All Management Events

The different dimensions of sustainable waste management have always been explored by researchers all over the world. Assistant Professor Dr Pankaj Pathak, Department of Environmental Science, has been actively involved in this research area for a while. Her paper titled Dual role of grass clippings as buffering agent and biomass during anaerobic co digestion with food waste is published in the journal Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy with an impact factor 4.7. Dr Pankaj Pathak co-authored the paper with Debkumar Chakraborty, Sankar Ganesh Palani, M M Ghangrekar, and N Anand.

Abstract

There is a dire need to replace the chemical buffers that regulate the redox environment in single-stage anaerobic digestion of food waste. Hence, the applicability of grass clippings as an eco-friendly buffering agent and biomass during the anaerobic co-digestion of food waste was explored. A focus was primarily given on the effects of grass clippings on the redox environment and acidogenesis. Concomitantly the production of volatile fatty acids, hydrogen, and methane in mesophilic conditions was monitored. Organic load and substrate-to-inoculum ratio were kept constant in all the experiments, and no chemical buffer was used. The results revealed that the redox environment was regulated with 10% grass clippings by inhibiting rapid pH drop in the digester. The addition of 2, 4, and 6% grass clippings promoted acidogenesis with increased production of acetic and butyric acids, whereas 8 and 10% grass clippings promoted solventogenesis with ethyl alcohol production. Hydrogen generation from the experiments with grass clippings was in the range of 27–30% of the total biogas, which was marginally higher than the control (25%). Methane concentration was negligible in the biogas generated from all experiments. The acidification rate, VFA production/consumption rate, specific hydrogen yield, hydrogen conversion efficiency, and volatile solids removal were maximum and minimum in the reactors with 6 and 10% grass clippings, respectively. From the above results, it can be concluded that adding grass clippings to food waste would regulate the sudden pH changes and enhance the production of value-added biochemicals, making the process cost-effective.

The upcoming international conference, India & Southeast Asia in a Changing World: Convergences and Divergences, will examine India’s Act East policy, investigating its prospects and challenges in the Southeast Asian region. Assistant Professor Dr Vineeth Thomas from the Department of Liberal Arts has been selected for presenting a paper at this Conference organised by Christ University, Delhi NCR. He will present the paper titled The centrality of ASEAN in India’s Act East policy at the conference.

The international conference will be held In-Person from 14 to 15 October 2022 at the CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Delhi-NCR campus. The Hanns Seidel Foundation funds this conference. The major focus area of the conference is India’s foreign policy towards ASEAN countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore

Abstract

Against the backdrop of multi-dimensional developments and interventions in the Indo-Pacific region, India’s overseas policy and national security apprehensions have undergone substantial changes in the past few decades. Starting with the Look East Policy in the 1990s, India advanced its policy in 2014 as Act East Policy. The potential benefits of bilateral and multilateral relations in the Indo-pacific region made India take up its partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seriously, which provided an opening and strip for India to explore Southeast Asia. This paper evaluates the significance of keeping ASEAN at the heart of India’s Act East Policy by illustrating the prospects and challenges in India-ASEAN relations.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) established the Indian Nanoelectronics User’s Programme (INUP) about a decade ago with the intention of improving skilled manpower in the areas of micro and nanoelectronics. This has laid the necessary foundation for the next step of the programme, INUP-i2i. It is a matter of pride that four PhD students from the Department of Chemistry attended the INUP-i2i Familiarisation Workshop on Nanofabrication and characterisations held from August 10 to 12, 2022, at IIT Kharagpur. Mr Syed Akhil, Mr Rahul SIngh, Mr Manoj Palabathuni, and Mr Subarna Biswas are the scholars who have grabbed this incredible opportunity.

Indian Nanoelectronics User’s Programme- Idea to Innovation (INUP-i2i) is developed to facilitate and support the generation of expertise in Nanoelectronics through participation and utilisation of the facilities at Nano-centres at IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Guwahati.

INUP will provide easy access to state-of-the-art nanofabrication and characterisation facilities to researchers, thereby creating a critical mass of hands-on experimental researchers across the country. This workshop is being organised both for familiarisation and interaction of the participants with faculty members of IITKGP. INUP has provided the accommodation and food for these shortlisted students. At the end of the workshop, they presented a poster as well.

Indian Nobel Peace Laureate and the internationally acclaimed child rights activist Shri Kailash Satyarthi will address the students and faculty of SRM University-AP on August 22, 2022. His talk is scheduled on the topic “Compassionate Youth Leadership: Key to Building a Better Future”. Shri Satyarthi will confer with the students on the necessity of fostering compassion and empathy among the youth of the nation to lead the country towards a more humane future.

