shrishtee 2011

the annual magazine by the civil engineering society, nit silchar

Simplicity is the rule of the divine!

Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance.

Dr Ar Dykes

Directors Message
It is indeed a pleasure to learn that the Civil Engineering Society of NIT Silchar is going to publish the third edition of its branch magazine SHRISHTEE. This initiative by the Civil engineering Society to publish its magazine regularly is laudable. After the resounding success of its inaugural edition, SHRISHTEE team has brought out another polished edition of the only branch magazine of NIT Silchar. I am sure the magazine will go a long way to promote a better academic environment and harness the talents and abilities of the students of our college. A vibrant academic atmosphere is a prerequisite for promoting a culture of research, scholarship and excellence and the magazine will provide a forum for all students to harness their talents and skills. The initiative will also provide a learning experience for everyone who is associated with the magazine. The mission of this institute is to produce quality manpower, equipped with human and social values required to integrate excellent technical skill, social character, leadership, creativity and innovation for the benefit of mankind and sustainable development of India and to promote research in emerging disciplines and I hope this magazine will help our institute to reach this target. I convey my best wishes to the entire SHRISHTEE team and the Civil Engineering Society. Undoubtedly, the magazine will go a long way in promoting a better academic environment and provide an impetus to scholarly pursuits in the department as well as the Institute as a whole.

Dr. (Prof.) P.K.Bose Director, NIT Silchar

Message from the Dean, Students Welfare

I am very pleased to learn that the Civil Engineering Society of NIT Silchar it going to publish the third edition of its branch magazine SHRiSHTEE. The student fraternity of NIT Silchar is tremendously talented and possesses a lot of intellectual ability. I am sure that the magazine will provide the students with a much needed platform to show their literary skills thus allowing them to tap their potential. They will be able to convey their knowledge and mind through this magazine. I convey my best wishes to Team SHRiSHTEE and CES for success. Undoubtedly, the magazine will leave an everlasting impression in the mind of readers and it will create a better environment for reading and writing and will help them become competent professionals.

Prof. A. K. Sil Dean (SW) NIT Silchar

Message from the HOD

I am indeed delighted to host the third edition of SHRiSHTEE, the annual magazine released by our very own Civil Engineering Society, CES.This magazine not only provides a platter to showcase the literary talents of the student fraternity of our department but also of the entire talent pool of the college. It helps in showcasing our concern for the society as a whole and also our awareness regarding the latest technological developments. The zeal and the endeavour that TEAM SHRiSHTEE 2011 took to publish this magazine must be appreciated and I am sure that the experience that they have gathered now will prove to be an asset for them. I wish them great success.

Dr. (Prof.) D.N. Bhattacharjee HOD, Civil Engineering NIT Silchar

Conveners Message
It is my great pleasure to find that my beloved students have brought out the third edition of our departmental magazine, SHRiSHTEE this year.This pioneering project was started in 2009 and it impresses me how much we have travelled since then. SHRiSHTEE has come a long way and has grown from strength to strength in terms of content, publication quality and editorial standards. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the General Secretary, all office bearers, Chief Editor of SHRiSHTEE and the entire team for their untiring efforts in publishing the inaugural magazine. Wishing CES and Team SHRiSHTEE bigger successes in future and hope we will achieve even grander goals in future.

Parthajit Roy (Asst. Professor) Convenor Civil Engineering Society

GENERAL SECRETARY SPEAKS

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. Harold Wilson What is a tripod? A three-legged or three-footed stand, stool, table, or utensil. Each leg dependent on the other two. Two legs dependent on the third too. If one falls, the whole thing falls. Each important, very much. Motivate, Experiment, Create the three legs of the tripod on which I tried to stand to plan out the events and govern the proceedings of the Civil Engineering Society (CES) as its General Secretary. And as I said before, each of them were equally important, inter-dependent. Lets see how. For anything to grow and flourish, more so an organization, motivated individuals are required to be a part of it. The main distinctive feature of the CES team this time was this motivation thing. Not only did we motivate, we were ourselves motivated throughout the year, thinking all year how we can help our CES reach new heights. Motivation lead to experimentation. Yes, we experimented. And we are proud of the fact that we were brave enough to try new things, try changing the existing equations. We chose to experiment, so much that CES can claim to be the most active organization, albeit unregistered, on campus. Starting from MISSION 2015, the flagship program which helps and encourages students to take up internships at respectable organizations and institutes, and pursue higher studies, to the INSPIRE Lecture Series under which we organised five seminars throughout the academic calendar, the CES 2011 journey has been very eventful, and we thank the students community of NIT, Silchar for their encouraging response. Now we come to the CREATE part of CES in the last one year. CES now can proudly claim to be first branch to have its own website: www.cesnitsilchar. org. Not only that, it has its own blogging site: www.cesnitsilchar.wordpress.com for all students keen to get their ideas and feats published. CES can also claim to have opened a club under its aegis this year namely the GradSchool Club (www.gradschoolclub.cesnitsilchar.org) in an effort to help students prepare for exams like CAT, GRE and GMAT. We also came up with the first yearbook of NIT, Silchar CES SUPERSTARS for which we got an amazing response. And now this 3rd edition of our branch magazine, SHRiSHTEE. As always, we tried to experiment, and have incorporated many visible changes, starting from the content to the design of this magazine. I sincerely hope that the readers of this magazine appreciate the efforts of my CES team. We can design and create. We can do anything that we dream about. But it takes a dedicated team to make the dream a reality. I would take this opportunity to sincerely thank my team members especially Manabendra Saharia, MISSION 2015 coordinator and Editor of SHRiSHTEE 2011, who was not only of great help but he was also someone who shared my vision. I would also like to thank Debahuti Chakraborty, our Marketing Coordinator, who was always there

to provide encouragement and advice when needed, and also helped in getting funds from different organizations. Souvik Sarkar, our Class Representative, was of a great help to us for the Yearbook as also Mantosh Pandey, our Executive member, who worked closely with the Devil! I can never thank P. Roy sir, our convener, and Pallab Das sir enough for their help and suggestions. Dear Sirs, I really hope that the future CES teams get the same help from you. Thank you! Seniors play a major role for us being the way we are. Rahul Bagaria bhaiya, Jyoti Kumar bhaiya and Ajay Dayal Mali bhaiya all CES General Secretary of their own times deserve special mention. CES is where it is for the outstanding work that you people did. We thank you all. Some juniors need special mention here. The first name that comes to my mind is that of Deepmoy Thakuria (ECE, Class of 2012). Despite the fact that he was not of our branch, he helped us in ways that we cannot thank him enough. Samujjal Das of 2nd year, our CES rock icon who rocked the freshers party stage this time around, also deserves a special mention. Nikhil Pasari, Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Ankit Singh and Shashank of 1st year also did some amazing job. Thanks to Shashank Mathur (CSE, Class of 2012) and Gaurav Parwani (CSE, Class of 2013) who took the pains of designing our website. Thank you Sudipta Dibakar Borah (CSE, Class of 2012) for designing the yearbook and helping me design SHRiSHTEE. You are a star! Thanks to each and every one of my batch mates. All of you have been amazing in these four years. May you all continue to live life in style, on your own terms the way you have done so far! Last but not the least, special thanks to our Training and Placement guys, Harish Borah and Idris Jeelani. You people worked hard for all of us, and how well you worked! Thank you! Hope every one of us has an amazing life ahead! Just a last minute advice to my lovely juniors, especially the newly elected CES team, in the words of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, our late Prime Minister: There are two types of people in the world, one who works and the other who takes credit. Try to be in the first category as there is less competition there. Thats all, folks! Enjoy the show! ;-) Amartya Dey CE Class of 2011

