Breaking


Showing posts with label IIT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIT. Show all posts

Thursday, 16 December 2021

10:06

Demonstration of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles and its Components,Government Supported Projects

 Demonstration of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles and its Components,Government Supported Projects 

Posted On: 15 DEC 2021 1:37PM by PIB Delhi

To promote vehicles operating on hydrogen fuel, this Ministry has issued a notification, vide G.S.R. 889(E), dated 16.09.2016, for use of Hydrogen as an automotive fuel in the country. The specifications for Hydrogen for Internal Combustion Engine have been specified in Annexure IV-W of the said notification. 18% blend of Hydrogen with CNG (HCNG) has been notified by this Ministry vide GSR 585(E) dated 25th September 2020. This Ministry vide GSR 579(E) dated 23rd September 2020 has notified safety norms regarding hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and its components.

Various hydrogen powered vehicles have been developed and demonstrated under projects supported by Government of India. These include 6 Fuel Cell buses (by Tata Motors Ltd.), 50 hydrogen enriched CNG (H-CNG) buses in Delhi (by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in collaboration with Govt. of NCT of Delhi), 2 hydrogen fuelled Internal Combustion Engine buses (by IIT Delhi in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra), fifteen hydrogen fuelled 3wheelers (by IIT Delhi in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra), 2 Hydrogen-Diesel dual fuel cars (by Mahindra & Mahindra) and one fuel cell car (by CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Laboratory and CSIR-National Physical Laboratory). However, commercialization of hydrogen fuelled bus has not been undertaken in India so far.

This information was given by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Source:PIBNEWS

0
By at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Tuesday, 28 March 2017

08:03

Indian Railways to send officers to IITs, IIMs for advanced research and studies

Indian Railways to send officers to IITs, IIMs for advanced research and studies

According to sources, the railways will be spending nearly Rs 5 lakh for each of these officers during the two years they spend at these premier institutes.

It’s time for the railway babus to take lessons at countries premiere engineering and management institutes to enhance their skills.

The Indian Railways will be sending its 20 officers from various services to IITs and IIMs for rail-related research and advanced studies.

“Fellowship scheme for railway officers has been introduced at central and state universities and centres for excellence, like IITs, IIMs and IIS,” said a senior railway board officer.

 He said a scheme for encouraging railway employees to acquire higher qualifications at Master’s level in IITs, IIMs and institutes of repute will also be introduced.
The IR has issued a notice for admission for MTech programme for 20 railway officers from the disciplines of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.

An official said the training programme will also be opened for officers in railway PSUs, like IRCTC, IRCON and others.

Services of professional agencies would be used for evaluation of railway-training programmes. A policy has been framed in this regard, the official added.

According to sources, the railways will be spending nearly Rs 5 lakh for each of these officers during their two years of course.

AIMED AT UPDATING OFFICERS’ SKILLS

“In keeping with the need to maintain pace with fast-changing transport environment and need for innovation and modernisation, the railway board has decided to update and upgrade the professional and technical knowledge and skills of the railway officers by enrolling them into academic programmes in premiere technical and management institutes in the country,” said a communication from the railway ministry to all railway training institutes.

Sources said the Master’s degree in Engineering will be helpful in improving the passenger safety standards in the railways as well as improving the overall train operations.

Focus will be on upgrading the tracks, signalling and electrification system on the railway tracks so as to improve punctuality and speed of the trains. This assumes greater significance in wake of the railways introducing high-speed rail network in the country.

The Indian Railways had signed an MoU with University of Mumbai in April last year for setting up a centre for railway research. A railway ministry official said an academic services agreement was signed with Beijing Jiaotong University, China, for training of 100 officers of various departments in heavy-haul technology.