Shri Kailash Satyarthi, who was the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, has been driving global wide anti-child-slavery campaigns and advocating the universal right to children’s education for over four decades. He has rescued more than 110,000 children from the plight of child labour, child trafficking, and other forms of exploitation through his organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save the Childhood Movement.

In 2016, he launched the 100 million campaign, a movement to inspire and mobilise young people to campaign for the rights of the world’s most excluded children. The movement intends to end violence against children, eradicate child labour, and ensure education, breaking the cycles of illiteracy, poverty, and violence for good. For more details, visit 100million.org. He is also the founder of multiple social activist organisations, including Global March Against Child Labour, Global Campaign for Education, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, Laureates and Leaders for Children, etc.

Honourable Vice-Chancellor Prof VS Rao, Registrar Dr R Premkumar, and other university dignitaries will also take part in the programme. Prof VS Rao will deliver the welcome address and introduce the chief guest. Following the address of the chief guest, an interactive segment with the faculty and students has also been scheduled.

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Innovation is crucial to the development and deployment of technologies. Patents stimulate technological innovations by providing an incentive for research and development. They disperse technical information and facilitate technology transfer. Hatchlab Research Centre unveils the concept of Patent Maker to give breath to the projects and patents that deserves a high commercial application. Professor G S Vinod Kumar, an expert, mentor, and multidimensional professional, will guide the workshop by sharing his valuable wisdom in the domain of innovation and leadership.

Date: August 18, 2022

Time: 7.00 pm to 7.45 pm

The life cycle of technologies runs through invention, research, development, dissemination, market development, and commercial diffusion. The various processes happening at each of these stages provide numerous opportunities to employ instruments that promote innovation.

However, the journey of a perfect project or patent is quite challenging and time-taking. So much hard work goes down in creating one good project or filing one patent. But the irony is that roughly only around 3% of the patents are being commercialised. Their impact is not reaching where they are supposed to, as they are unable to deliver greater benefit to society at application levels. Promising projects and patents are literally national assets. A little alignment of the priced asset with the industry can turn most of the brilliant work into something of high commercial value, which could be a boon for the entire economy.

About the Speaker

Professor G S Vinod Kumar did his PhD from IIT Kharagpur and post-doctoral research at Helmholtz centre Berlin for materials and energy, Germany. He has vast research experience in metallurgy and materials engineering about 16 years, in the field of non-ferrous alloys and precious metals. He currently handles sponsored research projects from industries such as Titan Company Ltd, (Tanishq), WHP-Sons, Maharashtra, Jewel Craft Ltd, and Chennai in gold and Silver alloys for jewellery manufacturing. He also handles consultancy projects from INDSAT corporation, Chennai in die-cast aluminium alloys. He has 40 research publications, 13 patents and 2 technology transfers to industry (Titan). Some of his technologies are currently in the market as products. He has recently filed a patent jointly with Titan Company Ltd, which is the first time in the history of TATA.

Join the session to learn the entire process, challenges, and scopes of patents.

Register now!

The legacy of India’s craft culture always occupies a special spot owing to its beauty, dignity, form, style, and aesthetics. India is traditionally known for its rural village and wooden cottage Industries. Among them, Andhra Pradesh has glorious rural artisan handmade traditions in toys. The office of International Relations and Higher Studies conducted a workshop on August 16, 2022, to promote and celebrate the dignity of Kondapalli Toys. These toys are one of the geographical indication handicrafts from Andhra Pradesh.

The workshop belongs to the series of sessions organised as part of Aadigyan, the social leadership programme. Mr Durga Prasad, a traditional Kondapalli artisan of Andhra Pradesh, handled the workshop for two hours. He demonstrated the process of crafting the toys and explained their history. Various tools used for wood carving, division of labor among male and female artisans, social implications of the toys, etc., were discussed in this interactive session. Volunteered students also learned some wood carving basics from the artisan himself.

The rural industry holds a share of ten percent in the decentralised sector. The handicrafts industry is one of the major sectors that offer employment opportunities to a larger number of individuals. Yet the 400 years old industry is not getting the attention it deserves due to a lack of promotion and awareness. Sandeep Samala, the programme coordinator, highlighted the need for spreading the heritage of Kondapalli toys among the younger generation. He also explained how the industry could be approached from a startup’s perspective to amplify the toys’ promotion.