EDITORIAL
SHRiSHTEE was a pioneering concept launched three years ago that started a new era in NIT Silchar and is the first and only departmental magazine of NIT Silchar. By virtue of the hardwork and vision of our seniors, delivering this edition has been a relatively easy task. However, it is not to say that we didnt face hurdles like lack of designers in the department to the slow response of article submissions, but thanks to the efforts of the entire team, we had the privilege of witnessing the output of months of our hardwork. Till now, every successive administration of CES has attempted to do something innovative and this year was no different. We took a lot of new initiatives like a Lecture Series, GradSchool Club for aspirants of higher studies and a yearbook for the passing out batch. The magazine has been revitalised with stronger emphasis on technical articles and information that will be invaluable for shaping the career of students. We hope these initiatives will continue to serve the purpose of improving the academic and overall atmosphere of NIT Silchar in general and our department in particular. The work of the new administration for 2011-12 will be crucial to the sustenance of these initiatives and maintaining the reputation of CES as the most active, innovative and effective society of NIT Silchar. Finally, no big or small project is complete without acknowledging the people who have contributed to its success. Like previous years, Mr. Parthajit Roy, our patron faculty member, has continued to provide steadfast support to all our initiatives and immense faith on us that has not only boosted our confidence but encouraged us to experiment with initiatives that have never been tried before. Heartfelt thanks to the editorial, design and marketing team and everyone else who have contributed in some way or other, not only to SHRiSHTEE but to CES as a whole. Lastly, a special thanks to the General Secretary, Amartya Dey, for his exemplary leadership and vision that hopefully will continue to inspire the future administrations to take grander initiatives to serve the student community. Any suggestion and feedback is more than welcome. Manabendra Saharia CE Class of 2011

SECTIONS
1: The World Around Us - Now, Before & Ever 2: Civil Engineering Marvels 3: cutting edge research in civil engineering 4: Koffee With Professor Sarada K Sarma 5: Internships and Training Experiences 6: Career Blues 7: Vox Populi 8: CES Flashback 9: Clicks! N.B.: Contents are for lazy people. Page numbers, more so. Explore!

SECTION1

THE WORLD AROUND US - NOW, BEFORE & EVER

INDIANS CONQUER THE WORLD SCRIPT THEMSELVES INTO HISTORY

Biswabijoy Dutta Choudhury Alumnus, NIT Silchar It was not about eleven men winning a cricket match for India, but rather it was a story of ELEVEN WARRIORS doing their job for the country and 1.2 billion Indians praying for them. Our generation has not witnessed India winning Independence, but certainly yesterdays winning moment will be the one of the most prized moment of our lives and we will continue to cherish the memories of that particular moment for the remaining part of our lives. The way Team India outmanoeuvred and outsmarted the Sri Lankans yesterday to win the 2011 Cricket World Cup has taken Indian Cricket to new heights and has once again proved that Cricket is the Nations Greatest Unifier. The Men in Blue have proved that they are not only Men of skill and talent who can be admired but more importantly Men of Character who can be trusted during times of intense pressure. They say winning is not everything but certainly yesterday the Men in Blue showed that Winning is the Only Thing they had in their minds. And yet again they proved that Teamwork indeed makes the Dream work. They say a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Having said that, Team Indias weak link has been its bowling and that weakness has been exposed and exploited by strong batting oppositions time and again over the past few years. To add to the bowling worries, the biggest blow to Team India came when Praveen Kumar was ruled of the World Cup because of injury problems. So it was left to a trusted veteran called Zaheer Khan who bravely shouldered the majority of the responsibilities by coming up with excellent bowling spells and picking up crucial wickets at regular intervals throughout the tournament with the help of a well disguised slower delivery that he has perfectly mastered over a period of time. And finally, the most feared and strongest batting line up of the world lived up to its reputation when it mattered the most. With the two big guns gone within the first ten overs, Gambhir displayed amazing footwork against the Lankan spinners and took the challenge to them and was ably supported at the other end by Kohli who showed great maturity and temperament till he was dismissed by Dilshan.

Skipper Dhoni could not have chosen a better time to emerge from the shadows and rise to the occasion with an innings of a lifetime. The way he negotiated the lethal yorkers from Malinga and paced his innings to guide India to victory was a treat to watch indeed. Thereby he has proved that he is not only a great captain, but also a true leader. More than anything else, this World Cup has been a personal triumph for Yuvraj Singh who has risen like a phoenix to silence his critics with his exceptional batting and bowling performances consistently throughout the competition and has proved that he is indeed a true match winner for India. The momentous occasion was the best possible tribute to the God of Indian Cricket, destinys child Sachin Tendulkar who has finally lived his biggest dream and celebrated the proudest moment of his life yesterday evening. And finally one cannot but be sad to realize that the man who has inculcated this sense of self-belief and confidence amongst the Indian Cricketers has reached the end of his tenure with the Indian cricket team. Gary Kirsten will surely be remembered as one of the greatest coaches to have coached the Indian Cricket team for years together. Kudos to Team India again for showing exceptional commitment and perseverance and for bringing glory to the nation through this incredible achievement. Well Done Dhonis Devils!!You have made the nation proud!

A Management Lesson!
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long? The crow answered, Sur, why not! So the rabbit sat in the groundbelow the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Lesson learnt?
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

CENSUS: SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

Indias population as per 2011 census is more than 121 crores (1210 Million or 1.21 billion), an increase of 181 million in the last 10 years. The population comprising 623.7 million males and 586.5 million females is almost equal to the combined population of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together. The percentage growth in 2001-11 was 17.64 males 17.19 and females 18.12. Indias population accounts for 17.5 per cent of the worlds. The highest population density is in Delhis northeast district (37,346 persons per sq km) followed by Chandigarh while the lowest is in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh (just one person per sq km). The most populous state in India is Uttar Pradesh followed by Maharashtra. The combined population of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra is larger than that of the population of the United States of America. The North Eastern State Nagaland has the lowest population as per the Indian Census 2011. The overall sex ratio nationwide has increased by seven percentage points to 940 against 933 in Census 2001. This is the highest sex ratio at the national level since Census 1971 and a shade lower than 1961. Three major States Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Gujarat have shown a decline in sex ratio as compared to Census 2001. However, the area of grave concern is the child sex ratio in 2011 is which 914 female against 1,000 male the lowest since Independence. It showed a continuing preference for male children to females in the last decade. As per the census 2011 report and data analysis, literates constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent. The literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 per cent. The census also shows that female literacy is higher than male literacy in India. Reflecting on the literacy figures announced in the 2011 census, Union Minister for Human Resource Development and Telecom Kapil Sibal said that India was on the cusp of achieveing full literacy., and that it was a sign of transformation one that would provide the backbone of double-digit GDP growth.

GENERAL NOTES:
1.The figures for India and Manipur, include by sex, the estimated population, 0-6 population and literates of Paomata, Mao Maram and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur for Census 2001 and 2011. 2.For working out density of India and the State of Jammu & Kashmir, the entire area and population of those portions of Jammu & Kashmir which under illegal occupation of Pakistan and China have not been taken into account. 3.For Census 2011, the population of Others has been clubbed with the Males for working out population, 0-6 population, literates and related rates and ratios.

4.In working out decadal variation and percentage variation for 1941-1951 & 1951-1961 of India and Nagaland State, the population of Tuensang District for 1951 (7,025) & the population of Tuensang (83,501) & Mon (50,774) districts for 1961 Census have not been taken into account as the area was censused for the first time in 1951 and the same are not comparable. 5.The 1981 Census could not be held owing to disturbed conditions prevailing in Assam. Hence the population figures for 1981 of Assam have been worked out by Interpolation. 6.The 1991 Census was not held in Jammu & Kashmir. Hence the population figures for 1991 of Jammu & Kashmir have been worked out by Interpolation. 7.The distribution of population of Pondicherry (Puducherry) by sex for 1901 (246,354), and 1931 (258,628) and 1941 (285,011) is not available. The figures of India for these years are, therefore, exclusive of these population figures sof ar as distribution by sex is concerned. 8.Arunachal Pradesh was censused for the first time in 1961. 9.In 1951, Tuensang was censused for the first time for 129.5 sq.kms. of areas only. In 1961 censused areas of Tuensang District of Nagaland was increased to 5356.1 sq.kms. 10.Due to non-availability of census data the figures for the decades, from 190151 have been estimated for the districts of Kohima,Phek, Wokha, Zunheboto, and Mokokchung of Nagaland. Estimation however could not be done for Tuensang and Mon as they were not fully censused before prior to 1961. 11.As the sex break-up for the districts of Sheopur, Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Datia, Shivpuri, Guna, Ratlam, Ujjain, Shajapur, Dewas, Jhabua, Dhar, Indore, West Nimar (Khargone), Barwani, Rajgarh, Bhopal, Sehore and Raisen is not available for the year 1901, figures for males and females have been estimated for the year 1901 for Madhya Pradesh. 12.One village Ramtapur (code No. 217 and 101 in 1951 and 1961 respectively) of Jukkal circle of Degulur taluka which was transferred under the state Reorganisation Act, 1956 from Maharashtra to Andhra Pradesh, still continues in the Nanded district of Maharashtra. The population of this village has, however, been adjusted in Nizamabad district for the year 1901-51.