Source:India Today


0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Saturday, 18 February 2017

08:41

IIT-Mumbai Professor show Railways how to set a Timetable in Five Minutes

IIT-Mumbai Professor show Railways how to set a Timetable in Five Minutes
The professors predict the software would be adopted by suburban rail networks across the country. The project has been chosen to be presented at a global seminar by the International Association of Railway Operations Research (IAROR) in France to be held in the first week of April.
MUMBAI: The utterly complex local timetable which can take railway officials over a fortnight to chalk out won’t rob them of sleep as often, thanks to the brainpower from IIT-Bombay.
A team of professors from the Indian Institute of Technology here collaborated with the Central Railway to write algorithms that have simplified the process of creating railway timetables to a degree that the suburban railway schedules can be created in as little as five minutes.
With the software it has developed, the team created a periodic timetable that unifies the many processes rail staff would need to employ. The new system is not only a notch above the existing scheduling process, but it also sidesteps various bumps the railways faces, such as fluctuating number of rakes, availability of platforms at certain terminals, and various glitches and deficiencies the railways battle every day.
The professors predict that the software would in time be adopted by suburban rail networks across the country with small tweaks to suit each city’s requirements.
On Thursday, a team comprising Professors Narayan Rangaraj and Madhu Belur, M Tech scholar Soumya Dutta and Central Railway’s deputy chief operations manager (goods) KN Singh gave a presentation on the software to the railway’s operations department.
The authorities that sat in on the meet included chief operations manager RD Sharma and senior divisional operations manager Anil Patke.
Central Railway’s chief public relations officer Narendra Patil told Mumbai Mirror that they had been working on this project with the IIT professors for the last two years. “This will not only help us in more efficient and easier planning but also give us a lot of options for adopting time tables for suburban operations according to our needs,” added Patil.
Professor Rangaraj, from IIT-B’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, said he and his colleagues wanted to help the railway administration with planning things by employing updated planning tools. “With the help of this software, you can also easily find out how many trains you can ply on the given routes,” he said.
The project has been chosen to be presented at a global seminar by the International Association of Railway Operations Research (IAROR) in France to be held in the first week of April. The organisation encourages academic and professional railway research and contributes to the development of new standards for railway traffic management by integrating various scientific disciplines .

Source:RailwNews
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Thursday, 3 November 2016

19:22

IIT Kharagpur scientists are developing tools so your train travel can be far safer than what it is today

IIT Kharagpur scientists are developing tools so your train travel can be far safer than what it is today

IIT Kharagpur has another feather in its cap as scientists have successfully tested a new tool for electronic railway interlocking system which prevents trains from colliding into each other. This means train journeys could soon be far safer than they are today. 

Through its Research Design and Standards Organisation, the Railways had awarded 12 research projects to the IIT’s Centre for Railway Research recently in the area of analysis and design of rolling stock, infrastructure, operations and maintenance. The breakthrough has come in one of these projects. 

Professor Pallab Dasgupta, lead researcher of the project, said since errors in the application logic of interlocking systems may have catastrophic consequences, this development has potential to minimize the chance of such errors. The tool has already been successfully tested in several railway yards, Dasgupta claimed. The Indian Institute of Technology researchers said this project has the potential to be further extended to study and develop optimum traffic operation plans, alternative plans for emergencies. 

Meanwhile, several of the products and technologies are being field tested at various facilities of Indian Railways apart from lab testing at IIT Kharagpur. The next step would be to further develop the products and technologies with an industrial partner for production, the experts said. 

Innovations are not a new thing at IITs. Recently, a couple of software have been developed in IIT Kharagpur aimed at revolutionizing the way in which the disabled persons can cope up with day-to-day activities. In simple terms, buying vegetables from the market or composing poetry will just be a touch on the smart device away. 

Softwares ‘Akash Baani’ and ‘Sanyog’ will help them express their feelings by touching icons on the screen, which will then create sentences, and further be translated into voice messages. 

0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Monday, 4 January 2016

14:17

Indian Railways looks to Revamp R&D wing, induct new tech

Indian Railways looks to Revamp R&D wing, induct new tech

New Delhi: Railways has constituted a committee to review and streamline induction of new technologies and redefine the role of its R&D wing – Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO).

Apart from suggesting ways to upgrade the technical capability of railway workshops and production units, the panel will recommend creating a mechanism for incubation of innovative ideas and product development and also address issues related to intellectual property rights.

The committee, comprising railways officers, will also have Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat as a special invitee.

RDSO, IIT-K to work together for Indian Railways

Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with premier institute IIT, Kanpur last fortnight to carry out collaborative research work of the interest of the Railways. For doing the collaborative research, a Centre For Railway Research (CRR) will be set up by Ministry of Railways on the campus of IIT-Kanpur. The centre is expected to start working before the closure of the ongoing financial year.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Sunday, 29 November 2015

07:39

Warning System for Unmanned Railway Crossing -IIT Kanpur new Innovative system

Warning System for Unmanned Railway Crossing -IIT Kanpur new Innovative system

Engineers at IIT Kanpur have developed a very useful warning system that can prevent accidents at unmanned level crossings, thereby saving many lives.

The technology, named Radio Frequency and Wireless Based Warning System, will produce a loud sound to alert people to remain off the tracks, and to inform the driver that a crossing is approaching.

