India Approves Its First Underwater Road–Rail Tunnel Project, Worth $2 Bn

The Union Cabinet has approved a landmark ₹18,662 crore project to build India’s first underwater road-cum-rail tunnel beneath the Brahmaputra River in Assam.

What Assam’s Brahmaputra project represents is India’s first underwater road-cum-rail tunnel, and one of only a handful globally.

Assam’s Chief Minister described it as the world’s second underwater road-rail tunnel, after the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link between Germany and Denmark, which is longer and still under construction. So, while it’s not the longest, it is among the most ambitious and unique — especially because it combines both road and rail under a major river in a seismic zone.

Project Details

• Length & Design: 15.79 km twin-tube tunnel, part of a 33.7 km greenfield corridor connecting Gohpur (NH-15) to Numaligarh (NH-715).
• Depth: Tunnel will sit about 32 meters below the riverbed.
• Capacity: Two road lanes in each direction, plus provision for a railway line.

Impact

• Travel Time: Reduces current 240 km detour (~6 hours) to just 34 km, cutting travel time to about 20 minutes.
• Economic Boost: Expected to generate 80 lakh person-days of employment and enhance freight, tourism, and security near the Indo-Tibet border.
• Strategic Importance: Strengthens connectivity in the Northeast, supports the Act East Policy, and adds Assam’s fourth rail crossing over the Brahmaputra.

Political & Regional Significance

• Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hailed it as a historic milestone, thanking PM Narendra Modi and Minister Nitin Gadkari for advancing regional connectivity.

Quest Global and ING Honoured with The Asset Triple A Award for Sustainable Finance 2025

Quest Global, a leading global engineering services firm, today announced that it has been recognized with The Asset Triple A Award for Sustainable Finance 2025 in South Asia, in partnership with ING, in the category of “Best Sustainability-Linked Loan – Engineering Services.”

This achievement is particularly noteworthy as Quest Global is the first engineering services company to have achieved this milestone. This prestigious award celebrates the innovative integration of sustainability into Quest Global's financial strategy.

The award acknowledges Quest Global's and ING's pioneering approach to embedding sustainability within the company's financing framework, a practice that remains relatively uncommon in the outsourced engineering services sector. The developed sustainability-linked loan (SLL) features a balanced discount and penalty mechanism, strategically designed to incentivize Quest Global to achieve significant advancements in its sustainability objectives through enhanced EcoVadis assessment scores.

"We are deeply honoured to receive this distinguished award from The Asset," stated Rajendra Shreemal, Chief Financial Officer, Quest Global. "This recognition underscores our unwavering commitment to sustainability in our business and financial strategy. Our collaboration with ING has been pivotal in crafting a sustainable financing solution. We would like to extend our gratitude to ING for their expertise in structuring this deal and identifying a sustainability-linked loan opportunity with our banking partners."

"We’re proud to showcase ING’s structuring expertise through innovative solutions like this sustainability-linked loan. It underscores our commitment to supporting clients across sectors, including engineering services, in embedding sustainability into their core strategies. We’re honoured that this collaboration is being recognised as a benchmark for impactful financing in the region,” said Michelle Kong, Head of Sector Coverage for ING Asia Pacific.

The Asset Triple A Awards for Sustainable Finance recognize organizations across Asia that actively contribute to and exemplify the burgeoning landscape of sustainable finance. The "Best Deals for Sustainable Finance" category, nominated by participating banks, recognizes transactions that champion sustainable finance across diverse financial instruments, with a focus on their environmental and social contributions as defined by the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

With this prestigious award, Quest Global and ING reaffirm their commitment to leading the way in sustainable finance and driving positive change within the engineering services industry.

Tata Elxsi Wins €50 Mn Strategic Engineering Deal with Leading European Automotive OEM

Tata Elxsi (BSE: 500408), a global leader in design and technology services, announced a strategic multi-year deal valued at €50 million with a leading European headquartered automotive OEM. This strategic deal positions Tata Elxsi as a key engineering partner for platform and application development across SDV, electrification, body, and chassis domains.

As part of this collaboration, Tata Elxsi will establish a dedicated Global Engineering Centre to support the customer’s software platform roadmap and brand aligned software engineering programs. This centre will serve as a hub for developing a unified technology stack encompassing a proprietary operating system, electronic architecture and automotive cloud. Together, these will power advanced in-vehicle capabilities, seamless connectivity, and software upgradability across brands and product lines.

Tata Elxsi was chosen for its deep domain expertise across automotive domains including electrification, body & chassis, infotainment, and cybersecurity, backed by a proven track record in automotive software and managing high-performance global delivery hubs for leading OEMs and Tier-1s. The company’s ability to align engineering programs with customer’s product and software roadmaps ensures global delivery excellence, scalability, and outcomes across the product development lifecycle.

Recently, Tata Elxsi launched AVENIR™, a cloud-agnostic SDV development and validation framework designed to enable modular software engineering, streamline platform integration, and support cloud-native development alongside edge deployment. This is further augmented by its portfolio of solutions such as the AUTONOMAI ADAS suite, TETHER Connected Vehicle platform, MOBIUS+ digital product passport, and state-of-the-art labs and Mobility Innovation Centres across Connected, Autonomous, Software Defined and Electric domains. These investments reflect Tata Elxsi’s commitment to platform-first engineering and equiping customers with the tools and infrastructure needed to scale SDV programs and ensure software consistency across vehicle platforms.