KNOW THY CENSUS LOGO

BOFORS SCANDAL
Location: India time: In the 1980s, under the tenure of the then prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi accUSeD: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Ottavio Quattrocchi and several others accUSeD for: Receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer ScaLe of the ScanDaL: Rs.400 million reveaLeD throUgh: Investigative journalism by Chitra Subramaniam and N. Ram of the newspapers, The Indian
Express and The Hindu.

reSULt: Defeat of the ruling Indian National Congress party in the November 1989 general elections

Know him:
Ottavio Quattrocchi
Italian businessman who represented the petrochemicals firm Snamprogetti. Middleman associated with the scandal. Close to the family of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Powerful broker in the 1980s between big businesses and the Indian government. Detained in Argentina on the basis of the Interpol warrant on the 6th of February, 2007. The Indian investigating agency CBI came under attack for putting up a half-hearted effort towards his extradition and India lost the case for his extradition in June 2007, the judge remarking that India did not even present proper legal documents. Embarrassingly, India was asked to pay Ottavios legal expenses.

ADARSH SCAM
Location: Maharashtra, India time: Year 2010-11 accUSeD: 13 retired Army officials and bureaucrats of the Maharashtra government accUSeD for:
Fraudulent activities: 1. The land which houses the controversial 31-storey Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society belongs to the Maharashtra government, RTI activists have revealed that the Army had been in de facto possession of the 6,490-sq meter prime land for over 60 years before the Adarsh Society high-rise came up there in 2003. 2. The society, originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and war widows, was converted into a 100-metre-tall building. 3. The high-rise was built subject to the condition that it would house war veterans, but now has 103 members. 4. According to the present market rate in the Colaba area, an average two-to three-bedroom-hall-kitchen (BHK) flat in Adarsh society could cost between Rs 6 crore and Rs 8.5 crore. However, members of the society paid Rs 60-85 lakh for each flat. 5. The Western Naval Command had objected to the construction of the society as it also violates the stringent Mumbai Coastal Regulation Zone norms.

DeveLoPmentS:

The CBI is already investigating how the prime land in Mumbai, which was marked for Kargil war widows and war veterans, was given to VIPs instead. The CBI enquiry was sought by the present Army chief to clear the names of defence service officers allegedly implicated in it. Defence Minister A K Antony had to agree to the CBI enquiry. Most of the files pertaining to the scam are now in CBIs possession. The Union environment ministry has also raised a red flag, saying it did not grant clearance to the society. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has scrapped the occupation certificate in the wake of the controversy. Subsequently, Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply & Undertaking has disconnected power supply to the society. Members plan to approach the court of law against these actions.

OUTLINING THE PLOT OF ANARCHISM BY A POTENTIAL ANARCHIST

Amartya Dey CE Class of 2011 [Here, I am trying to present you the anarchist philosophy backed by people like Leo Tolstoy and William Thoreau. To some of you, this philosophy might come off as far-fetched and unrealistic but after going through this article, I am sure you cannot deny the fact that this philosophy undoubtedly points out the existing shortcomings of the state, capitalism and religion, and that there is a lot of truth in their criticism.] Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others. Edward Abbey. Political philosophies abound. Political philosophies are normally about topics like law, rights, justice and other blah blah. They are normally about the enforcement of a legal code by authority. They are about government. They are about state and its mechanism giving insight to the various aspects of its origin, its institution and laws. But the anarchist philosophy is different. Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of imposed social hierarchy, including the state and Capitalism. These philosophies use anarchy to mean a society based on voluntary cooperation of free individuals. Philosophical anarchist thought does not advocate chaos or anomie it intends anarchy to refer to a manner of human relations that is intentionally established and maintained. It is about the obliteration of law, the obliteration of the state. It considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Anarchists seek to diminish or even abolish authority in the conduct of human relations. In short, the anarchist philosophy belongs to the antiauthoritarian school. The scope of anarchism is diverse and broad. Various schools of thought exist under this. Anarchist schools of thought can differ fundamentally, supporting anything from extreme individualism to complete collectivism. Like on one side, we have Proudhon who was a revolutionary, on the other side, we also have someone like William Goldwin who was an anarchist too but believed that the evils of society were going to disappear only with the rise of rational enlightenment and who was also of the view that revolutionary parties were no remedy against oppression as they themselves were equally tyrannical. Anarchists stand for the decentralisation of democracy. As Alan Coren said, they believe that, Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after theyve told you what you think it is you want to hear. They believe in the circumscription of the power of the Government. They stand for liberty and freedom, but are opposed to privileges and authority. They believe that power corrupts those who wield it as much as those who are forced to obey it. Some become greedy and ambitious tyrants, while others are turned into abject slaves.

All anarchists are hostile to nationalism! It might come as a shock/surprise to most but this is partly due to the fact that nationalism brought in its wake the glorification of a centralised state. Also, according to them, the demagogues use the concept of NATIONALISM to reach to the people and exploit their sentiments to reach power-positions and/or even rationalize the reasons behind going to a war, and also getting them to take active participation in the war-efforts, etc. According to them, Nationalism is an extension of egotism and chauvinism that encompasses an arbitrary set of social norms and biological factors, and promotes them as the only permissible behaviour, culture and biology within a given region of the earth. Nationalism can be based on a strong centralized state, or a non-indigenous tribe of modern racists. Nationalism is an opportunistic way to prey on peoples prejudices and stereotypes and fuse them into a social movement to achieve some goal. Nationalism is sometimes used as a way for working-class people to band together and fight an external invader or internal capitalist class... but even revolutionary nationalism is reactionary and counter-revolutionary: it scapegoats a section of the population based on factors other than class, blaming them for real and imagined flaws. Typical of nationalists is hostility toward internationalism. Internationalism maintains that all workers have common interests, and it is the nation that pits workers against each other and brings war and strife to humanity. Only internationalism will bring an end to racism, dictatorship, human strife, misery, & capitalist neoliberalism. Anarchists detest capitalist civilization. Proudhon (1809-65) pointed out how false values had been created and singers and artists earned more than industrious peasants, and women were judged only by their beauty. He believed that all this happened because of the maldistribution of property. Anarchists are opposed to the institution of private property. Count Michael Bakunin, a Russian anarchist, held private property responsible for all kinds of moral and physical evils. According to him, it brought not only economic dependence for the poor but also superfluous luxury for the rich and laborious toil for the poor. It was also responsible for the spiritual and social immobility. Far from providing a sphere of independence, a society in which all property is private renders the property-less completely dependent on those who own property. This ensures that the exploitation of anothers labour occurs and that some are subjected to the will of others, in direct contradiction to what the defenders of property promise. Private property, therefore, produces a very specific form of authority structure within society, a structure in which a few govern the many during working hours. These relations of production are inherently authoritarian and embody and perpetuate the capitalist class system. For example, the moment a worker enters the factory gate or the office door, he loses all his basic rights as a human being. He has no freedom of speech nor association and no right of assembly. Now suppose if we are asked to ignore our values, our priorities, our judgement, and our dignity, and leave them at the door when we enter our home, we would rightly consider that tyranny yet that is exactly what a worker does during working hours. He has no say in what goes on. He may as well be a horse or a piece of machinery. Anarchists are opposed to the authoritarian nature of organized religion. It means that they are not in opposition to personal faith. Some like Bakunin consider religion responsible for providing a sacred sanction for the perpetuation of many institutions. They consider it to be the hand-maid of the rich people to maintain their stranglehold over the poor. They believe that the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. Thus, the true anarchist attitude to religion is surely to attack not faith but the people who need faith and want to experience illusory happiness. It is similar and comparable to the attitude borne by an anarchist towards politics. Anarchism is not about attacking the obedience or the State but the people who need obedience and the State the will to believe and the will to obey.

Thus, anarchism can be said to be a wild ideal dream seen by individualists. It is the call from a land where no laws are required, where everything is abundant. A land where no one is troubled by any need, calls us all. A society that is so mature that national boundaries would become immaterial beckons us. The whole of humanity would come together in such a system. No competition. No survival-of-the-fittest. Everyone shall be content. A place where there shall be no work because work would be transformed into something more appealing, like into a hobby. Wastage of resources would be avoided. Wars would become a thing of the past. It is apparent that we are not yet ready for such a system. We would need more time maybe a hundred more years or maybe even a thousand. But we shall definitely adopt this system sooner or later. Till then, we wait.