If everything goes well and the trials are successful, the device will be put to use. Currently, trials are being conducted between Unnao and Sonik railway stations (crossing number 29C) and Lucknow-Sultanpur section (crossing number 189C). Following this, IIT Kanpur will hand over the technology to Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO) on Dec. 16. RDDO is a research and development organization under the Ministry of Railways and it functions as a technical adviser and consultant with regards to design and standardisation of railway equipment and issues related to railway construction, operation and maintenance. The organization had asked IIT Kanpur to develop such a system that would be efficient for two trains on two parallel tracks in one go.

However, the final system is more advanced than the initial expectation. If spread out on 16 parallel tracks, the warning system can handle 16 trains. The system with embedded GPS and RFID (radio frequency identification tag) will be installed in the train engine and at the unmanned railway crossing. When the train is 1,500 meters away from the crossing, the warning system will get activated and hooters will blow up informing the driver that a crossing is approaching.

“The same thing will happen when the train is just 800 meters away from the track. The flash hooters will stop buzzing when train crosses 50 metre mark from the crossing,” BM Shukla, principal software engineer at IIT-K told The Times of India.

The system is foolproof as even if the GPS stops functions, RFID will ensure that the system never fails.

In case of multiple tracks, like two trains crossing each other, the system will continue to function normally. Hooters will buzz for both trains and will close after the later train clears the 50m mark. The trials have been successful until now.

0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

23:24

IRISET adopts Modern Technology & e-Learning Modules to train Rail Personnel globally

IRISET adopts Modern Technology & e-Learning Modules to train Rail Personnel globally

Secunderabad: The Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunication (IRISET), the premier training institute on Indian Railways at Tarnaka would soon have a heritage museum to showcase the signal & telecom equipment being used since the inception of railways in India from 1853. Ravindra Gupta, General Manager, South Central Railway said that there was a need for a museum and signal and telecommunications play a vital role.

The Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET) at Tarnaka, a centralised training institute under the Union ministry of railways, has trained 3,000 persons till October in the current calendar year.

He was speaking at the 58th Annual Day celebrations held on Tuesday. He called upon the trainees and faculty to imbibe the complexities of signal & telecom technology with up to date knowledge to improve their confidence in handling their job.

The Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunication (IRISET) here has signed up memorandum of understandings with the IIT Hyderabad for an M. Tech programme and another one with the Osmania University College for Engineering for enabling IRSEE probationers to obtain M.E. degree in Railway Signal Engineering along with their training at IRISET.

Navin Tandon, Member Electrical/Railway Board, New Delhi was the chief guest on the occasion. He said that IRISET holds a pivotal place in the Afro-Asian region, as one of the best training institutions in the field of signal engineering and telecommunications on railways.

Vikrant Karla, director IRISET in his annual report said that IRISET organised 113 courses and trained 3,000 persons during the current calendar year up to October, 2015. 15 refresher training courses were conducted for 1,044 trainees.

The institute was established on November 24, 1957 as All India S&T School and later named IRISET.  At present, IRISET has 11 laboratories, 12 well-equipped classrooms and four  well-furnished hostels. Keeping abreast with technological advancements, more and more advance systems and equipments are being provided in the labs.

The institute imparts training to officers and supervisors of signal and telecommunication department of Indian Railways, foreign railways, public and private sector signal engineers. Apart from imparting induction course training to probationers and apprentices (supervisors), IRISET also conducts regular mandatory refresher and safety courses.

Since its inception, it has trained 74,337 supervisors and officers, and enabled them to handle railway operations, maintenance and modernisation.

IRISET has earned Rs.1.57 crore as training fee for training personnel of non-railway departments and institutions such as public sector units, corporates and foreign nationals.

The need for training has considerably increased over the years due to technological advancements in signaling and telecommunication systems, the challenges to meet growing demand for new services & capacity building. IRISET also provides training to the personnel of foreign railways, public and private sector companies in India. signal engineers from Afro-Asian economies like Bangladesh, East Africa, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Laos, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Syria, Nigeria, Philippines, South Korea, Sudan, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia have received training at IRISET.

IRISET has also developed e-learning modules for interactive learning on ‘Anywhere Anytime’ basis, which is uploaded on IRISET’s website.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

07:10

Railways to seek Rs1 trillion ‘special safety fund’ from finance ministry

Railways to seek Rs1 trillion ‘special safety fund’ from finance ministry

New Delhi: India’s railways ministry plans to ask the ministry of finance to sanction Rs.1 trillion as a “special safety fund” for track renewal and maintenance, upgrading bridges and removal of unmanned level crossings—partly a reaction to recent accidents and partly an effort to reinforce deficient safety infrastructure.

