Skip to content Skip to navigation

IITG fraternity's steps towards societal development

An education institute is a place for nurturing the future of a society. Being one of the prominent institutes of the nation, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) has been working towards this goal in several ways.

The students of IITG have been involved in various efforts like zero illiteracy zone campaign,distribution of used clothes,blood donation camps, visit to orphanages in Guwahati city , popularization of Gandhian philosophy,efforts towards e-governance ,mentoring of students from Kendiya Vidyalaya (KV), IIT Guwahati etc. to contribute towards the societal development of the nation in general and of the region in particular.

"The zero illiteracy campaign was started in July 2008 wherein the security guards of the institute and small children from nearby village were taught.
The guards were taught spoken and written English. The school children were taught almost all the subjects in their curricula," said Ashish Kakran, General Secretary Students Welfare, IIT Guwahati.

There were around 150 kids from nearby villages Katinga Pahad, Reserve, Muriyapatti, Chinarpatti, Lathiya Bagicha, Amingaon AIDC etc. from class 1-10.

Starting from this year, the mess workers of IITG Hostel are being taught English and general awareness.

From August 2007, the students collected old clothes from the campus and distributed to the needy in Guwahati city as a regular event .

Kakran told,"The first blood donation camp was organized in IITG campus on 1st and 2nd of April 2007. This was a grand success where around 200 units of blood were collected. Since then it has become a regular event at IITG. Its planned to make it a bi-semester regular event. The next blood donation camp was organized on 29th of March 2009, in collaboration with Guwahati Medical College (GMC). It was a 1-day camp where 102 units of blood were donated".

"The students of IITG take frequent visits to some of the local orphanages. This interaction has proved to be beneficial to both parties. The inmates of the orphanages always enjoy the presence of our students and we in turn learn a lot about human emotions and values from these kids," he told.

The National Service Scheme ( NSS ) volunteers have started a web page to make the ideas of Mahatma popular among the current generation of youtha. They also plan to have regular discussions and brain storming sessions on different implications of Gandhian philosophy and Gandhian economy.

According to him, there have come many policies both at central and state level, which encourage the use of internet for better governance. The inclusion of right to information in the list of fundamental rights, is one such step. IITG is trying to build up database and information-base, which can be accessed to use these new initiatives from government in a better way.

He also told, "Mentoring of local school students by university scholars. Its a common trend in foreign universities. Following the same idea, from January 2009, class IX and XI students of Kendiya Vidyalaya of IIT Guwahati are being mentored by IITG students. This gives the KV students a scope to learn more about both curricular and extra-curricular activities. This also gives them a scope to have a more informative career decision".

The students involved in these programs are the NSS volunteers and the Group coordinators are Mr. Harpreet Singh (Spoken English for Security Personnel),Mr. Mayur Agarwal (Classes for Village Students), Rishab Parasar (Classes for Mess-workers),Mr. Tarun Chubisa (E-governance and IT), Atul Sancheti (Popularization of Gandhian Ideals), Ashish Thakur (KV Students' Mentoring).


- Buljit Burgohain, IITG

Comments

Sushanta Kar's picture

A really good job your people are doing Buljeet. The ACTA also taken up same extension activities in all most all the colleges, but with little success. Most of the elite college teachers think why should on the earth they should do such a useless (!!!) job, they only need money to buy car and flats. Anyway, have you visited our site recently? I'm sending you the Hard copy. Sushanta Kar

Pages

Add new comment

Random Stories

Elephant calf rescued at Nagaon

21 Oct 2014 - 9:44am | Rituraj Phukan
A group of nature lovers rescued an elephant calf from Mezigaon in Parkup along the Nagaon-Karbi Anglong border on Monday night much to the delight of a section of local residents.Acting on...

Shiv Prasad Thakur no more

5 Jan 2008 - 5:16pm | editor
Veteran Assamese film producer, director, three-time National Award winner Siva Prasad Thakur passed away at Guwahati on 05-01-08 at an age of 71. He died after brief illness. Thakur directed films...

Children kill father in Jorhat

31 May 2015 - 1:25pm | AT News
In yet another incident that sends shocks and anger across the state, the person whom his children set afire in Jorhat a couple of days back died on Sunday.Identified as Deven Dutta, the sexagenarian...

CLP meets on LS polls

27 Jan 2014 - 12:15pm | AT News
Assam Congress legislators are holding a meet to chalk out a slew of strategies to put up an outstanding performance in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.The brain storming meet began at 11-30 in the...