Manoj Raghavan, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Elxsi, commented: “We are delighted to partner with one of the world’s leading automotive and mobility providers, playing a key role in their journey towards scalable, software-led mobility. This engagement marks a significant step in our strategy to enable next-generation mobility through platform-centric, software-led engineering. It reflects the trust placed in Tata Elxsi’s ability to deliver global programs with precision, scalability, and shared accountability. As our customer advances their software-defined vehicle vision, we are happy to be a long-term strategic partner in translating that vision into reality.”

This engagement reflects Tata Elxsi’s broader strategy to lead in the convergence of design, digital, and engineering for the next era of mobility. The company works with leading global OEMs and Tier-1s with solutions that span connected platforms, electrified architectures, autonomous features, and sustainable vehicle development.

About Tata Elxsi

Tata Elxsi is among the world’s leading providers of design and technology services across industries including automotive, broadcast, communications, healthcare, and transportation. Headquartered in Bangalore and part of the Tata group, Tata Elxsi works with leading OEMs and suppliers in the automotive and transportation industries for R&D, design, and product engineering services from architecture to launch and beyond.

It brings together domain experience across autonomous, electric, connected vehicle technologies, and software-defined vehicles (SDV), supported by a worldwide network of design studios and development centres. For more information, please visit www.tataelxsi.com.

Infosys Launches Center for Aerospace Engineering Excellence in US with Spirit AeroSystems

Indian digital services & Consultancy major, Infosys, on Friday inaugurated a dedicated center for aerospace engineering excellence in Richardson, Texas, in collaboration with Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR), the world’s largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The Center aims to nurture local talent to meet Spirit’s growing aerospace and defense engineering needs.

The Center for Aerospace Engineering Excellence, located at 2400 N Glenville Dr Ste 150 in Richardson, will enable Infosys to work more closely with Spirit AeroSystems to develop cross-functional solutions to pressing business challenges in the aircraft development lifecycle.

Spirit AeroSystems, which builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, was formed when Boeing Commercial Airplanes sold its Wichita division to investment firm Onex Corporation in 2005.

The Center will help Spirit AeroSystems to strategically expand and operate in proximity with their customers and suppliers for manufacturing and MRO operations. It will facilitate training, upskilling, and reskilling of talent in digital engineering technologies so that Spirit AeroSystems can scale and accelerate their aircraft programs to meet growing business demand, while mitigating risks, increasing speed to market, optimizing costs, boosting productivity, and crunching the learning curve.

Notably, Infosys is already an engineering services partner of Spirit AeroSystems, for all its major aircraft programs for over 18 years. Spirit leverages Infosys’ advanced engineering platforms and solutions across its complete aircraft development lifecycle including concept, detail design, manufacturing, quality engineering, system integration, supply chain and maintenance, repair and overhaul services and cost optimization programs.

Jasmeet Singh, EVP and Global Head of Manufacturing, Infosys, said, “We are thrilled to be expanding our services to Spirit AeroSystems by providing them with pioneering technology and dedicated talent to help them revitalize their core businesses. Setting up the Center for Aerospace Engineering Excellence, within our own digital innovation hub, allows us to co-locate, co-innovate and co-create alongside Spirit AeroSystems and build on our passion for creating the next generation of top U.S. engineering talent to drive Spirit’s business aspirations.”

Dr. Sean Black, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Engineer, Spirit AeroSystems, said, “The strategic collaboration with Infosys in Richardson, Texas, will leverage the talent pool in the North Texas region and create a dedicated center for aerospace engineering excellence to cover the complete aircraft development life cycle for both new derivatives and in-service aircraft.”

Soon Medical and Engg. Education Affordable and in Regional Languages Such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali

Government of India, led by PM Narendra Modi, is aiming at making Medical Education affordable and accessible, so that no deserving candidate should face disadvantage because of socio- economic status. Besides, the Medical and Engineering education will also be provided in regional languages of India.

"PM Modi has given a call to provide Medical and Engineering education in regional Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati & Bengali", recalled Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister for Science & Technology, and who is also a known Diabetologist and Professor of Medicine.

Dr Singh said, "Medical education has commenced in Hindi and soon Engineering studies will also begin in Hindi and translation of Engineering books has commenced in eight languages across the country, and in times to come, students across the nation will be able to pursue Technical and Medical education in their mother tongue. "

In October last year, Home Minister Amit Shah launched India's first MBBS course in Hindi in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. In that launch last year, Mr Shah said that "Medical education is commencing in Hindi and soon Engineering studies will also begin in Hindi and translation of Engineering books has cimmenced in 8 languages ​​across the country, and soon students across the Nation will be able to pursue Technical and Medical education in their Mother Tongue. "

Dr Jitendra Singh, who was addressing an academic meet at Stanley Medical College in Chennai, said, medical education has been one of the top priorities of this government, which can be judged from the statistics that from mere 145 government medical colleges, the number has increased to 260. Under the Central Sector Scheme for setting up of new AIIMS, 22 AIIMS have been approved, while Undergraduate courses have started in 19 AIIMS.

The Minister said that the number of MBBS UG seats have increased from 51,348 in 2014 to 91,927 seats which is an increase of 79%. The number of PG seats have increased by 93% from 31,185 seats in 2014 to 60,202 seats.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that India is being looked up to by the rest of the world in the field of healthcare after the successful handling of the pandemic. Technologically and in human resources, we are much ahead of most other countries, he said.