Railways minister Suresh Prabhu called a meeting of railways zonal general managers on Tuesday in the backdrop of recent accidents. The emergency meeting was called after Prabhu returned from his five-day visit of Japan and South Korea on Sunday. The meeting was also attended by minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha and other members of the Railway Board.

At a media interaction after the meeting, chairman of the Railway Board A.K. Mital admitted that 40% of railway accidents in the current fiscal year were avoidable. “These happened due to system, human, equipment or maintenance failure,” he said, adding that the number of accidents, however, has come down.

Since 1 April, there have been 54 railways accidents compared with 77 that took place in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. Around 40% of the accidents this year have happened due to derailment and another 40% at unmanned level crossings. “We intend to address these two areas through the fund,” said Mital. In the last five years, around 5,900 unmanned crossings have been converted into manned ones; there are around 10,000 more unmanned crossings across the country. The ministry is in talks with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and Indian Space Research Organisation to develop solutions to alert people of approaching trains at unmanned crossings.

A railways spokesperson who was present at the meeting said Prabhu told all officials to conduct safety audits and take action on the audit reports. “The minister said that there have been shortcomings in inspection which need to be addressed. He also said that safety is non-negotiable and laxity, unacceptable.”

The ministry has fired 97 people in the last one year, holding them responsible for railway accidents. “In some of the cases, it was found that response to take corrective actions was slow,” said Mital.

The railways, in a white paper published in February 2015, said it would work towards reducing the number of accidents to zero. However, there have been various train accidents in the recent past, including derailment of a chartered train between the Kalka and Shimla rail tracks, in which two UK citizens lost their lives and the derailment of Secunderabad-Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Duronto Express at Martur between Shahbad and Gulbarga in Karnataka during the intervening night between 12 September and 13 September.

During his visit to Japan, Prabhu discussed the participation of Japanese railways and Japanese companies in various areas of Indian railways with the aim of modernization and technology upgradation. He also discussed their role in helping Indian railways succeed in its zero-accident mission.

 Source :Livemint.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, 30 June 2015

23:17

Ticket less travel is one of the major problems faced by the Indian Railways - Railway Minister

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu seeks solution from youth to curb ticketless travel 

NEW DELHI: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today asked young minds to come out with a fool-proof method to prevent ticketless travel in trains.

Addressing a gathering of students and alumni from IITs and other premier institutes like National Law University and London School of Economics, Prabhu said there are challenges in Railways which need to be addressed.

"We have big challenges and we have to address it. But the question is how to do it?" he asked. 

Aiming at engaging youth in Indian Railways, Prabhu sought innovative ideas for improvement in facilities in the public transporter.

"Can we have odourless toilets without using water or ensuring less usage of water because water shortage is a problem and Railways is one of the biggest consumers of water?," he said. 

Referring to ticketless journey in trains, the Railway Minister said "ticketless travel can be curbed. How to do it? Can you find a fool-proof solution to it?

"These are the challenges and the young minds can be engaged in addressing them. These are the day to day problems and we need solutions," he said.

Ticket less travel is one of the major problems faced by the Indian Railways, causing substantial losses to its passenger services mostly in local and suburban trains.

Northern Railways topped the chart in 2013-14, with more than 1.9 million people traveling without tickets or with improper tickets. 

"Train ticket is cheaper than other modes of transport. So travelling without tickets cannot be accepted," he said.

In order to encourage innovative solutions, Railways will announce awards for the best idea put forward. We will announce awards for recognition of service, he said. 

Railways will come out with a new website to promote technology solution in Rail services. "We will create a technology portal shortly," Prabhu said.

On investment plan, he said Railways needs massive investment for upgradation and expansion of its network. 

There will be an investment of $120 billion in Railways in the next five years, he said. 

 Source : EconomicTimes

0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, 26 June 2015

22:39

Newly constituted Technology Mission for Indian Railways to Focus on Development of Innovative Safety Technologies

Newly constituted Technology Mission for Indian Railways to Focus on Development of Innovative Safety Technologies

New Delhi:  Indian Railways have been the engine of economic and technical growth and development in India. Railway Safety is not merely an area of national concern but also poses challenges to the engineering and research community of the country. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is silently working to bring Indian Railways back on track, while giving special attention to improving passenger amenities, including the e-ticketing system, which now books 7,200 tickets per minute, against 2,000 in the old system. Two months into the new financial year, Prabhu is already implementing many proposals that he made in the Railway Budget in February.  The ministry has also decided to set up a “Technology Mission for Indian Railways” as a consortium of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human resources Development, Ministry of Science & Technology and Ministry of Industries, on an investment sharing model for taking up identified railway projects for applied research and use on the Indian Railways. Prof N.S. Vyas, former head of department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT-Kanpur has been made the “mission chairman”.

