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Farewell Message
from Prof. D. V. Singh
 The University of Roorkee, as a
heritage institution, has had a unique status and recognition in
engineering education in India. Its image and stature was primarily built
through outstanding contributions and achievements of its distinguished
Alumni. The conversion of the University into an I.I.T. only means its
statutory recognition as an Institution of National Importance which it
already was.
This great institution has many distinguishing
features and traditions. I sincerely hope that these traditions, which are
time tested and which have sustained the unique position acquired by the
University of Roorkee with a history of more than one and a half century,
will be preserved and strengthened in the new milieu of I.I.T. system. One
of them is what I would like to fondly call as the Thomasonian spirit of
fraternity and brotherhood. This spirit is to be further strengthened.
Conversion into I.I.T. has given the University of
Roorkee a new system of governance and hopefully will give some relief in
terms of budgetary support from the Government. It is a mixed blessing.
The governance system of the University of Roorkee flowing from the
Roorkee University Act had many good features. The system enabled the
University, inspite of the fact that the budgetary support it received
year after year was much less than that of an I.I.T., to perform
excellently and at par with I.I.Ts. In the transition, the University is
following the Statutes of I.I.T. Bombay and will continue to do so until
the I.I.T. Roorkee Statutes are framed. Luckily variations in Statutes in
different IITs exist and are possible. This enables them to develop their
own identity which is an essential element of the essence and spirit of
education. I sincerely hope that the Statutes of I.I.T. Roorkee would have
a judicious mix of the good features of the erstwhile University of
Roorkee and of other IITs. I.I.T. Roorkee will have to establish
traditions and an appropriate style of functioning within the framework of
I.I.T. Act, which are in harmony with the ethos and aspirations of this
prestigeous institution of long and illustrious history.
Relief in the budgetary support to I.I.T. Roorkee
will only be instrumental. The actual driving force to achieve higher
excellence will come from the performance of its faculty and the
professional achievements of its Alumni which will determine the future
stature of the Institute. The Alumni of the Institute can play a very
important role in giving a distinctive identity to I.I.T.
Roorkee.
Other I.I.Ts. were ab-initio declared as
Institutes of National Importance and were enabled with generous funding
and other initiatives to move forward towards becoming institutions of
good standing. The University of Roorkee, as a State University through
its track record of engineering education and research and engineering
services, already had the recognition which it has now received
statutorily through its conversion into I.I.T. The newest I.I.T. now has
to not only enrich the I.I.T. system but also has to become the front
runner through its academic and engineering attainments.
It was my privilege to serve this great
Institution as the Vice Chancellor. I consider myself to be fortunate to
have played a role, with the help of the faculty, the staff Association
and several of our distinguished Alumni, in convincing the decision makers
that in the interest of the University of Roorkee and in the larger
interest of the engineering/technical education itself, the University be
converted to an I.I.T.
Autonomy of an academic institution is
traditionally regarded as essential to preserve the true spirit of
education. The wider concept of sovereignty of academic institutions is
now increasingly recognised and accepted by the enlightened societies of
the World to promote and preserve values which depend on good education
and the traditions of institutions which enjoy the trust of the society
that sustains them and the privilege of freedom which they get from the
society on the basis of trust and faith. I hope that I.I.T. Roorkee will
become truly sovereign on the strength of its excellence in performance. I
send my best wishes to the entire fraternity of I.I.T. Roorkee and the
Alumni of this remarkable institution. I have had the privilege of having
studied in the University of Roorkee, of being on the faculty for thirty
two years and of eventually serving the University as its Vice Chancellor
and for a brief period as the Director I.I.T. Roorkee. I bid farewell to
I.I.T. Roorkee with a prayer in my heart that the Institute may achieve
academic standards comparable to the best in the world
(D.V.
Singh) |
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‘Padma-Shree’ Awarded to Prof. Anand Swarup
Arya
 An eminent research
Scientist, a structural earth-quake engineer of National and International
repute and a recongnized authority in Earthquake Engineering, retired Head
of Deptt. of Earthquake Engineering and Pro Vice Chancellor of Roorkee
University, Dr. Anand Swarup Arya has been awarded Padmashree on the
occasion of the 53rd Republic Day of lndia. Dr. Arya earlier received the
United Nations’ coveted Sasakawa Disaster Prevention Award of
1997.