Thanking PM Modi for bringing ‘Preventive Health Care' into focus in the country for the first time, Dr Jitendra Singh said, under the leadership of PM Modi, in just a span of two years, India could produce two DNA vaccines and one nasal vaccine.

“The whole world recognised India’s leadership role during COVID-19, as it achieved the rare feat of delivering over 220 crore vaccinations through a fully digital platform – COWIN and the process continues,” he said, adding, “India, with 130 crore people, showed the way to the world in its fight against COVID-19 and also helped many countries particularly the neighbours with vaccines.”

The Science & Technology Minister said, during the COVID even the West started looking up to India in search of immunity building techniques drawn from Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Unani, Yoga, Naturopathy etc.

“Healthcare sector in India is expected to grow to reach a size of $50 billion by 2025, while the global medical tourism market is estimated to be worth about $72 billion. India’s share in medical tourism is expected to be around 10 billion dollars by this year-end. Moreover, the country is the world's largest supplier of generic drugs,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was the farsightedness of PM Modi that soon after coming to power in 2014, he shared the powerful vision of ‘Digital India’ much before COVID-19 hit the world.

Dr Jitendra Singh asserted that Ayushman Bharat is so far the world's best health insurance scheme and credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for it.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that New India will become Atmanirbhar in healthcare only by integrating various sciences and domains of medicine.

Tata Technologies Launches InnoVent - An innovation Platform for Young Engineering Students

The Innovation contest Invites project entries from engineering students In India, including women engineers and specially abled team members to address real-life challenges faced by the manufacturing Industry

Tata Technologies, a global engineering and product development digital services company, announced the launch of Tata Technologies InnoVent, an innovation platform that provides young engineering students in India with an opportunity to showcase their creativity and innovate solutions that address the challenges being faced by the manufacturing industry.

We believe that Tata Technologies vision of engineering a better world embodies a commitment to innovating solutions that helps manufacturing companies conceive, design, develop and deliver better products. As a global organization, we leverage the collective expertise of diverse teams across the world, collaborating in real-time to address complex engineering challenges faced by our clients. With the launch of InnoVent, we aim to expand our innovation network, inspiring the next generation of engineers to Innovate solutions for the future.

InnoVent invites 3rd and 4th year engineering students across India to participate in this competition by proposing innovative projects that address real-world problems. These projects can span a variety of areas, including electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineering, smart manufacturing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Tata Technologies will empower the shortlisted project team/s with the innovation tools and technologies. Tata Technologies Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will mentor and guide the top-performing project team/s. Projects will be assessed on diversity, novelty, feasibility, and impact, with a special emphasis on encouraging participation from women engineers and team members with special abilities. The top three winning teams may receive a cumulative cash prize worth INR 4.5 Lacs, and the members will be offered a paid internship with Tata Technologies. More details of the InnoVent program are available at https://www.tatatechnologies.com/innovent/ and the last date of project submission Is 31st August 2023.

Speaking on the launch of Tata Technologies InnoVent, Mr Warren Harris, MD and CEO Tata Technologies, said, "We believe that Tata Technologies InnoVent reflects our commitment to engineering a better world for our youth by collaborating with academia and empowering young innovators with a platform to learn, exhibit creativity, and develop novel solutions. As part of the program, we have identified real world challenges that are being faced by the manufacturing Industry and I am looking forward to receiving Innovative project entries that we can mentor and incubate."

Expressing his views on the launch of Tata Technologies InnoVent, Mr. Santosh Singh, EVP & Global Head Marketing and Business Excellence, Tata Technologies, said,” Tata Technologies Innovation approach is underpinned by a can-do attitude, a value that propels us at Tata Technologies to question existing frameworks, innovate new solutions, and address our customers' business challenges. Through InnoVent, we want to provide a platform that encourages young engineering students in India to come up with creative solutions leveraging the latest technology to address the challenges being faced by the manufacturing industry. We plan to mentor and support shortlisted team/s and recognize team/s that demonstrate a can-do attitude and a novel scalable innovation. I am specifically looking forward to the participation of women innovators and specially abled team members”.

About Tata Technologies:

Tata Technologies is a global product engineering and digital services company focused on fulfilling our mission of helping the world drive, fly, build, and farm by enabling our customers to realize better products and deliver better experiences. Tata Technologies is the strategic engineering partner businesses turn to when they aspire to be better. Manufacturing companies rely on us to enable them to conceptualize, develop and realize better products that are safer, cleaner, and improve the quality of life for all the stakeholders, helping us achieve our vision of #EngineeringABetterWorld. 

Disclaimer

“Tata Technologies Limited is proposing, subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, to make an initial public offer of its equity shares and has filed a draft red herring prospectus (“DRHP”) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). The DRHP is available on the website of the SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in as well as on the websites of the book running lead managers JM Financial Limited at www.jmfl.com, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited at www.online.citibank.co.in/rhtm/citigroupglobalscreen1.htm, BofA Securities India Limited at www.ml-india.com, the website of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited at www.nseindia.com and the website of the BSE Limited at www.bseindia.com, respectively. Investors should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk. For details, potential investors should refer to the red herring prospectus (“RHP’”) which may be filed with the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra at Pune (“RoC”), in future, including the section titled “Risk Factors.” Potential investors should not rely on the DRHP filed with SEBI in making any investment decision.”