The recently constituted Technology Mission for Indian Railways shall now focus national attention and drive modern technologies of monitoring, control, communications, design, electronics and materials for Railway Safety. The earlier national programs on space and defense research have not merely achieved goals specific to the missions, but have also provided impetus to technology endeavors in institutions all across the country.

A Technology Mission for Indian Railways will similarly help to initiate and incubate design and development projects of significant national importance.

Technology issues on Railway safety and economy relate to multitude of engineering disciplines. The mission will help to pool relevant engineering knowledge, expertise and resources available in various research organizations and academic institutions in order to address these issues in an efficient manner.

The Mission objective is to develop and adopt state-of-the-art safety, control and design technologies defined by needs related to Indian conditions. The Mission will formulate and implement projects aimed towards achieving higher throughput, lower cost of transmission per unit and safer train movement.

Indian Railways are the backbone of the country’s economy and an integral part of our social fabric. It is one of the largest rail networks in the world with a total of approximately 65,000 route kilometers. Indian Railways run nearly 14,000 trains and carry 14 million passengers and more than a million tons of freight every day. Unlike developed countries, Indian Railways operate under vastly challenging circumstances of over crowding, low cost of travel, longer trains etc. The challenges posed in terms of technology development and implementation, are also thus greater, varied and unique in nature. These challenges also provide enormous opportunities for utilization of available human and technical resources for development of safer and economical Railway network. India competes with nations of the world in Space, Nuclear and Software Technologies. It is important that Railways’ mammoth technical network be energized through research and development, in order to spur widespread infrastructure and economic development.

The Technology Mission for Indian Railways will collaborate with Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, IIT-Kanpur and a consortium of industries for developing technology for achieving higher level of safety in train operations and formulate a Corporate Plan for safety enhancement which include funds already available under the non-lapsable Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) and the Railway Safety Fund (RSF). The Plan also envisages stepping up non-budgetary initiatives to meet additional requirements for money. The need for the Corporate Plan has been felt for quite some time so as to have a safety blue-print based on technological inputs, work culture, managerial focus and required investments. Following are the highlights of the Corporate Plan:


  • Collisions constitute 7% of total accidents but account for 38% of total fatalities. Collisions will be totally eliminated by extensive use of Anti-Collision Device (ACD).
  • Derailments constitute 75% of total accidents but account for only 14% of total fatalities.
  • Derailments will be reduced by 60% by following measures.
  • Replacement of overaged tracks, bridges, S&T gears and rolling stock under SRSF and current arisings under DRF.
  • Elimination of four-wheeler tank wagons, which are accident – prone.
  • Reduction of thermit welded joints which are weak areas.
  • Improved training facilities – enhancement of human skills.

Rail/weld failures cannot be totally eliminated due to inherent weak nature of thermit weld and inherent infirmities in rail, although measures like “Continuous Track Circuiting” and use of ‘State-of-the-art SPURT Cars’ for rail flaw detection are going to be adopted.Fire accidents constitute 2% of total accidents and account for 2% of total fatalities. Fire accidents and consequent fatalities will be reduced by 80% by adoption of fireproof coaches and fire retardant material in the existing coaches. Fire accidents cannot be totally eliminated as some of them occur because of unidentified elements on which Railways have little control.Level Crossing Accidents constitute 16% of total accidents but account for 46% of total fatalities. These fatalities comprise of road users on which Railways have little control. There has been a rising trend in level crossing accidents in the last decade (+23%), which will, at least, be arrested by following measures.

Social awareness programmes.

  • Construction of ROBs/RUBs at level crossings with TVUs > 1 Lakh.
  • Manning of unmanned level crossings.
  • Provision of phones and interlocking of level crossing gates.
  • Use of Train Actuated Warning Device (TAWD) and Anti Collision Device (ACD).
  • Overall consequential train accidents per million train kilometers will be reduced from 0.44 in 2002-03 to 0.17 in 2012-13.