SOURCES:
Recent Political Thought by V.D.Mahajan www.flag.blackened.net www.spunk.org www.anarchism.pageabode.com Wikipedia www.infoshop.org www.socialanarchism.org Anarchism And Other Essays by Emma Goldman www.angelfire.com

Facts!
1. ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) was founded in a coffee shop in London by eight young civil engineers, the youngest was 19. 2. The population in North East London requires the equivalent of 23 Olympic sized swimming pools of water at peak periods, to prevent half a million people running out of water. 3. Each gate at Thames Flood Barrier is a hollow steel-plated structure over 20 metres high, weighing around 3,700 tonnes, equal to 3,500 Mini Coopers. 4. The diagonal trusses on Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai are the same length as a football pitch and weigh the same as 20 double-decker buses. 5. It took machines as long as two football pitches, drilling over 76m a day, three years to drill the tunnel for the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France. Source: www.ice.org.uk

SECTION 2 :: CIVIL ENGINEERING MARVELS

MARVELS OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Salil Awasthi CE Class of 2014 BANDRA WORLI SEA LINK It is the first bridge in India constructed on sea and developed completely by Indian engineers. The 5.6 kilometer (3.5 mile) long bridge joining Mumbais two suburbs BANDRA and WORLI is a true Indian engineering marvel of modern age. It has 8 lanes of which 4 are operational. It took 10 years to complete and its height is 63 times that of Qutub Minar. Steel cables have been used for supporting various bridge structures with length equivalent to total circumference of Earth. It has weight equivalent to 50000 African elephants and reduced journey of 40 minutes to 8 minutes and will help in saving Rs.10 million annually burnt in fuel due to traffic congestion and long route. For more details: www.bandraworlisealink.com DELTA WORKS (NETHERLANDS) It is the worlds largest flood protection project. It was built in Southwest of Netherland between 1950 to 1997 to avoid the sea and consists of dikes, locks, levies, sluices, dams and storm surge of barriers .Its purpose was to decrease the Dutch coastline and to increase the height of dam. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has declared this project as one of the Seven Wonders of Modern World. This Delta Plan consisted of blocking the estuary mouths of the Oosterscelde , the Haringvleit and the Grevelingen which reduced the exposes of the dykes to the sea by nearly 400 miles. For more details: www.deltawerken.com CHANNEL TUNNEL (ENGLAND-FRANCE) It is 50.5 kilometer (31.4 mile) undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in United States Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 feet) deep. It has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world of length 37.9 km (24 mile) and it is the worlds second longest tunnel after Seikan tunnel in Japan (53.85km). The tunnel connects end -to-end with the LGV Nord and High Spee-1 high speed railway lines. Eleven tunnel boring machines, working from both sides of the Channel, cut through chalk marl, to construct two rail tunnels and service tunnel. It took around 20 years for surveying in this project. Tunneling commenced in 1988 , and the tunnel began operation in 1994. In 1985 prices, the total construction expenditures was about 4.65billion pound ( Presently 11 billion pounds). It is one of the biggest marvels of structural engineering in terms of construction, surveying, geological aspects, tunneling and railway designs. ASCE identified the tunnel as one of the Seven wonders of Modern World.

For more details: http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel AKASHI KAIKYO SUSPENSION BRIDGE (JAPAN) It is also called Pearl Bridge, located in Japan and considered as Japans finest engineering feat. Akashi Kaikyo bridge is the worlds longest suspension bridge with a length of 3911 meters (12,831 feet). It acts as a link between the city of Kobe and Iwaya by crossing Akashi strait. The construction was finished in a span of 12 years which actually started in 1986 and completed in 1998. It is designed in such a manner that earthquake and harsh sea currents cannot damage it. The bridge is constructed by using two main cables which stretch between two towers. The road is supported by other two cables which are eventually tied up with main cables. Two large anchor blocks on either end support this gigantic structure, which is built with the help of 2 million workers. For more details: www.engineeringcivil.com PALMS DUBAI ISLANDS (DUBAI) In one of the most astonishing intiatives, Dubai has again started an attempt to redefine civil engineering works. The three artificial islands that make up the Palm(comprising the Palm Jumeiran, the Palm Jebel Ali, and the Palm Deira) are the worlds biggest man made Islands. More than 1 billion cubic meters of dredged sand and stones are used to built each of these. The reclamation of the Palm Jebel Ali includes creation of 4km long peninsula, protected by a 200m wide and 17km long breakwater built around islands.135,000,000 cubic mter of rock, sand and limestone were reclaimed. There are approximately 5,000,000 cubic meter of rocks are used in slope protection. For more details: www.engineeringcivil.com SKYWALK-GLASS BRIDGE Skywalk, commonly known as The Glass Bridge is one of the aspiring projects that demonstrate the unmatched thinking of Civil Engineers. Its construction was started in 2004. It will be suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of Grand Canyon. Its weight will be about 71 million pounds. The bridge will be able to sustain winds in excess of 100miles/hour from 8 different directions, as well as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50miles. More than one million pounds of steel was used in construction of Grand Canyon Sky Walk. For more details: www.engineeringcivil.com ROHTANG TUNNEL (MANALI) As the name suggests ,Rohtang, meaning in Persian, piles of dead bodies, is a dream project of Ministry of Defence, began on 28th January, 2010 in the Pir Panjal range, 51 kms from Manali at an altitude of 3978 meters. It is to be built at an altitude ranging between 3,053 m to 3,080 m. It will have length of about 8.8 kms when completed. Its main characteristic which makes it unique is the combination of its length and altitude because it will be the longest tunnel in world

at such altitude. It is much longer than any other tunnel in the world at an altitude of over 2500 meters. For more details: www.indiacurrentaffairs.com HIRAKUD DAM (ORISSA) It is built across the Mahanadi river, about 15 kms from Sambalpur in Orissa. Built in 1957, the dam is one of the worlds longest earthen dams. It was the first major multipurpose river valley project started in India after Independence in 1948 and it came up as one of the finest marvels of civil engineering in world at that time. It is a composite structure of earth, concrete, and masonry. The main dam has a length of 4.8 kms spanning between two hills; the Lamdungri on left and the Chandilidungri on right. It has a total length of about 26 kms (16 miles) including 21 kms earthen dykes on both left and right sides, and has a a height of about 61 meters. It also forms the biggest artificial lake in Asia, with a reservoir holding 743 Cubic Kilometers at full capacity. For more details: http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirakud_Dam

AmAzing Pieces of structurAl engineering

Structural engineering is the design of structural support systems for buildings, bridges, earthworks, and industrial structures. This branch of engineering focuses on supporting a load safely, and relies on principles of physics and mathematics to design these supports. The work is carried out by structural engineers, though in many areas, the lines between civil and structural engineering are blurred. The tasks involved in structural engineering are varied and complex, but the primary goal is always to develop a support system that will allow the structure to stand safely, and to minimize the risk of collapse. An engineer must account for temperature changes, weather, and many other factors during design, and choose materials that can withstand such elements. He or she must create a structure with just enough deflection and sway to account for natural shifts and expansion without creating danger or discomfort for occupants. Finally, he or she must complete the design and specify materials that fit within the project budge. A few names of great structural pieces are given below and discussed too!

ATOMIUM ( BRUSSELS, BELGIUM )

The Atomium is a monument built for Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair. Designed by Andr Waterkeyn, it is 102-metres (335 ft) tall, with nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of aniron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes which connect the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to the centre enclose escalators connecting the spheres which contain exhibit halls and other public spaces. Three of the four uppermost spheres lack vertical support. The original design called for no supports; the structure was simply to

rest on the spheres. Wind tunnel tests proved that the structure would have toppled in an 80 km/h wind (140 km/h winds have been recorded in Belgium). Support columns were added to achieve enough resistance against overturning. The remarkable asymmetric fingers at each end of the MCJC cantilever up to 15m. The complex horizontal tensile and compressive axial forces generated from each finger are distributed through composite steel deck floors and the steel frame, past services openings to the central slip-formed concrete core. Each cantilevered truss is designed to avoid progressive collapse through moment frame action.