Other Contents by Author

Normal life in Guwahati was thrown out of gear as it was lashed by heavy rainfall. Several vital points in the city are under waist deep water bringing traffic to a standstill and stranding commuters. The worst affected areas are RGB Road, GS Road and Zoo Road which have been completely submerged.
Assam is in the fresh grip of flood wave triggered by heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of river Brahmaputra. Rain waters have wreaked havoc in seven districts. According to information, rainfall in the catchment areas of the Brahmaputra, has resulted in alarming rise in water level. There was, however, no report of any loss of lives so far.Huge areas of human habitation and cropland in Baksa, Barpeta, Kamrup, Nalbari, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and Sibsagar districts have been submerged and nearly 150 villages with a population of nearly two lakh were affected. The government has opened 15 relief camps in Baksar, Goalpara, Kamrup and Nalbari districts which are housing more than 50,000 people...
BJP is preparing to put the UPA government in a fix over the strings of ethnic clash in BTAD areas when parliament will resume its session on Wednesday. The party’s executive committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss the strategy. Disclosing this BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that BJP will be raising issues of general public concern such as the communal violence in Assam. He said the party has decided to raise Assam clashes on the very first day of the session, contending the violence has not stopped as yet.Same it was what Sushma Swaraj said before the reporters in Delhi.
The Centre on Monday blamed external elements in the ethnic clashes in BTAD areas and Dhubri areas where almost 60 were killed. Dispur is also likely to hand over the probe into the recent violence to CBI. Talking to reporters in New Delhi Union home secretary RK Singh said that the situation is under control as of now. There could be some external elements behind the violence. Singh had ruled out the possibility of involvement of anyone from across the border saying it was simply impossible for any organised group crossing over to India from across the border as the international border was sealed. He said that state and the Centre are determined that we will have this investigated and...
Refuges in Chirang alleged inadequate medical facilities in the camps. The medical teams find it quite difficult to move to the camps in the absence of security forces. CRPF jawans sprang upon a team of health workers in Bijni. On the other hand, so far 8 refugees died of various diseases. Indefinite curfew was reimposed in Chirang district where three bodies were recovered on Sunday. Night curfew was continuing in Kokrajhar, where two bodies were recovered, besides Baska and Dhubri districts.
Tension still grips BTAD areas. Dispur has set up 104 police pickets in Dhubri and BTAD areas. Security personnel start manning these violence-hit areas from Monday.A SSB team had a narrow escape on Sunday when unidentified miscreants opened indiscriminate firing in Amguri area in Bijni. On Monday miscreants set on fire a house in the area. Security forces have apprehended a former militant in this connection.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday reviewed the relief measures in BTAD areas and Dhubri district where 60people were killed. Gogoi directed the senior officials to carry out relief and rehabilitation measures on a war footing. He said that the topmost priority was relief and rehabilitation measures and all our energies should be channelized towards it. He asked the additional Chief Secretary to instruct the Deputy Commissioners of the affected districts to decongest the camps immediately and to open up new camps so that there is no major outbreak of diseases. Gogoi further instructed the PHE Secretary to construct latrines and to install water pumps in and around the relief camps in a...
Two hardcore Ulfa militants were shot dead during an encounter with police in Goalpara district on Sunday. The encounter took place at 8-30 in the evening at an inaccessible area in Rongjuli. Acting on a tip off, a team of police from Guwahati launched an operation where the heavy gunbattle took place. The Ulfa duo died on the spot. Identified as Ratul Asom and Raghu Asom, the duo was allegedly involved in the recent attack on army in Goalpara where a jawan died and 4 others have been injured. Identified as Ratul Asom and Raghu Asom, the duo was allegedly involved in the recent attack on army in Goalpara where a jawan died.
The Electronic Media Forum Assam (EMFA) has welcome the gesture of Satyam Foundation to offer Rs 51,000 as financial assistance for the treatment of Lalit Sarma, a Guwahati based television reporter. The EMFA also thanks Bhaskar Dev Konwar, a city based advocate, for offering Rs 11,000 for his treatment. Sarma, a crime reporter of DY365 is suffering from the ailment of partial paralysis for some weeks and he needs urgent treatment outside Assam. He is planning to visit Kerala for undergoing treatment with traditional medicine there. Mentionable is that Satyam Foundation, a Guwahati based welfare institution comprising some prominent cultural personalities of Assam, had honoured over 20...
Three persons have been injured when a powerful bomb exploded in Goreswar on Sunday. It took place at around 4-30 and bomb was planted on a tree which exploded at a village beside the Rangia-Goreswar Road. The bomb exploded with a huge sound when one of the trio tried to switch on a radio after he came to see it on a tree. The injured have been rushed to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital after preliminary treatment at the Goreswar Hospital.