Tecnimont Supports IIT Bombay Educational Outreach Initiative WiSE to Promote Participation of Girls from Rural India in Science and Engineering Disciplines

Tecnimont Private Limited (TCMPL), a subsidiary of Milan, Italy-based MAIRE Group, today announced its funding support for Women in Science, Engineering (WiSE) from rural parts of India. This is initiative involving a total of 165 girls is led by Prof. Rajesh Zele from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) to encourage young girls from rural parts of India to pursue higher education in STEM through a week-long intensive residential program at IIT Bombay.

This activity is part of MAIRE Group's sustainability strategy, specifically in the creation of value for the territories and communities where MAIRE operates through corporate social responsibility projects and initiatives.

Excited with the collaboration, Valentina Grieco, MAIRE Group CSR Senior Specialist said, "Project WiSE is driven with a special focus on the rural areas from India, such as Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, to help the adolescent girls build their confidence in subjects like science and mathematics. While the rural adolescent girls face challenging situations in continuing their education, TCMPL strives to make education interesting for the students and parents to ensure enrolment of girls continues in the higher standards."

"TCMPL is committed to helping the communities where they operate," said Prof. Zele, "With their support, we were able to include students from remote areas across the nation. After the week-long program, the girls will continue to uh with one another, and their mentors at IIT Bombay through online sessions. This will help shape their future and career decisions," concluded Prof. Zele.

About Wise Program

For more information about this initiative, you can visit: https://wiseapp.in

About Tecnimont Private Limited

Tecnimont Private Limited (TCMPL) is a subsidiary of MAIRE Group and serves as the Group’s centre of Engineering excellence for India. With more than 2,000 employees, TCMPL is headquartered in Mumbai and has support offices in New Delhi, Middle East, Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. It is a leader in Engineering and Main Contracting for the natural resources transformation industry. With a legacy now spanning six decades, TCMPL has exhaustive experience in executing more than 400 projects globally.

MAIRE S.p.A. leads a technology and engineering group that develops and implements innovative solutions to enable the Energy Transition. We offer Sustainable Technology Solutions and Integrated E&C Solutions in nitrogen fertilizers, hydrogen, circular carbon, fuels, chemicals, and polymers. MAIRE creates value in 45 countries and relies on 6,500 employees, supported by over 20,000 people engaged in its projects worldwide. MAIRE is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (ticker “MAIRE”). For further information: www.mairetecnimont.com

IIT Hyderabad and DST's Sree Chitra Tirunal Inked MoU to Collaborate in the Field of Biomedical Engineering

IIT Hyderabad and Sree Chitra Tirunal Collaborate on Exchange of Faculty-Students and Research of Mutual Interest

The two institutes of National Importance will focus on the following aspects in principle, not in total:

• Students Exchange
• Faculty Exchange
• Exchange in Research
• Joint Programs
• Centre of Excellence

Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology ‘SCTIMST” (An Institute of National Importance, Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on May 17, 2023 (Virtually) with IIT Hyderabad “IITH”, to collaborate in the field of Research of Mutual Interest along with Faculty & Student Exchange. The two institutes of National Importance were already working together for some time in the field of Bio-medical Engineering, Medical Device Innovation and related area. This step confirms the strong connection between the two institutes and paves the wave for path-breaking innovation both in the Academics & Research front.

Virtual Signing Ceremony

Prof B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, expressed his compliments to Prof Renu John, the key person behind formalizing this collaboration and said, “Inventing Innovating in Technology for Humanity” drives every effort IITH endeavours. Since our inception, we have had a strong focus on healthcare, be it the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Biotechnology, Centre of Healthcare Entrepreneurship, Interdisciplinary MTech in Medical Device Innovation with AIG Hospital, MTech in Ophthalmic Engineering with LVPEI and MSc in Medical Physics with Basavatarakam. I am confident that this strategic collaboration with SCTIMST will increase our reach towards healthy humanity.”

Virtual Signing Ceremony

Dr Sanjay Behari, Director, SCTIMST, welcomed the Team IITH to explore their state-of-the-art facilities and said, “We have been working with IITH now for quite some. Optimizing the opportunity that this collaboration has brought, we would be glad to offer facilities to validate the various innovations IITH is working on. In addition, we also look forward to the joint program to develop skilled human resources in the field of Biomedical Engineering."

Dr P V Mohanan, Scientist-G & Head, Division of Toxicology, Head, Department of Applied Biology, Biomedical Technology Wing, SCTIMST, witnessed the occasion along with Prof Renu John, Chair – Centre of Interdisciplinary Program, Prof Chandrashekhar Sharma, Dean (SRC) and Prof V Kanchana, Dean (Faculty), IITH. 

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) is one of the eight IITs established by the Government of India in 2008. In a short span of 15 years, the institute has become a one of the top ranked institutions in the country and has received global recognition. It has 300+ full-time faculty, ~4,200 students, 18 Departments + 1 Centre for Interdisciplinary Programs, nearly 200+ state-of-the-art laboratories, and five research and entrepreneurship centres. The institute has a strong research focus with approx. Rs ~880 crores of sanctioned research funding, with PG+PhD students accounting for about 60% of total student strength. IITH has more than 8700+ research publications with 1,30,000+ Citations, 190+ Published Patents, 2,200+ sponsored/consultancy projects with 500+ running projects, and about 125+ startups that have generated 1000+ jobs and a revenue of Rs. 800+ Cr. To know more, please visit https://www.iith.ac.in/.