  • Fatalities in case of serious accidents will be appreciably reduced by use of Crash worthy Coaches and tight lock couplers with anti-climbing features.
Bridges –Following measures are being adopted:

  • Under Water Inspection;
  • Integrity testing of foundations;
  • Non-destructive testing techniques
  • Bridge Management System
  • Fatigue life and residual life assessment techniques
  • Replacement/rehabilitation of identified overaged and distressed bridges.
Filling up of all Safety Category posts on urgency basis. Safety Related Retirement Scheme (SRRS) for gangmen/drivers in age group of 50 to 57 years.

Disaster Management measures for ensuring quick relief and rescue operation Funds requirement for safety enhancement works, including SRSF, outlined in the Corporate Safety Plan.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

07:13

Dr Harsh Vardhan Inspires IIT Students to Embrace the Yoga Life Says-“Yoga is Necessary to Achieve Complete Health –Physical, Mental, Social”

Dr Harsh Vardhan Inspires IIT Students to Embrace the Yoga Life Says-“Yoga is Necessary to Achieve Complete Health –Physical, Mental, Social” 

The Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan, appealed to the country’s youth to embrace the “Yoga life” for ensuring themselves a lifetime of mental and physical fitness. 

Addressing students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur today, the Minister said, “I am a man of science and a surgeon by training in the allopathic branch of medicine. I assure you Yoga does not contradict science –it is science. I invite you young budding engineers to experiment with Yoga because soon you will realise that it qualitatively enhances your productivity, apart from making you a more sociable and healthy person.” 

He recalled being one among an elite group of participants at World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Kobe meeting of policy makers in 2000. “There was consensus that health is a state of physical, mental, social and spiritual well being of an individual, not merely freedom from disease and infirmities. To achieve that the world’s leading policy makers struck a consensus on Yoga being one of the potential indigenous solutions,” he stated. 

Dr Harsh Vardhan told the assemblage. “As engineers you must be aware that Germany is the world’s largest exporter of engineering goods. They make engines of the most superior quality there. What you perhaps didn’t know is that in Germany’s leading technological universities, students are introduced to Yoga and Sanskrit because they have found out that it makes young minds more creative and innovative for greater scientific productivity.” 

Hundreds of students, teachers and staff turned out for a special event at the campus on the occasion of the first United Nations “World Yoga Day”. The Minister’s presence bolstered their enthusiasm and they responded positively to the inherent message in the Prime Minister’s campaign, to popularise yoga on an unprecedented global scale. The eminent Yoga practitioner from Allahabad, Swami Anand Giri, gave a highly invigorating lecture with demonstrations on Yoga asanas. 

Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “Yoga is India’s greatest and oldest gift to the world. It is not a ritual, but a scientific expression. Western medical science has woken up to the goodness of yoga as it treats the person behind the disease, not just the symptoms. Yoga also produces unique mental stability, makes a person more balanced in his perception and in Australia it is taught to prison inmates because it replaces the criminal mindset with positive energy.” 

The Minister pointed out that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had mainstreamed Yoga into the country’s public system. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, a separate ministry has been created for Yoga –as part of AYUSH. It is part of the premier hospital system of the country –AIIMS – in six cities of India. 

“You are the cream of our student community. I am sure that Yoga has seated itself in your already deeply scientific consciousness. Let it be the fulcrum and guide your creative spirit. That is why this term ‘Yoga Life’ has been created,” he said. 

Dr Harsh Vardhan expanded the term –“Yoga Life” – to cover humankind’s responses to the problems be devilling mankind and the future of the planet. 

“Yoga is about unity – of the sun and the moon within you. If you take up the Yoga life, your body retains all the vigour of youth while your mind matures to absorb the concerns that shape progress. This happens only in individuals today, but once the Yoga Life becomes the establishment you will see remarkable changes in every sphere of society,” he said. 

The Minister also attended a large camp organised in Kharagpur town by the Nehru Yuva Kendra and Patanjali Peeth. Hundreds of people turned up in response to the Prime Minister’s call to celebrate the goodness of Yoga. 

Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “The people of Bengal have a rich tradition in Yoga. Sri Aurobindo devoted his life for Yoga. His life is for all the highest expression of Yoga. If only we follow a small part of his example, the country will surely achieve its maximum potential.” 

He recalled the great propagation of Yoga’s wellness on an international scale by Paramahamsa Yogananda, another great Yogi from Bengal, in the first half of the 20th century. 

“The Autobiography of a Yogi”, written by Yogananda in the early 1940s is one of the greatest bestsellers of the 20th century. Dr Harsh Vardhan urged huge audience to read the book as it is believed to have transformed many lives. 

