Vice President Presents AICTE-ECI-ISTE Chhatra Vishwakarma Awards And AICTE-SAGY Initiative Awards

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, Engineering Council of India (ECI), and the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), jointly held a competition ‘AICTE-ECI-ISTE Chhatra Vishwakarma Awards-2018’ for the students of AICTE approved degree & diploma level technical institutions.

Under the AICTE-SAGY Initiative, the awards were given to passionate young students who showcased their ideas in tune with the theme, ‘Empowerment of villages through Technologies’.

“I am delighted to present the AICTE-ECI-ISTE Chhatra Vishwakarma Awards and happy to note that AICTE, in association with ECI and ISTE, have conceived the Chhatra Vishwakarma awards for challenging our young students to come up with novel ideas that have great potential to impact life in our villages through technological interventions at the grass root level” said M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India.

The awards were aimed for motivating young individuals, inspiring leaders and institutions/ organizations to raise their performance in their specific domains leading to significant contribution towards the growth and development of the nation.

While addressing, Naidu suggested that the educational institutions must re-orient their curricula to ensure that students spend time in rural areas to interact with people and understanding their problems.

He also expressed his agreement with Mahatma Gandhi’s statement that ‘the future of India lies in its villages’. He said, “The development of villages is an essential precondition to development of the nation.”

Highlighting the importance of redeeming the agriculture sector of the country which is still the main stay of rural economy, the Vice President said, “We have to constantly innovate and reinvent our agricultural practices to make farming much more rewarding, profitable and sustainable”.

Also, he expressed his disappointment on the vision for development which is still largely urban centric, Naidu lamented that rural India still lagged behind urban India in terms of crucial development indicators.

Calling for balanced development, Naidu said, “Our approach to development must have a dual focus, it must be comprehensive and must keep both urban and rural realities in view”.

“Our urban spaces were becoming increasingly congested and suggested that distress migration could be prevented by providing livelihood, connectivity, health services, infrastructure and avenues for recreation in rural areas”, he added.

Naidu pointed out that the 3 ‘D’s, Demography, Demand and Democracy, are making the India of today outshine other countries in the world and added that he had full faith in the vision and capabilities of India’s youth who make up 65% of the country’s population.

The awards were given in two major categories, Outstanding Innovative Team Award and Outstanding Teacher Award for mentoring students’ project, for degree and diploma students including students from AICTE approved Community College. The competition had entries from 1600 teams from across the country with contribution of nearly 1700 girl students across all teams.

The Vice President congratulated the AICTE’s endeavour to catalyse rural development in association with the ECI and ISTE.

He said, “The AICTE –SAGY Initiative award will definitely inspire all the higher educational institutions in the country who wish to participate in Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. Excellence should be our goal- our Mantra. We owe it to the billion dreams that propel our country forward to be a global leader in all respect”.