Born in the town of Ambehta in
District Saharanpur of Uttar Pradesh, educated in the Roorkee University
and the University of Illinois, USA, Dr. Arya, is still working with the
energy of a young researcher at the age of 70 and serving the country
through his expert advice on earthquake protection of buildings and
structures. He is currently the chairman of Bureau of Indian Standards
Committee on Earthquake Engineering which has prepared the Seismic Zoning
map of India and various Codes of Practices for the safe design and
construction of all types of buildings and structures. He is a member of
the Working Group of ‘National Committee on Disaster Management’ chaired
by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Since the earthquake of Jan. 26, 2001 in
Kachchh region, Dr. Arya is serving the Gujarat State in various
capacities, including as Seismic Advisor to Gujarat State Disaster
Management Authority. He is also serving as Seismic Engineering Expert on
Asian Development Project on Capacity Building and Disaster Management for
the State of Uttaranchal and preparing various Guidelines for safe
construction as well as strengthening of existing weak buildings against
future earthquakes in the State. Dr. Arya is also chairing and advising a
number of earthquake disaster protection projects under United Nations
Centre for Regional Development of Japan initiated in the state of
Gujarat. His life’s mission is to promote programs and activities in the
Country which will lead to an earthquake disaster free India’.
THE ARRIVAL
OF IITR -K.V.Mital
 The emergence of University
of Roorkee in a new garb under the name Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee (IITR) is a welcome development which fills the hearts of all
people connected, now or ever before, with this institution -its alumni
and students, its faculty and staff at all levels-with joy. It comes at a
time when this joy overflows and fills the hearts, of the whole population
of the infant state of Uttaranchal. It is the fulfillment of a dream that
has been dreamt in some form or the other during the entire history of
this institution -the first hundred years of Thomason College of
Engineering, and the next fifty as the University of Roorkee -to enable it
to achieve its objectives in full measure. From the Government of India it
is a formal recognition of its never-in-doubt national character as a
front-rank institution of engineering and science in the country. With the
rising cost of maintaining and constantly modernizing such an institution,
the limited resources of a small new-born state could have severely
affected its stature as a first-rate high level centre of technical and
scientific education and research. Now, standing on the solid foundations
of excellence and enviable traditions of the Thomason College and the
University of Roorkee, and with enhanced financial resources, the IITR can
further forge ahead in the realization of its dreams
It would be fascinating to
briefly recall on this historic occasion how this institution, ever since
its birth in the middle of the nineteenth
century, has constantly endeavoured to remain in the forefront of
engineering education in the world. According to Sir William Willcocks,
(1852-1932), one of the most outstanding students of the College in its
earlier days, "We were taught on the sound lines of Ecole
Polytechnique of Paris and not on the ridiculous lines generally in vogue
in England at that time." Also it was felt all through its life of a
hundred years that, though the all-India character and role of the College
was recognized on all hands, the fact that it was controlled and financed
by a provincial government somewhat stood in the way of utilizing its full
potential for the realization of its national objectives, which included,
besides producing engineers for civil works for the whole country, giving
periodic training to engineering personnel of the army. The latter
objective was incidental and subsidiary, but was so well achieved that the
army coveted the Thomason College as a ready-made Staff College or College
of Military Engineering fit to be taken over by the Government of India.
Many an attempt were made in this direction starting from 1870 and ending
In 1946.
Twice in its history, once in early
1890s and then again in 1920-22, a battle royal was waged to get the
College taken over by the Government of India. Both the times the
provincial government held fast to it, and the move was defeated. In 1891,
when the provincial government decided to convert the College into a
technical institute to serve the needs of the province only, the college
authorities pleaded that "the College may be allowed to be a star above
all provincial institutions," and when the pleadings fell on deaf
ears, they angrily complained, "After being famous throughout India and
having earned a European reputation, the Thomason College was to become an
ordinary educational institution with local interests and restricted
scope". But the efforts to regain the preeminent position of the
College were not given up. When the great industrialist and philanthropist
J.N. Tata mooted the idea of establishing an Institute of Higher Learning
and Research, the claims of Roorkee College to become the nucleus of such
an institute were advanced, and were
given weighty consideration before the final selection of
Bangalore.
