S. Vishnu Sharma
Siddhi webinar series, IIT Madras is launching the fortnightly webinar series on socially relevant technologies on 14 August.
Siddhi webinar series is being launched to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Siddhi webinar series
The Siddhi (Self-Reliant India: Discussions and Dialogues for Humane Innovations) webinar series will focus on following themes:
# Socially relevant technologies
# Technology for self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat)
# Technology and rural development
The inaugural Siddhi webinar series will comprise a panel discussion which will take place on 14 August 2020 and the topic for this will be ‘Food Security: Retrospect and Prospects’
The Siddhi webinar series is being coordinated by the office of Global Engagement at IIT Madras. Public can also take part in Siddhi webinar series and they have to register for this.
Those who are willing to be a part of the Siddhi webinar series can click the following link ‘https://siddhi.iitm.ac.in/’ to register themselves.
Professor Raghunathan Rengaswamy, dean (global engagement) at IIT Madras said the objective of the Siddhi webinar series is to disseminate the science behind technological solutions for societal problems among the general public, while also initiating a dialogue to identify socially relevant problems that need to be addressed.
The international partners of IIT Madras will be participating in the Siddhi webinar series. The Event will also be live streamed on the Institute YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/ReachIITM).
Topic of food security was chosen for this time in Siddhi webinar series as the threat of COVID-19 and its impact will be felt intensely on agriculture, economy, health and nutrition.
The first webinar on food security will be a panel discussion in which experts working in this field will discuss the most important issues confronting the nation.
The Gandhian approach complements many world-wide human development programmes such as the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable Development is a major component of the vision and mission of IIT Madras. The agenda for the inaugural Siddhi webinar series panel discussion is:
# Introduction to the team by the moderator – Mr. A. V. Balasubramanian, Director, Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems, Chennai.
# A bird’s-eye view of Production and productivity of Indian agriculture – Mr. P.V.S. Suryakumar, Deputy Managing Director, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Mumbai.
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# Food security and Nutrition – How we are performing – Dr. R. V. Bhavani, Director, Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Programme, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai.
# Food Security Legislation – promise and performance – Mr. Clifton D’ Rozario, Advocate at Manthan Law, Bengaluru.
Siddhi webinar series is a collaborative endeavour with faculty, researchers and students involved with projects sponsored by Government of India under SPARC, VAJRA and socially relevant projects approved by Government of India such as Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and New India Internship.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) was established in 1959 by the Government of India as an ‘Institute of National Importance.’
The activities of the Institute in various fields of Science and Technology are carried out in 16 academic departments and several advanced interdisciplinary research academic centres.
The Institute offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes leading to B.Tech., M.Sc., M.B.A., M.Tech., M.S., and Ph.D., degrees in a variety of specialisations.
IITM is a residential institute with more than 580 faculty and 9,500 students. Students from 18 countries are enrolled here. IITM fosters an active entrepreneurial culture with strong curricular support and through the IITM Incubation Cell.
IITM has been ranked No.1 in the ‘Overall’Categoryfor the second consecutive year in India Ranking 2020released by National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India.
The Institute has also been ranked No.1 in the Engineering Institutions category in the same Rankings for five consecutive years – 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
It was also adjudged as the ‘Top innovative Institution’ in the country in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2019 launched by Innovation Cell of MHRD.