we are reaching out to the talented youth of this country through the Agri-Food Techathon. This platform will enable them to exhibit and depict their creativity, problem-solving and prototyping-skills in Agriculture and Food Technology thus leading to indigenous product development, employment generation and fulfilment of our promise to Atmanirbhar Bharat.” The national-level online technical fest spanned over January - March 2021, will have participation from over 750 university/college students, entrepreneurs and rural youths from across the country in the age range of 20-25 years with diverse academic background.

Apart from workshops, mentorship and guest talks, AFT-2021 will host a competitive B-plan submission for the participants. Business and technology experts in areas covering farm mechanization, AIML, IoT in agriculture, precision farming, greenhouse farming, organic farming, agricultural biotechnology, soil technology and testing, food processing, packaging and storage, food supply chain management.

Renowned professional experts from countries premier institutions like IIT Kharagpur, IARI New Delhi, CIAE Bhopal and Founders / CEOs of different successful agri-food tech startups like Sickle Foundation, Sfarms India, Fasal, Nutrigreen, Organic Farming, Cropin, B2V, Keyhti, Khadyam, Crofarm, WAycool, Villa Mart, etc. are taking part in the Sensitization Workshop of the AFT-2021.

More than 30 teams with high potential will be selected for formal association with ABIC, IIT Kharagpur. They will be offered assistance in the form of Technology and Business Development Mentorship, R&D support, Laboratory / Workshop / Pilot Plant access and Funding Opportunities through potential Investors / Accelerators. Business and technology experts from key domains of Agriculture and Food Technology will be involved as panellists and mentors.

Union Education Minister

The event is being organized by the Agricultural & Food Engineering Department, Centre for Rural Development & Innovative Sustainable Technologies and Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship in association with NABARD.

Prof. H N Mishra, Professor-in-Charge of the Agri Business Incubation Centre (ABIC), remarked, “At our Centre, we will facilitate the incubated startups to develop low-cost technologies and transfer them for sustainable development of rural communities. We shall further conduct hands-on training, workshops, and seminars for capacity building of farmers and unemployed rural youth.”

Special emphasis will be given through action-oriented research to promote climate-resilient agriculture in vulnerable districts, agricultural value chains, promote farmers’ collectives, value addition, market-linkage, and risk management; also offering expert advisory services, policy advocacy including building up of human capital in rural areas.

 

Ramesh Pokhriyal Inaugurates International Visitors' Accommodation at IIT Kgp  

“I am sure IIT Kharagpur will take the Indian education standards to a new unparalleled level:” Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank, Union Education Minister

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News

KHARAGPUR, 15 OCT: Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Thursday, inaugurated the new International Visitors’ Accommodation at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Kharagpur during a virtual event.

The Institute is looking forward to hosting nearly 100 international faculty members for short-term and long-term teaching besides for Research and Development.

Mr Pokhriyal also laid the foundation stones for two new halls of residence for students during the occasion.

“I would like to ask the students to progress keeping a strong vision and make it their mission to achieve their goals. We are prominently becoming a global education hub and the National Education Policy 2020 is making sure the academicians will study in India and stay in India. Soon, India will teach the world; and the world will come to India to learn,” he said while addressing the inaugural function.

Union minister also said, “With the strong foundation pillars of Quality, Quantity, and Access, National Education Policy 2020 is inclusive and will help education reach international standards. I am sure IIT Kharagpur will take the Indian education standards to a new unparalleled level. On this occasion, I congratulate Prof. V.K. Tewari, Director, and his team at IIT Kharagpur and Sanjay Dhotre. Naming the new infrastructure facilities after Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Atal Bihar Vajpayee, Bharat Ratna awardees and the legendary Savitri Phule will inspire students for sure to become leaders.”

He laid particular emphasis on the importance of physical infrastructure to achieve goals of excellence in the global scenario.

The APJ Abdul Kalam International Visitors Residential Complex features fully-furnished studio apartments with modern amenities intended for full-time and part-time international faculty. Apart from 12 regular international faculties, the Institute also hosts international faculty from other foreign universities during the year for short-term courses under Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN), Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) and other programs of the Ministry of Education and Government of India. The Institute also hosts faculty for long-term programs as well. Close to 50 such faculty visited in 2019-2020.

Speaking earlier, Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for Education, Government of India, said, “I congratulate IIT Kharagpur on unveiling the news infrastructure facilities. The Institute houses many world-class facilities and I am sure the Institute will be creating a new cutting-edge road map through the National Supercomputing Mission. I am happy about the unveiling of these new residence facilities. Naming the hostels on these eminent personalities will surely inspire the students.”

He further emphasized the need for excelling in domain-specific studies and expressed his confidence that every IIT would select a few domains where they can become global leaders.