Around 1920 the Government of
India reorganized the Public Works Department and instituted the ISE
(Indian Service of Engineers). Again, pressure was mounted to have the
College taken over by the Centre as an imperial (i.e. all-lndia)
institution from which most of the ISE officers should be recruited. The
arguments and counter-arguments went on for a couple of years, but finally
the matter was dropped.
In 1939, the committee
appointed by the UP Government to report on the reorganization of the
Thomason College recommended that the College be raised to the level of a
university. The dawn of independence saw the implementation of this
recommendation, and the University of Roorkee was launched in 1949 with
much fanfare in the presence of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.
At the same time the
Government of India had plans to establish a number of advanced institutes
of technology in different parts of the country, There were suggestions
that the Roorkee College could be the nucleus of one such institute,
However, the UP Government regarded Roorkee College as its prize
possession, and would not countenance any such proposal." In
return, it pledged to develop the college to its full potential in the
service of the nation as a whole.
The initial years saw the
phenomenal growth of the University, and boded confidence that with all
the help the state could give, and support, as needed, by the Centre and
many international agencies, the University could maintain its high
reputation as a premier national institute. However, as decades passed,
the gap between what was needed to be done and what could be done started
increasing. In the present age of rapidly accelerating technology , an
institute has to run very fast even to keep pace with others. The
financial resources of the University started falling behind the cost of
continuous updating and modernizing. It started causing concern. The
Chancellor of the University (UP Governor) called a meeting in 1980, and
desired that "for developing Roorkee as an institute of technology a
time-bound programme should be prepared." This heralded the beginning
of efforts of the University -its administration, faculty , and staff -and
the state government to lift the University from the mire it seemed to be
falling into by proposing various remedies like ‘special status’, ‘central
takeover’, ‘conversion to an IIT’, etc. The spurt of activity came to a
culmination in 1989 when the UP Chief Minister strongly pleaded with the
Ministry of Human Resources Development that the Government of India
recognize the Roorkee University as an institute of national importance on
the same lines as the IITs, and that the postgraduate education and
research at the University be funded by the Centre on hundred percent
basis. In reply the Minister only reiterated the oft-repeated Government’s
assurance to continue to make maximum possible efforts for the development
of the University consistent with available resources. The cloud of
despondency hovering over the University showed no signs of
dispersal.
Eleven years later, in 2000,
yet another effort was initiated to impress upon the Central Government
the urgent necessity of substantial financial succour to Roorkee
University. At an annual budget of about twenty crore of rupees; which was
less than one-third the corresponding figure for the IITs, the University
was finding it extremely difficult to continue functioning at comparable
levels. Initially the indications from the Government of India were that
the IIT status for the University was not possible, but special grants
could be had to tide over the difficulties. Then, suddenly, the situation
took a dramatic turn. The decision to include Roorkee in the proposed new
state of Uttaranchal proved to be most fortuitous. If UP found it
difficult to provide all that the University of Roorkee needed, the infant
state of Uttaranchal would find it utterly impossible. The proposal that
the University be taken over by the Centre and converted into an IIT was
immediately and powerfully endorsed, almost demanded, by the political
elements of Uttaranchal. The Centre had to help the new state with
packages of special financial support to fund its feet. After the
customary passage of the proposal through various ministries, departments,
officials, and expert committees, the Government of India has issued the
necessary notification. The long journey comes to an end.
It may be a time for
rejoicing, but no complacency. A new journey with fresh challenges begins.
In addition to its role of being one of the top technological institutes
of the nation, IITR will have to live up to its promise to be in the
vanguard of economic development of the state of Uttaranchal with the help
of modern technology. A vast field lies open before it. Power generation,
roads, communications, geological investigations, applications of
information technology, management, etc. -there are numerous areas where
the Institute could contribute as consultants and advisers, and even
active participants. Let us hope the youngest member of the IIT system,
but the oldest in age, will soon take its place as the first among
equals.
Appeal to
Alumni
If
you have an e-mail address, please send the same to
ruaa@rurkiu.ernet.in |
Prof. Prem Vrat has assumed the
charge of the office of the Director, IIT Roorkee on December 16, 2001.