MANCHESTER CIVIL JUSTICE COURT

The MCJC is a medium-rise, steel-framed building, accommodating large clear-span floors but limited structural floor depths. Due to the sensitivity of court rooms, the human vibration response of the floor plates needed to be twice as stringent as the criteria used for a standard office building. MCJC introduced a concrete anti-vibration beam, 600mm x 600mm in section, running perpendicular to the main span of the building. The beam both adds mass and, due to its longitudinal stiffness, increases the floor response area. A prefabricated folded steel plate was developed to act as permanent formwork for the antivibration beam, facilitating easy and safe construction. Traditionally, pre-cast stairs are designed with primary pre-cast planks, incorporating a stair flight and two landings spanning the core. Secondary infill stair flights are supported off the landings. An alternative solution, developed specifically for the MCJC, uses pre-cast panels incorporating a stair flight and a single landing. A great advantage of the system is that all pre-cast units are similar and cast on a standard formwork table, reducing cost and fabrication time. The design of the bespoke atrium columns supporting the west faade required the development of a structural model for the complete 60m x 60m atrium. The atrium features Europes largest hung glass wall, incorporating 6,200 panes covering 11,000m and weighing approximately 1,000t. As the atrium columns are classified as key elements, an innovative solution was developed to support the atrium roof structure in the event of a column failure. Capping plates, through which high-tensile bars were cast into the roof upstand, make it possible to effectively hang the lost column through catenary action so that the roof and faade would remain

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL (LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA)

The auditorium is the finest interior Gehry has ever made. It is constructed of warm Douglas fir and is relatively intimate, with only about twenty-two hundred seats, spread over terraces, balconies, and mezzanines on all sides of the stage. The hall is set within a two-layered plaster box that forms an acoustical shell and soundproofing. The focal point, above the stage, is an enormous pipe organ whose wooden pipe enclosures create a sculpture that looks like a stack of lumber that has just exploded. The ceiling seems to be made of fabric rather than of wood, a gargantuan version of the canopy on a four poster bed. It billows over the hall. The curved wooden walls do not meet the ceiling, and in the space between them one can glimpse white plaster walls behind the wooden forms, washed with light from hidden skylights. The hall appears to float in the larger space.

NATIONAL GRAND THEATRE OF CHINA

It is a curved building, with a total surface area of 149,500 square meters, that emerges like an island at the center of a lake. The titanium shell is in the shape of a super ellipsoid with a maximum span of 213 meters, a minimum span of 144 meters and a height of 46 meters). It is divided in two by a curved glass covering, 100 meters wide at the base. During the day, light flows through the glass roof into the building. At night, the movements within can be seen from outside. The building houses three performance auditoriums a 2,416-seat opera house, a 2,017 seat concert hall and a 1,040 theatre as well as art and exhibition spaces opened to a wide public and integrated into the city. The building is connected to the shore by way of a 60-meter long transparent underpass. More than 4,000 square feet of Birdairs PTFE tensile fabric membrane stretches 30 feet high and 50 feet in diameter to form the architectural equivalent of a butterflys wings. The fabric membrane allows an abundance of natural light to enter the space below where more than 800 free-flying butterflies delight visitors as they wind their way along the gardens paths.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PLAY (ROCHESTER, NEW YORK)

Because of PTFEs translucent daylighting characteristics, significant cost savings are achieved on supplemental interior lighting. In addition, the fabric membrane reduces thermal gradient differences between developed and undeveloped areas of the building -- known as the heat island effect -- minimizing the impact on human and wildlife habitats.

OLYMPIC STADIUM (MONTREAL)

Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m of ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 of an inch) in total thickness. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. The outer wall is based on the WeairePhelan structure, a structure devised from the natural formation of bubbles in soap lather. The complex WeairePhelan pattern was developed by slicing through bubbles in soap foam, resulting in more irregular, organic patterns than foam bubble structures proposed earlier by the scientist Kelvin. Using the WeairePhelan geometry, the Water Cubes exterior cladding is made of 4,000 ETFE bubbles, some as large as 9.14 metres (30.0 ft) across, with seven different sizes for the roof and 15 for the walls.

A MAN IS KNOWN BY THE TOOL HE KEEPS

Total Station
As most of us know, a total station is an optical that combines the Electronic Theodolite (or a transit) and the Electronic Distance Meter (EDM). The software runs on an external computer known as a data collector. Uses: Surveying and Archaeology

Excavator

An engineering vehicle that consists of an articulated arm (boom + stick), bucket and cab mounted on a pivot atop an undercarriage on tracks or wheels. Uses: Digging trenches, holes and foundations.

Trenchers

Machines responsible for digging trenches are called trenchers. Available in different sizes it is applied in construction purposes, agricultural operations and laying of pipes. Uses: Landscaping, Irrigation, Plumbing, Underground utility construction.

Road Rollers

Road roller is an important engineering vehicle that is used for the compaction of dirt, gravel, concrete, and asphalt. In landfill compaction too, road roller has great utility. Uses: Landfill, compaction

Dumper is a small diesel-powered vehicle used to carry loads and materials to the construction sites.

Dumpers

Breakers

Hydraulic breakers are powerful, productive machines used to break a variety of materials. Depending upon the job to be done, the breaker chosen may be light, medium or heavy.

Skyscrapers
Harish Borah CE Class of 2011 There is no precise definition of how many stories or what height makes a building a skyscraper. "I don't think it is how many floors you have. I think it is attitude," architect T. J. Gottesdiener told the Christian Science Monitor. Gottesdiener, a partner in the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, designers of numerous tall buildings including the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, continued, "What is a skyscraper? It is anything that makes you stop, stand, crane your neck back, and look up." Some observers apply the word "skyscraper" to buildings of at least 20 stories. Others reserve the term for structures of at least 50 stories. But it is widely accepted that a skyscraper fits buildings with 100 or more stories. At 102 stories, the Empire State Building's in New York occupied height reaches 1,224 ft (373 m), and its spire, which is the tapered portion atop a building's roof, rises another 230 ft (70 m). Only 25 buildings around the world stand taller than 1,000 ft (300 m), counting their spires, but not the antennas rising above them. The tallest freestanding structure in the world is the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, which rises to a height of 1,815 ft (553 m); constructed to support a television antenna, the tower is not designed for human occupation, except for a restaurant and observation deck perched at 1,100 ft (335 m). The world's tallest occupied structure is the PETRONAS Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which reach a height of 1,483 ft (452 m), including spires. The Sears Tower in Chicago boasts the highest occupied level; the roof of its 110th story stands at 1,453 ft (443 m). In some ways, super-tall buildings are not practical. It is cheaper to build two half-height buildings than one very tall one. Developers must find tenants for huge amounts of space at one location; for example, the Sears Tower encloses 4.5 million square feet (415,000 square meters). On the other hand, developers in crowded cities must make the fullest possible use of limited amounts of available land. Nonetheless, the decision to build a dramatically tall building is usually based not on economics, but on the desire to attract attention and gain prestige.

History
Several technological advances occurred in the late nineteenth century that combined to make skyscraper design and construction possible. Among them were the ability to mass produce steel, the invention of safe and efficient elevators, and the development of improved techniques for measuring and analyzing structural loads and stresses. During the 1920s and 1930s, skyscraper development was further spurred by invention of electric arc welding and fluorescent light bulbs (their bright light allowed people to work farther from windows and generated less heat than incandescent bulbs). Traditionally, the walls of a building supported the structure; the taller the structure, the thicker the walls had to be. A 16-story building constructed in Chicago in

1891 had walls 6 ft (1.8 m) thick at the base. The need for very thick walls was eliminated with the invention of steel-frame construction, in which a rigid steel skeleton supports the buildings weight, and the outer walls are merely hung from the frame almost like curtains. The first building to use this design was the 10story Home Insurance Company Building, which was constructed in Chicago in 1885. The 792-ft (242-m) tall Woolworth Building, erected in New York City in 1913, first combined all of the components of a true skyscraper. Its steel skeleton rose from a foundation supported on concrete pillars that extended down to bedrock (a layer of solid rock strong enough to support the building), its frame was braced to resist expected wind forces, and its high-speed elevators provided both local and express service to its 60 floors. In 1931, the Empire State Building rose in New York City like a 1,250-ft (381-m) exclamation point. It would remain the worlds tallest office building for 41 years. By 2000, only six other buildings in the world would surpass its height.