Karnataka Gets Its First IIT at Dharwad

The new campus of IIT in Dharwad will facilitate quality education. It will nurture young minds for a better tomorrow

The Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi dedicated and laid the foundation stone of key development projects in Hubballi-Dharwad, Karnataka on Sunday.

The projects include dedicating to the nation IIT Dharwad whose foundation stone was also laid by the Prime Minister in February 2019 and the longest railway platform in the world at 1507m in length at Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji Hubballi Station which has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records recently.

Thread: Campus tour of Indian Institute of Technology, Dharwad (1/6)@iitdhrwd @JoshiPralhad @narendramodi #Dharwad #VidyaKashi #IITDharwad #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/RV3Pr4DmfF

— Hubballi Dharwad Infra (@Hubballi_Infra) March 12, 2023

The new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) inaugurated is the permanent campus of IIT Dharwad. It is Karnataka's first IIT. Earlier, IIT Dharwad was functioning in a temporary campus, previously of the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI) in Belur Industrial Area, which is on the outskirts of Dharwad city.

Developed at a cost of over Rs. 850 crores, the institute currently offers a 4-year B.Tech. programs, inter-disciplinary 5-year BS-MS program, M.Tech. and PhD programs.

Touted as Tech Hub and state of Bengaluru city, the Silicon Valley of India, Karnataka has been (arguably) deprived of getting any IIT. Prime Minister Narendra Modi govt sanctioned IIT-Dharwad in Union Budget 2015-16.

Dharwad, which is renowned as Vidhya Kashi or Shikshana Kashi, will host Karnataka's first IIT. The Prime Minister paid tribute to cultural doyens from Dharwad.

 

Dharwad is known as the cultural capital of Karnataka known for its literature and music. The Prime Minister paid tribute to cultural doyens from Dharwad.

“The new campus of IIT in Dharwad will facilitate quality education while nurturing young minds for a better tomorrow”, the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi underlined that the new IIT campus is scripting a new chapter in the history of Karnataka’s development journey. He noted the high tech facilities of the Dharwad IIT campus and stated that it will act as a source of inspiration which will take the institution to the same heights as other leading institutions of the world.

Highlighting that the IIT Dharwad campus is a prime example of the ‘Sankalp se Siddhi’ (i.e achievement by resolutions) spirit of the present government, the Prime Minister recalled laying its foundation stone in February 2019 and expressed happiness on its completion within a span of 4 years, even though many hurdles came along the way owing to the Coronavirus pandemic. “From laying foundation stones to inaugurating projects, the double-engine government works at a constant speed”, the Prime Minister continued, “We believe in the resolve of inaugurating the same projects whose foundations stones are laid by us.”

IIT Dharwad campus as of February 2023

 
It is to be noted that, the late Union Human Resources Development Minister S. R. Bommai had moved the proposal to the Centre seeking an IIT in Dharwad in the 1990s.

Later in 1998, a committee headed by former ISRO chairman and space scientist Udupi Ramachandra Rao submitted its report recommending an IIT in Hubballi-Dharwad.

Union finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the 2015-16 union budget, sanctioned a budget for IIT for Karnataka state. 

Edtech Startup Skill-Lync to Upskill Over 500 Engineers with Its 5G Technology Course

Skill-Lync, one of India's largest Engineering Ed-Tech platforms, today announced the introduction of its new 5G Network Design and Development post-graduate course. Designed to address the current gap between the demand and supply of telecom industry talent, this 36-week program covers topics such as 5G Radio Networks, Open RAN, 5G Core Networks, 5G Telco Cloud, and 5G Protocol Development & Testing. The cost of this program is up to INR 2 lakhs and will teach students from ECE, EEE, CSE, and I.T backgrounds on how to set up 5G networks using open-source tools.

The course focuses on continuous assessments with 7+ hands-on projects in addition to weekly challenges; after completing it students will receive a certificate from Skill-Lync certified by NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation). So far over 30,000 students from 80 countries have upskilled themselves using Skill-Lync across India, Middle East and North Africa A (South East Asia), U.S., Canada, Australia & Europe; nearly 100 companies are currently hiring engineers for roles such as Mobile Operators OEMs IT/ITES companies System Integrators Hyperscale & consulting companies.

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Established in 2015 with a mission to make students industry-ready through advanced industry-relevant courses; Skill-Lync has established itself as a credible partner for organizations looking for an upskilled talent pool.

Speaking on the announcement, Krishna Bandaru, Chief Business Officer, Skill-Lync said, “Most colleges’ curriculum only covers technologies like 2G and 3G whereas the industry requires upskilling in the 5G technology. Our aim is to bridge this gap through our course by making available 22 million skilled manpower by 2025 needed to reap the benefits of 5G in India”.

India is not only providing a platform for Indian telecom operators like Jio, Airtel and Vodafone, but also global operators such as Rakuten (Japan) and Dish Networks (U.S.) are setting up engineering teams here. Many prominent Original Equipment Manufacturers like Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung have a large presence in India, managing the networks of over 200 operators across the world. Therefore, we need a vast talent pool for the upcoming generations of networks.

Founded in 2015, Skill-Lync, an edtech engineering platform, provides advanced industry-relevant courses to make students industry-ready. It has established itself as a credible partner for organisations building an upskilled talent pool.