He said, “The great American president, Calvin Coolidge, embraced the Yoga Life after meeting Parmahamsa Yogananda. He became the United States’ premier Yogi and following his example thousands of ordinary Americans turned to Yoga. A huge Yoga centre was established in Los Angeles which still thrives.” 

Earlier, yesterday evening, Dr Harsh Vardhan, visited the “Science and Technology Museum” within the campus of IIT Kharagpur. He was shown around the place by Dr Partho Chakrabarti, Director, and was impressed with its remarkable exhibits showcasing the products of the research of the eminent seat of learning and inquiry. 

This was followed by a brainstorming session with the Director and Deans of different departments. He said that though IIT-Kharagpur was a leading centre of research under the IIT system, there was need for greater coordination and greater synergy with laboratories under the Centre of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MES). 

Dr Harsh Vardhan remarked, “I see here that you are implementing projects of international value, and some are even sponsored by CSIR, DST, DBT and MoES. I think that there should be better networking and more sophisticated coordination between the IIT system and the laboratories under the Ministry of Science and Technology.” 

0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

10:02

Railways to award Research Fellowships to carry out rail-related research at Central, State Universities, IITs, IIMs & IISc

Railways to award Research Fellowships to carry out rail-related research at Central, State Universities, IITs, IIMs & IISc

New Delhi: Ministry of Railways will award Research Fellowships to carry out rail-related research at Central and state universities and prominent education institutions like IITs, IIMs and IIS.

Fellowship scheme will be introduced at Central and state universities and centres for excellence like IITs, IIMs and IIS, Railway Board Member (Staff) Pradeep Kumar said here today.

He said a scheme for encouraging railway employees to acquire higher qualifications at Masters level in IITs, IIMs and institutes of repute will also be introduced.

MoUs for setting up of centres for railway research at IIT Chennai, IIT-Kanpur, and IIT-Roorkee will be singed shortly, he said.

Railways had recently signed an MoU with University of Mumbai in April for setting up a Centre for Railway Research. Three more such centres will be established.

Kumar said an Academic Services Agreement was signed with Beijing Jiaotong University, China, for training of 100 officers of various departments in heavy haul technology.

In order to benefit railway officers, M.Tech programme in Railway Engineering is being introduced in consultation with IIT, Kharagpur, from academic session 2015-16.

He said services of professional agencies would be used for evaluation of railway training programmes.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Sunday, 14 June 2015

10:53

Railways seeks IIT help to improve punctuality, shore up freight

Railways seeks IIT help to improve punctuality, shore up freight 

NEW DELHI: Saddled with declining punctuality and revenue from cargo, Indian Railway has decided to seek the expertise of IITs to improve train operations and put in place a better marketing strategy to woo back freight traffic it has yielded to the road sector. 

Facing flak over punctuality of passenger trains, the public transporter has initiated talks with IIT Bombay to undertake an operations audit on the high-density Delhi- Mughalsarai route and examine issues plaguing efficiency on this stretch. 

"Seventy percent of the problem with regard to train punctuality is from the Delhi-Mughalsarai section, one of the busiest in the country," said an official.


The latest initiative is in addition to the railway conducting its own study about how to improve punctuality on the section, positioning its officials at important stations along the stretch, such as Allahabad, to review rolling stock, signalling, track health and engine failures, he said. 

The PMO had earlier sought an explanation from the Railway Minister over trains running late after it received complaints from passengers. 

The prime concern is that Railways has been able to meet only 74 per cent punctuality on an average per day with worst coming from the North Central Railway (NCR) and East Central Railway (ECR), which have recorded merely 34 per cent on the punctuality index.

As per an estimate, declining punctuality, agitations and sundry such causes lead to an accumulated loss of over Rs one lakh crore to the Railway annually. Lack of punctuality is also one of the causes for gradual shifting of freight to the road sector. 

To woo back the customers and improve its share of freight traffic, IIT Delhi has been roped in to suggest a better marketing strategy that also encompasses recommendations on freight charges. 

Observing that freight traffic is more sensitive to price changes than passenger traffic, the Economic Survey for 2014- 15 had projected that the share of the Railway in freight traffic will come down to 25 per cent by 2020 from 33 per cent in 2011-2012.

Senior officials of the Railway Ministry have had an initial round of discussion with the IITs on these issues, officials said. 

A couple of years back, Indian Railway had involved IIT Kanpur in piloting project SIMRAN, an online application providing live information about train movement and status.

An MoU is also slated to be signed with IIT-BHU for technology advancement for better management of Railway's operational needs. 