Foreign Faculty bring in many advantages and unique benefits to the Institute. Some of the key benefits for IIT Kharagpur Faculty and students include:

 

• Multi-institutional Academic and Research exposure
• Cross-cultural experience and increase in diversity
• International faculty drive the global consciousness at educational institutions. They not only contribute to academia but bring internationalization to the industry by means of developing Intellectual Property
• International faculty spearhead the overall globalization of institutes by attracting more international students, collaborations and branding, besides leading the institutes further towards excellence.
• 

Speaking on this occasion, Prof VK Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur, said, “I am happy to announce today (15th October 2020) the unveiling of three new infrastructure facilities at IIT Kharagpur. The Institute already has 23 halls of residence named after luminaries. Along with this, we are naming the new boys’ residence of the hall after Atal Bihar Vajpayee and girls’ residence of the hall after Savitri Phule.”

Further, Prof VK Tewari said, “The Institute is working progressively on the lines of new National Education Policy 2020. The Institute has constituted a task force of 23 faculty members who are making sure that the policy is implemented in the best way possible at IIT Kharagpur. The Institute has also worked tirelessly during the Covid-19 times. Our faculty and researchers developed a rapid portable diagnostic test, painless drug delivery needle, and a physical distancing device, among other innovations and research.”

During this event, foundation stones were laid for two new students Halls of Residence having a capacity of 500 each. IIT Kharagpur already has 23 hostels with a combined capacity of 13,000. These new G+7 facilities will have central air-conditioning, a food court, and modern firefighting system along with elevators and ramps.

IIT-Kharagpur on its 70th Foundation Day connects Technology with Music in Academics 

“Any education is connected with the other just like scientific education is connected with music, humanities, history and more. Students will connect with their own minds, heart and thoughts with the help of these programmes or courses. Music too is scientifically and logically developed and students will be able to learn how technology can be connected with music and vice versa.”

Biswabrata Goswami 

Hummingbird News    

KHARAGPUR, 18 AUG: IIT Kharagpur on Tuesday launched the Academy of Classical and Folk Arts on the occasion of their 70th Foundation Day through a webinar for the first time that saw the presence of Professor Virendra K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur and Padma Bhushan Ajoy Chakrabarty, who is a visiting faculty at the varsity.

A first in the IIT system, the Academy aims to nurture the creative talents of the IIT Kharagpur community through an immersion in music and fine arts.

The Academy will offer regular training on music, fine arts and other performing arts, and run micro-credit courses for students. Its global outreach programs, that will include MOOCs courses and live classes, will create opportunities for a wider dissemination of the creative liberty at the heart of Indian classical music. The Academy will also pursue collaborative research in science and technology interventions in Indian classical music and other art forms that will not only help preserve India’s rich heritage but also create new teaching-learning resources.

“The spirit of creativity, collaboration and collective well-being is ingrained in the teaching-learning of our traditional performing and creative art forms. Inspiring the present generation to learn creative arts will enable them to develop the faculties of concentration, coordination, confidence and creativity, which are catalysts for scientific excellence,” said Prof. Pallab Dasgupta, Professor-in-Charge of the Academy and Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Congratulating IIT KGP for their newest addition to the campus, Padma Bhushan Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty, Distinguished Professor and Mentor, who graced the inauguration and conducted a unique workshop called “Sur-o-Srishti: The Science and Philosophy of making Indian Music” said, “Any education is connected with the other just like scientific education is connected with music, humanities, history and more. Students will connect with their own minds, heart and thoughts with the help of these programmes or courses. Music too is scientifically and logically developed and students will be able to learn how technology can be connected with music and vice versa.”

“India will reach the pinnacle of scientific and engineering eminence if the spirit of innovation is inculcated in the young minds,” said Pt. Chakrabarty.

“The modern style of learning music, which I have been professing over the years with remarkable effect, is designed to inculcate the traits of experimentation and innovation in young minds, rather than blind imitation which has become prevalent not only in music but in most other forms of learning. There is no better place to bring about this change in the mindset than a top seat of learning like IIT Kharagpur.”

Pt. Chakrabarty is heading the ‘100 Ragas Initiative’ of the Academy. The initiative intends to formulate the deep structure of Indian ragas as semi-lexical languages by forging a connection of the creative arts with the cognitive sciences.

“It is essential for an institute of national importance to focus on the holistic development of its students, staff and faculty. The Academy of Classical and Folk Arts is the first of its kind at IIT Kharagpur. This and other forthcoming academies such as the Academy of Leadership are designed to expand the mind set of our students from narrow individual academic competitors to versatile and creative social beings with the flair and confidence of excelling in innovation and technology leadership. We are privileged to have an eminent musician in the form of Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty by our side as a distinguished professor and mentor of this academy. With him by our side, we are happy to officially launch the academy,” said Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur.

The Academy is closely supported by IIT Kharagpur’s distinguished alumni, including Mr. Arjun Malhotra, Dr. Kiran Seth, members of the IIT Kharagpur Foundation, USA, and more recently Mr. Mukund Padmanabhan. Talking about the Academy’s vision, Mr. Malhotra said, “In today’s world innovation is driven by individuals or teams who have access to both the left side and right side of their brains.”

Courtesy: Images from IIT-KGP @iNET

IIT-Kharagpur researchers develop ultra-low-cost portable first-of-its-kind device for Covid-19 rapid test

IIT-Kharagpur researchers develop ultra-low-cost portable first-of-its-kind device for Covid-19 rapid test

The entire rapid test can be conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable device with the test results available in a customized smartphone application for dissemination within 1 hour without requiring manual interpretation. All of this at a cost of around INR 400/- per test.