PrepInsta Partners with the K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions to Future-Proof the Next Wave of Engineers

PrepInsta partners with the K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions to future-proof the next wave of engineers

PrepInsta, India’s no 1 and most visited website for placement preparation, and a rising Ed-tech brand, has announced a partnership deal with the K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions to future-proof the next wave of engineers from Tamil Nadu. Both entities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the next three years, until 2025, which is likely to be extended in the near future.

PrepInsta will assist 5000+ second, third, and fourth-year engineering students from the K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions through their upskilling and placement preparation courses as part of this joint coordination. The K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions will benefit greatly from this alliance as they will now have a single point of contact (POC) for their training and placement preparations. PrepInsta will also offer KRGI with the following benefits: full access to prepinstaprime.com & prepinsta.com (including Mocks & Video Learning content); premium Whatsapp group for Job updates from various service-based and product-based companies; premium Teacher Assistance Group (TA Support) for real-time doubt resolution over discord; and an exclusive performance tracking dashboard for colleges to keep track of students’ reports.

“The IT industry is undergoing a reorientation, which has heightened demand for positions such as cloud administrators, information security analysts, blockchain developers, big data engineers, cyber security specialists, and others. Besides, employers today are only looking for computer programmers having the efficiency to comprehend the nuances of their customers’ behaviour. Therefore, the current climate necessitates reskilling, which is why we are delighted to collaborate with the K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions to assist them in addressing this issue at an early stage,” said Mr. Manish Agarwal, CMO and Co-Founder of PrepInsta.

“In the recent past, we have witnessed a slight drop in fresher hiring because employers now prefer more job-ready assets. The competition for skilled labour has also given rise to wage war, with negotiable salary packages being offered. Therefore at KRGI, we have always believed in delivering technical and skill-based curriculum to mainstream engineering students in order to distinguish our graduates from degree holders from more traditional institutions. This is exactly where PrepInsta’s in-demand courses can help our students stay even more relevant. I’m looking forward to working closely with them to bring meaningful results for our students” said Dr. K. Ramakrishnan Honorable Chairman, K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions.

K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions will also have access to exclusive content on the PrepInsta website for placement preparations for product-based companies like (Amazon, Microsoft, Meta etc.) and service-based companies such as (Wipro, Cognizant, Infosys etc.).

PrepInsta is a one-stop placement destination that aims to tackle India’s current disparity in job opportunities. PrepInsta’s product PrepInsta Prime trains students through the entire placement preparation, skill development, coding learning, and interview preparation process. K. Ramakrishnan Group of Institutions, founded in 2008, is a leading educational institute affiliated with Anna University, Chennai, that provides world-class educational opportunities to its students.

About PrepInsta

Founded in 2016, in the dorm room of VIT Vellore, PrepInsta is a one-stop destination for placement and the fundamental aim of the company is to resolve the existing imbalance of career opportunities in India. The Ed-tech firm helps students with end-to-end placement preparation, skill-building, learning to code, and also the key to every successful job which is – interview preparation. PrepInsta strives to address the skill gap issue in India by providing skill-based learning through its product PrepInsta Prime which enables students to get placed in their dream company.

Incepted by the three friends who are now its co-founders- Atulya Kaushik, Aashay Mishra, and Manish Agarwal had a similar vision to make the entire process of placement easy, accessible, and inclusive for all. The company currently has two offices, one in Noida and the other in Bengaluru.

QuEST Global Announces Winners of 10th Edition of ‘Ingenium’

• Team from P.E.S. Institute of Technology, Bengaluru wins top honors for their software concept that detects Parkinson’s disease at an early stage
• Bennett University, Noida, and P.E.S. College of Engineering, Mandya teams recognized as first and second runners-up positions respectively
• Mentored by a dedicated team of industry experts from QuEST, the winning teams demonstrate innovative thinking that help solve real world challenges and pave the path for a better, safer and smarter world

QuEST Global, a global product engineering services company, announced the winners of the 10th annual ‘Ingenium’ competition. Ingenium is an initiative aimed at fostering innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset amongst engineering students. Through Ingenium, QuEST provides a platform for the young talent of India to apply their engineering skills to solve real world problems. This year’s winners are selected from over 6000 teams and were selected based on the uniqueness of their ideas, application into the real world, demonstrability and cost effectiveness.

We are happy to congratulate the P.E.S. Institute of Technology (PESIT), Bengaluru, for their first place win. PESIT’s Loganyaa Senthil, Niraj Anil Babar, and Rohan Pillai created a software proposition to aid doctors in the early detection of Parkinson's disease. It not only detects the disease but is also designed to predict the stage of the disease, helping doctors adopt the right course of treatment from an early stage.

Penumudy Tanvi and Vysyaraju Sampath Raju from Bennett University, Noida, and Manikant Amaresh Savadatti and Suryakantha from P.E.S. College of Engineering (PESCE), Mandya are the first and second runners-up respectively. Bennett University students developed solutions intended to effectively reduce the time of image search on the web. The second runners-up utilized artificial intelligence to create an advanced, cost effective robot that acts as an assistant to primary healthcare providers in hospitals. The robot helps reduce front line workers contact with patients by delivering medicines, basic health monitoring and delivering audio and video messages.