Raw Materials
Reinforced concrete is one important component of skyscrapers. Concrete is inherently strong under compressive forces; however, the enormous projected weight of the PETRONAS Towers led designers to specify a new type of concrete that was more than twice as strong as usual. This high-strength material was achieved by adding very fine particles to the usual concrete ingredients; the increased surface area of these tiny particles produced a stronger bond. The other primary raw material for skyscraper construction is steel, which is an alloy of iron and carbon. Nearby buildings often limit the amount of space available for construction activity and supply storage, so steel beams of specified sizes and shapes are delivered to the site just as they are needed for placement. An additional layer of insulation, such as fiberglass batting covered with aluminum foil, may then be wrapped around the beams. To maximize the best qualities of concrete and steel, they are often used together in skyscraper construction. For example, a support column may be formed by pouring concrete around a steel beam. A variety of materials are used to cover the skyscrapers frame. Known as cladding, the sheets that form the exterior walls may consist of glass, metals, such as aluminum or stainless steel, or masonry materials, such as granite, marble, or limestone.

Design
Design engineers translate the architects vision of the building into a detailed plan that will be structurally sound and possible to construct. Designing a low-rise building involves creating a structure that will support its own weight (called the dead load) and the weight of the people and furniture that it will contain (the live load). For a skyscraper, the sideways force of wind affects the structure more than the weight of the building and its contents. The designer must ensure that the building will not be toppled by a strong wind, and also that it will not sway enough to cause the occupants physical or emotional discomfort.

Each skyscraper design is unique. Major structural elements that may be used alone or in combination include a steel skeleton hidden behind non-load-bearing curtain walls, a reinforced concrete skeleton that is in-filled with cladding panels to form the exterior walls, a central concrete core (open column) large enough to contain elevator shafts and other mechanical components, and an array of support columns around the perimeter of the building that are connected by horizontal beams to one another and to the core. Because each design is innovative, models of proposed super tall buildings are tested in wind tunnels to determine the effect of high wind on them, and also the effect on surrounding buildings of wind patterns caused by the new building. In addition to the superstructure, designers must also plan appropriate mechanical systems such as elevators that move people quickly and comfortably, air circulation systems, and plumbing.

The Construction Process

Each skyscraper is a unique structure designed to conform to physical constraints imposed by factors like geology and climate, meet the needs of the tenants, and satisfy the aesthetic objectives of the owner and the architect. The construction process for each building is also unique. The following steps give a general idea of the most common construction techniques.

The substructure
Construction usually begins with digging a pit that will hold the foundation. The depth of the pit depends on how far down the bedrock lies and how many basement levels the building will have. To prevent movement of the surrounding soil and to seal out water from around the foundation site, a diaphragm wall may be constructed before the pit is dug. In some cases, bedrock lies close to the surface. The soil on top of the bedrock is removed, and enough of the bedrock surface is removed to form a smooth, level platform on which to construct the buildings foundation. Footings are blasted or drilled in the bedrock. Steel or reinforced concrete columns are placed in the footings. If the bedrock lies very deep, piles (vertical beams) are sunk through the soil until they are embedded in the bedrock. A foundation platform of reinforced concrete is poured on top of the support columns.

The superstructure and core

While the construction of a skyscraper is underway, work on several phases of the structure proceeds simultaneously. For example, by the time the support columns are several stories high, workers begin building floors for the lower stories. As the columns reach higher, the flooring crews move to higher stories, as well, and finishing crews begin working on the lowest levels. Overlapping these phases not only makes the most efficient use of time, but it also ensures that the structure remains stable during construction.

If steel columns and cross-bracing are used in the building, each beam is lifted into place by a crane. Initially, the crane sits on the ground; later it may be positioned on the highest existing level of the steel skeleton itself. Skilled workers either bolt or weld the end of the beam into place (rivets have not been used since the 1950s). The beam is then wrapped with an insulating jacket to keep it from overheating and being weakened in the event of a fire. As an alternative heat-protection measure in some buildings, the steel beams consist of hollow tubes; when the superstructure is completed, the tubes are filled with water, which is circulated continuously throughout the lifetime of the building. Concrete is often used for constructing a buildings core, and it may also be used to construct support columns. A technique called slip forming is commonly used. Wooden forms of the desired shape are attached to a steel frame, which is connected to a climbing jack that grips a vertical rod. Workers prepare a section of reinforcing steel that is taller than the wooden forms. Then they begin pouring concrete into the forms. As the concrete is poured, the climbing jack slowly and continuously raises the formwork. The composition of the concrete mixture and the rate of climbing are coordinated so that the concrete at the lower range of the form has set before the form rises above it. As the process continues, workers extend the reinforcing steel grid that extends above the formwork and add extensions to the vertical rod that the climbing jack grips. In this way, the entire concrete column is built as a continuous vertical element without joints. In a steel-skeleton building, floors are constructed on the layers of horizontal bracing. In other building designs, floors are supported by horizontal steel beams attached to the buildings core and/or support columns. Steel decking (panels of thin, corrugated steel) is laid on the beams and welded in place. A layer of concrete, about 2-4 in (5-10 cm) thick, is poured on the decking to complete the floor.

Quality Control
Various factors are taken into consideration when assuring quality control. Because of the huge scale of skyscrapers, a small positioning error at the base will be magnified when extended to the roof. In addition to normal surveying instruments, unusual devices like global positioning system (GPS) sensors and aircraft bombsights may be used to verify the placement and alignment of structural members. Soil sensors around the building site are used to detect any unexpected earth movement caused by the construction activity.

Byproducts/Waste
Excavation of the foundation pit and the basement levels require the removal of enormous amounts of dirt. When the 110-story World Trade Center towers were built in New York in the early 1970s, more than I million cubic yards (765,000 cubic meters) of soil and rock were removed and dumped in the Hudson River to create 23.5 acres (95,100 square meters) of new land, on which another skyscraper was later constructed.

SECTION 3
CUTTING EGDE RESEARCH IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Sustainable and Affordable Housing Technology and Systems

Housing is one of the most basic needs of human beings and is more than just a shelter or a house. The acquisition of adequate shelter is necessary for all in order to achieve good health, welfare and good quality of life. Provision of adequate shelter for all citizens is recognized by all governments around the world as one of its fundamental responsibilities. In spite of this, housing shortage has been very acute all over the world, more particularly in the developing countries. This article presents various technologies and systems developed at Habitech Center at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand for sustainable and affordable buildings and systems. It also throws light on developing building materials, equipments and techniques used for the construction sector.

HABitecH BuilDing sYstem

Main Benefits of Habitech Building Systems

The Habitech Building System is an inexpensive building system that enables quick erection of buildings and is advantageous over other contemporary and local housing construction practices common in the Asia Pacific region. Reduced Material Wastage because of Prefabricated modular and interlocking components (soil-cement concrete bricks for walls, joists for floors, pans for casting floors, adjustable beams, staircases, rings for sanitary units ,and roofing tiles) Reduced Training & Supervision because construction using the HBS is very simple. The training of persons involved in construction and supervision of buildings during the construction process is not complex and requires little time (one month) in comparison to the training of skilled labor (1-2 years) in conventional construction. Reduced Construction Time: The features of simple and rapid construction make HBS an ideal system for the areas which are hit by natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones etc. since there is always an urgent demand to provide shelter to mass population. The placement of interlocking bricks is a dry process; wall construction is much faster than using wet mortar and there is no need for columns and beams since the walls are reinforced both horizontally and vertically with steel using the cavities of the interlocking bricks. Uses locally available soil/sand and materials to make most of the structural components on-site, thus reducing the need for transport and reliance on material suppliers. The HBS is an inexpensive and quickly erected building system; the cost of which consistently undercuts conventional building systems by as much as 30-50% based on prices of local materials. Ease of Production Facility Set-Up: A typical facility can be setup and produced within 15 days from the date of arrival of the equipment. Similarly, it can be easily dismantled and brought to another site within a week. Production facilities can be located on or Walls using Interlocking Bricks near the project site, eliminating or reducing transportation costs of the finished construction

materials to be used in buildings. Employment Generation: A typical HBS production facility will generate local direct employment for up to 30-40 workers and 100-150 indirect jobs in construction for the project it supplies. Production facilities can become permanent and address local construction markets. Environmentally Friendly and Earth Quake Resistant: The HBS completely eliminates the use of wood in the construction process; limiting the use of wood in the construction itself to doors and window panels. In the production process, the HBS building uses either manpower or clean energy (electrical) and does not contribute to green house or other gaseous effects by burning natural resources into the atmosphere as in the case of the conventional brick production industry.