         

 Biswabrata Goswami

 Hummingbird News

KHARAGPUR, 25 JULY: In a unique effort, researchers at IIT Kharagpur have innovated a novel portable rapid diagnostic device to detect COVID-19 infection. This first-of-its-kind device will bring the testing for COVID-19 out from the walls of expensive laboratories and RT-PCR machines and enable testing at affordable costs for the under-served community across the world.

This entire test with the extracted RNA from the patient saliva samples can be conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable enclosure as an alternative to specialized laboratory equipment. The same portable unit can be used for a large number of tests, on mere replacement of the paper cartridge after each test. The device has been proven to produce no false result with remarkable accuracy and sensitivity compatible to standard RT-PCR tests.

This test has an unprecedented low cost of less than Rs 400/- per test, taking all components of expenses and business model into account.

Considering the impending outbreak of COVID-19 infection at progressively more geographical locations with the anticipated increment in number of affected personnel at a dramatic rate, there is an emergent need to run large numbers of reliable diagnostic tests at affordable cost and minimal infrastructural support, for monitoring the early stages of progression of the disease when many of the infected persons do not exhibit discernible symptoms of infection.

A team of researchers from IIT Kharagpur, contemplating on the challenge, realized the alternative cannot be new innovations for the existing detection systems such as testing kits and PCR machines but a disruptive approach leading to a new technology and testing process being innovated without sacrificing the scientific rigor and medically acceptable high standards of the test results.

The research team has successfully validated the detection procedure, taking time of approximately 60 minutes to run each test. 

This obviates the need of an expensive PCR machine, by means of a set of innovations such as a portable automated pre-programmable temperature control unit for the genomic analysis, coupled with a specially functionalized detection unit on a simple strip of paper, and a customized smartphone application for dissemination of test results without requiring manual interpretation. While the Institute can produce the testing kit up to a certain scale, patent licensing will facilitate commercialization opportunities for medical technology companies.

Under the guidance of the Professors, the device design and fabrication work has been spearheaded by doctoral student Mr. Sujay Kumar Biswas, and the bio-analytical protocol has been standardized by doctoral students Mr. Saptarshi Banerjee and Ms. Nandita Kedia. Dr. Aditya Bandopahyay has further helped in developing the thermal unit.

Highlighting the need for such equipment, Prof. Suman Chakraborty, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, said, “In assessing the utility of a specific method of disease detection, there is a common failure to recognize that the cost of the test kit may not turn out to be the most critical factor from the viewpoint of affordable diagnosis, unlike what is being commonly portrayed. Rather, the greater challenge is complete elimination of the need for any specialized infrastructure and ensuring the possibility of conducting tests at large scale at low cost without compromised accuracy. In that light, the RT-PCR based tests suffer from a compelling constraint of requiring an elaborate laboratory-infrastructure and support system including the operational and maintenance cost, to perform the test. The alternative existing approaches to these tests, on the other hand, are either invasive (blood tests) and non-indicative of early stage of development of the infection, or dependent on reagents that are extremely unstable and cannot be implemented in resource-limited settings.”

The Equipment developed by IIT Kharagpur Researchers will cost about ₹ 2,000 if a pilot facility is used. Use of a large-scale commercial facility will further reduce with increase in the production scale. This compares very favourably with the RT PCR machine costing ₹ 15 Lakh.

Further, Dr. Arindam Mondal, Assistant Professor, School of Bio Science, IIT Kharagpur, added, “The unique portable device developed by the IIT Kharagpur researchers has not only been validated for the diagnostics of COVID-19, but also been designed to be capable of detecting any other kind of RNA virus by following the same generic procedure. The impact of this, therefore, is long lasting, empowered by the capability of detecting unforeseen viral pandemics in the coming years that may potentially endanger human lives time and again.”

The project received financial support from the Institute in late April as Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur, decided to set up a fund to support COVID-19 related research and product development.

“This unique innovation is aligned with the Institutional vision to develop high-end healthcare technologies that can be afforded by the ailing common people all around the globe at virtually no cost, and is likely to make significant breakthrough in global viral pandemic management”, opined Director Prof. V K Tewari.

The Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India has also been reaching out to all technical institutions regarding ongoing research work to help address India's increasing need to augment testing facilities.

The results from this new technology have been strictly validated by following all established laboratory controls against the benchmarked results obtained from RT-PCR machine, using synthetic viral RNA. The synthetic RNA is exactly the same replicate of the viral RNA extracted from infected patients, as per accepted scientific benchmarking procedure, and is used for validating laboratory tests to avoid undue contamination and danger due to spreading of infection while handling sensitive body-fluid samples.

IIT Kharagpur is ready for commercialization of the product. Any corporate or start-up can approach the Institute for technology licensing and commercial scale of production. The Institute is open to tie-ups, including a mode where the government intervenes with regards to meeting our low-cost healthcare objective for the under-served community as a policy measure to protect the interest of public health amidst the pandemic situation, instead of merely developing a strong profit-oriented model.