Speaking on the announcement Shrikant Naik, Global Head – Delivery, QuEST Global said, "Ingenium demonstrates QuEST’s commitment to investing in people and our community by providing young engineering talent a platform for experiential learning. The creativity, resiliency and uniqueness of the ideas presented by the students fuels my belief in the young engineering talent of our country. I appreciate our sponsors, Wabtec Corporation, India, and Ingersoll Rand Technologies and Services Private Limited for their shared vision in nurturing young engineers and helping to provide a platform to showcase talent.”

Mr. Yogesh Kumar, Vice President – Technology & India Engineering, Wabtec Corporation, said, “Innovation is the core belief of Wabtec. We have partnered with QuEST for Ingenium as it amplifies that belief and it is one of the key drivers for our strong relationship with the company. I am overwhelmed to see the depth and breadth of ideas coming from our young minds. These have true potential to solve complex problems of tomorrow across industries. Congratulations to all the winners and participants!”

“It feels great partnering with QuEST and making life better for communities around us. I am delighted to witness the next generation of engineers work on unique ideas that utilize technological advancements for the benefit of the society. Makes me feel proud of the students who participated. We wish all the winners the very best for their future.” added Mr. Ramesh KV, Engineering Director, IRETC, Ingersoll Rand Technologies and Services Private Limited.

Ingenium demonstrates the company’s commitment to successfully utilize its engineering expertise to bridge the industry-academia gap and create a pool of a skilled workforce who will eventually help bridge the skill gap that currently looms over the industry. For the past 10 years, this annual forum has provided an opportunity to identify, support and nurture the skills of engineering students and help them live their dream of bringing their ideas to life.

About QuEST Global:

For nearly 25 years, QuEST Global has been a trusted global product engineering services partner to many of the world’s most recognized companies in the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Healthcare and Medical Devices, Rail and Semiconductor industries. With a presence in 13 countries, 54 global delivery centers and 12,000+ personnel, QuEST Global is at the forefront of the convergence of the mechanical, electronics, software, and digital engineering innovations to engineer solutions for a safer, cleaner, and sustainable world. QuEST Global’s deep domain knowledge and digital expertise help its clients accelerate product development and innovation cycles, create alternate revenue streams, enhance consumer experience, and make manufacturing processes and operations more efficient.

Call for Engineering and Technology #DifferenceMakers Across India to Come Forward

As 2020 highlights engineers and technologists on the global stage more so than ever, where their solutions to world problems and global emergencies means they are making a difference. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is calling on these difference-makers to come forward and share their stories for the world to hear.

Celebrating its 149th anniversary on 17 May 2020, the IET is kickstarting the countdown to its 150th anniversary with the launch of its #DifferenceMakers campaign. The campaign aims to find those using engineering and technology solutions to solve a variety of challenges across the world and to share these stories beyond the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) bubble, reaching new audiences globally.

From engineers and technologists that are inventing in their workplaces or even in their sheds, to the engineering community projects responding to local issues; from the activists that are challenging the status quo to the researchers finding novel solutions, the IET wants to give a global platform to showcase their contribution that is making a real difference and more importantly inspiring young people to take action.

These #DifferenceMakers will be interviewed by young future influencers who will be chosen as part of the IET's Youth Ambassador competition.

Professor Danielle George, incoming IET President, said, "Although the world has changed since the Victorian times, one thing that still connects us with our history is that engineers continue to solve many of the challenges facing communities across the globe - making an ongoing difference to the world around us. Just as in Victorian times, society today still depends on the skills and innovation of engineers and technologists to improve our world and make it more sustainable.

Our 150th anniversary gives us a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our rich history. We want to use it to engage and inspire young people so that engineering and technology are seen as a force for good and key to solving many of the biggest challenges facing our world. This seems particularly relevant with the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, where we know that there are engineers and innovators making a real difference."

Along with the #DifferenceMakers campaign, the IET has launched a Global Engagement Fund for its volunteers across the world to help them host special, celebratory events and activities in their regions. Projects in India include the IET Chennai Local Network hosting an exciting sustainability pentathlon competition involving five different events including a hackathon, ideathon, makeathon, appathon and webathon, as well as the IET Bengaluru Local Network hosting a hackathon for design engineers to think about carbon emissions and create an approach to achieve net zero carbon on all designs.

The anniversary year will also recognise the IET's rich history and feature unexpected partnerships in unexpected places to inspire the next generation of engineers. The IET is due to feature at the UK Pavilion at the World Expo 2020, Dubai UAE, as well as launch a junior membership club.

To find out more about the IET's #DifferenceMakers campaign as part of its 150th year, please visit www.theiet.org/about/iet-150-anniversary. You can also send your nominations for #DifferenceMakers to iet150@theiet.org.

About the IET

We inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community to engineer a better world

We are a diverse home for engineering and technology intelligence throughout the world. This breadth and depth mean we are uniquely placed to help the sector progress society

We want to build the profile of engineering and technology to change outdated perceptions and tackle the skills gap. This includes encouraging more women to become engineers and growing the number of engineering apprentices

Interview opportunities are available with our spokespeople from a range of engineering and technology disciplines including cyber-security, energy, engineering skills, innovation, manufacturing, technology, transport and diversity in engineering

For more information, visit www.theiet.org

Follow the IET on Twitter

Institution of Engineering and Technology - India

The IET office started operations in India in 2006, in Bangalore. Today, we have over 13,000 members and have the largest membership base for the IET outside of the UK.