 Souurce:Economic Times.

0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

05:57

IIT-BHU, Indian Railways team up for better Rail Technology

IIT-BHU, Indian Railways team up for better Rail Technology

Varanasi (BSB): Raising the pitch for ‘Make in India’ initiative, an MoU was signed between IIT-BHU and the Indian Railways on Monday for conducting technological research and developing indigenous raw material for the industry.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by IIT-BHU Director Rajeev Sangal and Advisor Railway Board RK Verma in the presence of Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in Varanasi.

“For better development of Railways, there needs to be huge investment into the sector in coming 5-10 years, and for which we would also require a huge quantity of raw materials.

Such initiatives would help the Railways not to depend on importing the raw materials from foreign countries,” Prabhu said.

The minister said that to compete with nations such as China, where there is huge investment into the railways sector, India too needs universities such as BHU and others to research as well as develop indigenous raw material to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of Make in India. He said that there is a need for utilizing railways scraps through recycling.

An investment of about Rs 8.5 lakh crores would be made in the railways sector in next four years for upgradation and expansion of Railway infrastructure and network, he informed. Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, BHU Vice Chancellor GC Tripathi and other senior Railway officials were also present on the occasion.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Tuesday, 21 April 2015

07:18

Railways to fix late running of trains with the help of IITs

New Delhi: The Railway Ministry will join hands with Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to find a way out to solve the problem of late running of trains. The IITs and the Railways’ engineering consultancy company Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) will identify the bottlenecks that delay trains’ timings and work out a solution to ensure the trains can run faster on the “existing infrastructure”.

The first round of meeting in this regard took up the case study of the Frontier Express (now Golden Temple Express) between Bombay (now Mumbai) and Amritsar, which used to take 40 hours before Independence while now the travel time has been reduced only by eight hours. The other exception taken, according to a top Railway official, was about the lone existing 150 kmph train between Delhi and Agra unable to augment its speed by mere 10 kmph even after several rounds of deliberations.

“Frontier now takes 32 hours. Which means in 60 years we could only adjust eight hours. Similarly, we are unable to augment the speed of Taj Express to 160 km per hour even after 10 years when the fastest train was running between Delhi and Agra. These are the things which have been examined presently. The Ministry is very serious since we are looking forward to put trains at 200 kmph before a Bullet Train runs in India,” pointed a top Railway official.

The prime concern was the fact that in the present condition, Railways has been able to meet only 74 per cent punctuality on an average per day with worst coming from the North Central Railway (NCR) and East Central Railways (ECR) at merely 34 per cent punctuality maintenance. The Zonal Railways administration have conveyed to the Railways that it is “impossible” for them to maintain the scheduled timings “in the given infrastructure” as desired.

Last month, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was in a rude shock to know that punctuality figures used to be fudged by the officials to maintain it at 99 per cent even as complaints were galore about incessant delays of express trains including Rajdhanis and Shatabdis. The Ministry swung into action to address the complaints of late running of trains after the PMO expressed serious concern over the issue.

The PMO had sought explanation from the Railway Minister over trains running late after it received complaints by the passengers. The complaints were forwarded to the Railway Ministry and asked to follow the schedule and fix the problems so that trains were on time. Prabhu had then reacted that as the Railway Minister, it was his duty to ensure regular monitoring of punctuality of trains.

A top Railway official was made to sit twice during the last fortnight at Allahabad Junction for almost a week to examine the delays in the NCR and ECR zone. It was found that maximum number of train delays was tracked to New Delhi- Howrah route and particularly between the Patna-Mughalsarai-Allahabad section due to several asset failures like signaling, engines and track problems.

The initial report submitted to the Railway Minister says that in the event of delay of one train between on the “erratic” section, a cascading effect delays all the trains on the route. Allahabad junction also caters to trains bound to Mumbai and other Central and Southern Indian destinations besides New Delhi and beyond.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Sunday, 19 April 2015

09:50

Railway Signed MOU with university of Mumbai

Ministry of Railways is set to tie up with various universities and Indian Institute of Technology to create a Centre for Railway Research. As part of the proposal, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with University of Mumbai on Saturday.

“This is a first of its kind tie-up. And an agreement will be signed with more universities and IITs for a specific purpose,” said Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Railway.

The aim is to make these educational arenas a centre for excellence. This Centre for Railway Research with University of Mumbai will help railways to further study heavy haul technology, vehicle dynamics, high speed technologies, track research and energy efficient traction power supply systems among other things.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,