Services Offered by Habitech

Habitech Center at AIT offers the following services to government organizations, NGOs, housing co-operatives, communities and private groups: Planning of sustainable communities including the infrastructure facilities, public buildings, residential buildings etc. Architectural and planning services for housing projects including site planning, house design and specifications Building material production planning and feasibility studies Research, design, and evaluation of building components, materials, and technology Construction and supervision of the construction of housing projects using the Habitech Building System Supplying complete housing production plant ranging in capacity from one house a week to one house a day through its private sector partners Informing users about new technological developments.

Habitech Laboratory
The technical resources at Habitech are capable of developing a small scale building material industry besides producing the interlocking bricks specific to projects. The technical facilities available at Habitech consist of the building system which consists of the following equipments: Manual Brick Press to produce soil-cement interlocking bricks(200-400bricks per day) Hydraulic Brick Press to produce soil cement or concrete interlocking bricks (Avg. 3000 bricks/day) Hydraulic Testing Press to test compressive strength

Habitech Laboratory

Joist Moulds to produce concrete joists used in floors. (8-16 joists per day depending upon its length) Pan mould to produce concrete pan which is used together with the joists for the floors Micro Concrete Roofing Workstation and Plastic moulds to produce MC Roofing Tiles (200 regular+4 ridge tiles) Door Mould to produce concrete door frames Window Mould to produce concrete Window frames Mechanical Sieve for sieving the soil for producing soil cement bricks Paddle Mixers for mixing the soil and cement Stringer and treads moulds to produce concrete staircase

The components of Habitech Building Systems are: Interlocking Bricks Concrete Joist Micro Concrete Pans Concrete Doors and Window Frames MCR Roofing Tiles Staircase

Partners and Projects of Habitech Habitech Center actively asserts its presence through its activities and local partners in many countries. The basic idea behind developing partnership is to provide Habitech technology and expertise at the grass root level projects from where people and the community as a whole are able to benefit from it. Recent Projects: Knowledge City Police Sub Station; Location: In front of AIT, Pathumthani, Thailand Construction of Primary Schools in Myanmar; Location: Myanmar (Sitagu International Buddhist Association) Child-Friendly Primary Schools for Cyclone Nargis victim Children of Myanmar; Location: Myanmar (UNICEF Myanmar) Post-Nargis Rehabilitation Project; Location: Myanmar (Metta Foundation) Post-Tsunami Rehabilitation Project; Location: Baan Nam Khem village, Phang-nga Province, Thailand (EU Rotary International) Mr. Gyanendra R. Sthapit; Coordinator, Habitech Center; School of Engineering and Technology; Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani-12120, Thailand. Tel: (66-2) 524 5621 Mr. Pabloo Pratim Nath,MBA; B.Tech (Civil Engg, NIT Silchar); Business Consultant, AIT Consulting, Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani-12120. Tel: +66877047782; Email: pabstellsu@gmail.com

Source

Compiled by

new eArtHquAke resistAnt Design coDe :: VirginiA tecH uniVersitY

A project called VT-ACES is under process at Virginia Tech for the enhancement of design criteria for the buildings located in geographical areas where earthquakes are known to occur either rarely or frequently. This research contract is awarded by the National institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Finley Charney, a structural engineering Associate Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, and Mahendra Singh, the Preston Wade Professor of Engineering in the engineering science and mechanics department, are developing new structural systems that are geared to perform optimally during earthquakes. It is said that current building codes are insufficient because buildings designed according to these codes have evolved only to avoid collapse under very large earthquakes. These same buildings, subjected to smaller, more frequent earthquakes, may have excessive damage, as happened during the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake. So the researchers are taking steps to ameliorate the standard building codes. In the future, structural engineers will base their designs on the concepts of Performance Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE), where the objective is to control damage and provide life-safety for any size of earthquake that might occur. Prof. Charney and Singh said they are developing a variety of new structural systems that "will inherently satisfy PBEE standards yet have negligible damage when subjected to frequent earthquakes, acceptable damage from moderate earthquakes, and a low probability of collapse during the rare, severe earthquake To achieve their goal, they are creating four new PBEE compliant systems called: hybrid yielding, standard augmented, advanced augmented, and collapse prevention systems. The researchers said all four new designs have common features; they improve structural integrity by limiting residual deformations, controlling dynamic stability, and minimizing the uncertainty in predicting response. To complete all of this work, Prof. Charney will develop a computer program that will automatically set up and execute all of the structural analysis required for assessing compliance with the next generation of PBEE. This research will definitely leave an imprint for the next generation helping them to fulfill the design criteria in a better way. Parash Sharma CE Class of 2012

green concrete using nAnotecHnologY :: mit

The most widely used man-made material, Concrete, is the, accounts for 5 to 10% of all anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas involved in global warming. But now, researchers at MIT studying the nanostructure of concrete have made a discovery that could lead to lower carbon-dioxide emissions during cement production. They have found that particles just a few nanometers in size are the building blocks of concrete, and that these nanoparticles are arranged in two distinct manners. Their packing arrangement drives the properties of concrete, such as strength, stiffness, and durability. The goal is to formulate a replacement cement that maintains the nanoparticles packing arrangement but can be manufactured with lower carbon-dioxide emissions. They are now planning to change the components

in cement--one idea is to substitute magnesium for calcium--so that it takes less heat to make cement but the resulting nanoparticles still have the same packing arrangement as the calcium-silicate-hydrate nanoparticles. This research is going on under Prof. Franz-Josef Ulm and Prof. Jeffrey Thomas. Visit the Concrete Sustainability Hub website of MIT for further details.

BeAm-column Joint reseArcH :: tHe uniVersitY of AucklAnD

Beam-column joints play a critical role in ensuring reinforced concrete frame structures can resist design forces, particularly those induced by earthquakes. Many researches around the globe have resulted in a better understanding of beam-column joints and they can now be designed with a high degree of confidence in their ability to resist forces. Unfortunately, design rules resulting from this research often result in severe reinforcement congestion in beam-column joints. The aim of recent and ongoing research on beam-column joints at the University of Auckland is to simplify the design and construction of beam-column joints without compromising performance. This research can be divided into two areas. Refinement of design standards to ensure compatibility with new materials and construction techniques Development and testing of methods for constructing precast concrete frames Engineers and the wider public expect structures designed using New Zealand design standards will perform in an acceptable manner when subjected to earthquakes. To ensure the reliability of these standards it is necessary to verify structures built using new materials and/or construction techniques meet the performance levels predicted by these standards. Recent research at The University of Auckland has focussed on the effect of using high strength reinforcement in exterior and interior beam-column joints and (in conjunction with Golden Bay Cement) on the performance of beam-column joints constructed from sustainable concrete. It is popular in New Zealand to precast as much of concrete structures as possible. Precasting often allows faster, cheaper and higher quality construction compared to in-situ construction. A key feature of precast concrete frames is the detail and location of the connections between precast elements. Recent and ongoing research at The University of Auckland is investigating new and improved methods of constructing these connections, using advanced materials and mechanical connections. Parash Sharma CE Class of 2012

trAnsPortAtion mAnAgement sYstems

Navodita Bibhuti CE Class of 2014 A Transportation Management System (TMS) is a software system designed to manage transportation operations. It usually sits between an enterprise level or legacy order processing and warehouse/distribution module. A typical scenario will include both inbound (procurement) and outbound (shipping) orders to be evaluated by the TMS planning module offering the user for reasonableness and are passed along the transportation provider analysis module to select the best mode and least cost provider. Once the provider is selected, the solution typically generates electronic load tendering a track/trace to execute the optimised shipment with the selected carrier, and later to support freight audit and payment (Settlement process). Transportation management systems manage three key process of transportation management:

Planning and Decision Making:

TMS will define the most efficient supports schemes according to given parameters, which have a lower or higher importance according to the user policy: transport costs, shorter lead-time, fewer stops possible to insure quality, flows regrouping coefficient.

Transport follow-up:

TMS will allow following any physical or administrative operation regarding transportation: traceability of transport event by event (Shipping from A, arrival at B, customs clearance, etc.) editing of reception, custom clearance, invoicing and booking documents, sending of transport alerts (delay, accidents, non forecast stops).

Measurement:

TMS have or need to have a logistic KPI reporting function for transport.

REPORT PLANNING BY TMS:

Reduce distribution cost and fleet miles Increase resource utilisation Understand how delivery costs effect the profitability of each customer by knowing the actual cost per stop. Driver manifests, maps, directions, resource utilisation many more reports to help you consistently.