Given the increasing global importance of India as an engineering hub our aim is to make an impact that has relevance both locally and internationally. Our strategy is to make a meaningful impact on the overall competency and skill levels within the Indian engineering community and play an influencing role with industry in relation to technology innovation and solving problems of public importance.

We want to do this through working in partnership with industry, academia and government, focussing on the application of practical skills within both learning & career lifecycles, driving innovation and thought leadership through high impact sectors.

For more details, please visit india.theiet.org.

How Aerospace Engineering can Contribute to the Country & Society

Some of the greatest of the inventions that have helped us understand the world and space better have been airplanes, satellites, spacecrafts and missiles. All these have been the brainchild of an aerospace engineer. This area of study requires critical thinking and attention to details. Aerospace engineering includes utilizing science and math to create tangible and innovative products that are used for analysis, research and more.

To be a successful aerospace engineer, one must pursue MTech in aerospace engineering degree as their specialized course. This specialization trains students of the intricacies involving development and design of aircrafts and spacecrafts. This field requires a lot of hard work and is extremely niche when it comes to the domain of engineering. Hence, it is a fulfilling and lucrative career field you can prosper in.

It might be a sought-after career option to pursue as a specialization when it comes to engineering; but by opting for such a specialization, you also contribute quite a bit to the society.

Aerospace Engineers Contributing to the Society

Ensuring the Best Quality

An aerospace engineer assesses materials that are used in the manufacturing of aircrafts and spacecrafts. These quality control assessments are essential when it comes to their glitch-free and smooth functioning. This also involves sitting with the design team and coordinating with them to manufacture parts that meet the customer requirements, environment regulations and efficient engineering principles.

Helping Us Understand Space Better

We all love watching and keeping up with those launches at ISRO, SpaceX and NASA! Have you ever thought who has a major role to play in them? Yes, aerospace engineers! These engineers are responsible for getting people and all the supplies safely into space and more importantly back to planet earth. Some of the jobs that an aerospace engineer can take up in the space industry are of launch engineer, training specialist, antenna engineer and much more.

Making Travel Easy

Most of us prefer to fly when it comes to travelling long distance as it is super convenient, cost effective and time saving. The industry has developed so much that it has allowed people to access even the farthest and the remotest part of the world with ease. This has also helped in making the world a much smaller place and has encouraged globalization immensely. An aerospace engineer contributes in this industry by creating fuel saving wing designs, efficient navigation systems, developing power efficient in-flight entertainment system, and more. This is a fast growing and developing field that requires a lot of contribution from aerospace engineers.

Protecting our Nation

With a degree in aerospace engineering, a lot of doors to opportunities in the defense sector open. In this field, an aerospace engineer is not only expected to design and plan innovative aircrafts but also work on missiles and other essential facets of defense. These contributions made by an aerospace engineer is essential when it comes to defending or protecting our nation’s integrity from internal and external threats. If someone with a degree in aerospace engineering is planning to pursue a career in defense, one should ensure that they have a clean slate when it comes to background checks!

Pursuing a MTech in aerospace degree is highly fruitful as it is an ever-evolving field with rewarding career choices. Many reputed organizations that are eagerly looking to hire aerospace engineers are ISRO, HAL, NAL, DRDO and many more. However, there are only a handful of universities in India that offer MTech in Aerospace Engineering. UPES is one of the best universities to offer an extensive and well-planned program in aerospace engineering. With an excellent faculty and placement record, UPES is one of the top universities for students to pursue their education in aerospace.

India's Engineering Colleges To Get New Syllabi Including Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence

Engineering colleges in India are finally gearing to change their syllabi in order to instil more practical learning in their students rather than just making them gulp down big chunks of theoretical topics one after another. The HRD ministry and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have recently accepted the recommendations made by a committee on revising the syllabi for engineering and technical institutes in the country.

Earlier, the AICTE had set up 11 subject committees to recommend curricula changes at engineering and technical institutes in India – excluding the IITs and NITs. The main aim behind the whole process was to address the growing concerns over the falling quality and employability of engineering graduates in the country. The panel wanted the curricula to focus more attention on topics of current importance such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and make internships mandatory.

As of today, India is home to about 3,000-odd registered institutes that produce 7 lakh engineers every year, out of which only 30-40% end up with jobs. According to experts, this low-employability level can be attributed as much to the lack of skills as the falling industry demand.

According to a statement given by an HRD official to Hindustan Times, “As per the curriculum, first year students will have less number of theory classes and will have to go through the induction training in the first semester. The curriculum has been designed to keep the final semester free to pursue project work so that the students can have hands-on experience."

The new curricula will also get rid of content that is not relevant in today's time.

The official further added that a model curriculum has been devised by the committee which has to be followed by all engineering and technical institutes. The AICTE will soon be issuing a regulation to this effect and the revised syllabus will be introduced from January next year.

According to the new curriculum, the colleges will get to include 30 per cent of the content depending on their requirement but 70 per cent will have to be from the model curriculum.

Considering the fields of engineering and technology undergo changes every day, there is a need for our education institutes to adjust to those changes accordingly. Some of the engineering institutes in India are still teaching ages-old syllabi by using now obsolete teaching tools.

AICTE is soon going to call a meeting of all the affiliated technical universities (ATU) to make them aware about the changes in the syllabus being made by them.