LOAD OPTIMISATION:
Accurate and Quick Load design for multiple route-types, type of route requires different loading patterns. Determine equipment to warehouse bays with capacities, preferences or even empty bays for returned goods. Pre-build orders: Load orders to be picked, built and pre staged throughout the day. Load Design to Reduce Product Breakage: Most breakage occurs within the first 10minutes of a route due to poor packing. Reports: Final load sheet, driver check out, load validation and pick provide you with all of the detailed information you need.

VARIOUS FUNCTIONS OF TMS:

Planning and optimising of terrestrial transport rounds. Management of air and maritime transport Transportation mode and carrier selection Real time vehicle tracking Service quality control Vehicle load and route optimization Transports costs and scheme simulation Shipment batching of orders Cost control per metric- mile; km; weight; cube; pallet.

sustAinABle infrAstructure
Sustainable the name itself suggests the beauty of this topic. It, in broader sense, states the design of new infrastructure and also the re-design, rehabilitation, reuse of existing infrastructure, which is consistent with the principles of urban sustainability and global sustainable development.

COMMON DEFINITION IS:

Development that meets the need of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.

THE DEFINITION ENCOMPASSES:

Making better use of so called waste, water and materials. The redesign of infrastructure in the light of global climate change. The protection of existing infrastructure from environmental degradation E.g.: preservation of historical masonry building.

URBAN SUSTAINABILITY:
A sustainable city is one in which its people and businesses continuously endeavour to improve their natural, built and cultural environments at neighbourhood and regional levels. Sustainable urban development is a process of change in the build environment which fosters economic development while conserving resources and promoting the health of the individual, the community and the ecosystem.

PRINCIPLES:

Minimising the use of non renewable resources. Minimising impacts on the natural environment. Using renewable resources in a sustainable manner. Protecting biodiversity.

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMICS:
Professor Kendys research program aims to develop an economic framework for analyzing the planning and design of civil infrastructure, which is consistent with the principle of urban sustainability and global sustainable development. The research primarily focuses on city infrastructure. It is hoped that the work might eventually contribute towards a means of designing and pricing civil infrastructure in a manner which solves environmental problems such as emission of green house gases, air and water pollution, once the infrastructure is understood with the context of the working of a whole city. This understanding has to be brought back into the civil engineering design. Marlina Gowalla CE Class of 2014

SECTION 4 SARADA K SARMA KOFFEE WITH PROFESSOR

Prof. Sarada Kanta Sarma, B.Tech (Hons) PhD DIC MASCE, grew up in Assam India and studied Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India. Presently he is Professor Emeritus in the prestigious Imperial College, London. In 1973 Dr Sarma introduced the first Sarma Method followed by the second more popular Sarma Method in 1979 for analysing stability of slopes both for use in seismic as well as in static conditions. q: Please brief us on your schooling and life growing up in Assam. Growing up in Assam in my early days was very nice indeed. I studied in Barpeta Government high school and in the Cotton Collegiate School of Gauhati from which I matriculated. I moved from school to school with my father who was headmaster in those schools. Then studied ISC in Cotton College Gauhati before going out of Assam to Kharagpur IIT. In those days, Gauhati (as it was known then) was a town and not a city. Now, I do not recognise Guwahati of my early days. q: You graduated with a B.tech in civil engineering from iit kharagpur and worked for several years as an engineer in umiam dam construction project. would you share some memorable experiences from this part of your life? The time in IIT Kharagpur is very memorable. This was the only IIT then and we had friends from all over India. We celebrated Bihu in the Digha beach. I still remember the scene of sun rise in the morning, which I saw for the first time in my life then. The life was hard work and also fun with friends. I had time for sports, played volley ball and chess and cards. The time in Barapani was different from college days. There was responsibility with the job which I took seriously. We, meaning the new engineers, did hard work then. q: in 1964, you came to imperial college in london to pursue doctoral studies focussing on areas of geotechnical earthquake engineering and engineering seismology. what led to your decision to shift from industry to academia and how was your experience as a doctoral student there? is there any specific reason for choosing Earthquake Engineering as your area of specialisation? I come from an academic family and I decided at a very early age that I will study in a foreign land and become an academic. I had encouragement from my parents and family in this respect. I like teaching and research. I was fortunate in the sense that I had a very good supervisor for my research and therefore the experience was very good indeed. He was the reason why I decided to stay on at Imperial College after achieving the PhD degree. My thesis was computer oriented and we had to write our own programs and there was no help for the programming when we made mistakes. Now-a-days, it is completely different. Programs are ready and students run these programs to get results. The fact that I actually felt the big earthquake of 1950 and the fact that I worked on the earth dam in the Umium project led me to choose the research topic and the field of specialisation. q: After your doctoral studies, you joined the staff of imperial college in 1967 and retired in 2004 after a long and successful career in teaching and research. what were some of the highlights during this period? The first highlight is receiving the BGS prize for the paper from my doctoral thesis. The main thing about working in Imperial College is the independence. I was

happy and was able to produce some remarkable seminal papers. There was no one looking over your shoulders. I enjoyed teaching, mainly to the postgraduate students on the subject of my specialisation. I enjoyed guiding students in their research and I believe the students liked me. That is a feeling worth very much. q: what is the status of your current association with imperial college? I have the status of an Emeritus Reader and a Senior Research Fellow. I still teach some post graduate courses. But once my last doctoral student has finished, I have decided not to take on any more research student. It is too demanding a job. I of course carry on with my own research. q: engineering education in india has undergone some massive overhauls in the past few years with introduction of several new iits/nits and increasing funding for r&D projects. As a person who has studied in an elite institute of india and working in imperial college, what is your opinion on present system of engineering education here? what should the system be improved to produce better engineers for industry and Academia? This is a difficult question for me to answer. The top Engineering Colleges in India are as good as any in the world. The students are bright. I do not know about the style of teaching though, whether the students are allowed to think for themselves or are they spoon-fed. I have come across Indian students, some very bright, were able to cope for themselves and some unable to think about new concepts. Because we are active in research in the college, we try to teach students these new concepts all the time and the students benefit. If the teachers become inactive in research, then the teachers are unable to impart new knowledge and in turn they become boring in the class. Q: As a researcher, you are widely known in the scientific community for your first Sarma Method (proposed in 1973) followed by the second more popular Sarma Method (1979) for analysing the seismic stability of earth dams and slopes. Can you explain it in brief for our general readership? This is not something that can be explained to general readership. There are many methods that are used to analyse stability of slopes, based on limiting equilibrium technique. These methods use simplifying assumptions to arrive at an answer but with some associated problem. My first method followed similar technique but the assumptions were made in such a way that the associated problems were removed. The second method took the idea further, the assumptions getting nearer the truth. The use of the seismic parameter made the solution simpler to arrive at. This was a by product of the method. More recent publications take the second method even further. q: During these years, you have been closely involved with various research, academic and govt. organisations of india and you have served as a consultant/Visiting Professor to many of them. Please highlight some of your collaborative work in your field. As a visiting academic, mostly I presented short courses relating to seismic hazard studies and design analysis of earth and rock fill dams against earthquakes including the Sarma methods. As a consultant to UNESCO, I did the seismic analysis of Barabudur Temple complex in Indonesia for preservation purposes. In the same capacity, I helped in the establishment of the Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering in Skopje, Yugoslavia, presently called the FYR of Macedonia, which suffered a devastating earthquake in 1963. I was consulted by the US Corps of Engineers to study the effects of earthquakes on existing earth dams. As a consultant to Engineering Firms of international repute, I have studied seismic hazard of many sites and analysed many earth dams internationally. I have assisted in the seismic design of Mangla dam and Kalabagh dam in Pakistan, Mornos dam and Evinos dam in Greece, Benutan dam in Fizi, to name a few.

The list is big to go into detail. I have done collaborative research with the National Technical University of Athens, University of Wollongong in Australia, University of Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, to name but a few. q: You are aware of the massive controversy that is currently surrounding the ne mega dam projects. there are concerns that this would lead to great loss of life and property as has been recently noticed in china and would adversely affect the lives of thousands of people living downstream. what is your opinion of this issue as an expert in this field? To answer this question, we have to ask ourselves- do we need electricity? The answer is yes in order to prosper in the world. The second question is how can we generate electricity to the amount that we need as soon as possible. We need to generate electricity in an environmentally friendly way. This includes the safety of life and property of all people. Mega dams, to use the hydro power, by itself is not a bad option compared to burning Fossil Fuel, which generates green house gases and it has a limited source or nuclear power which is even more dangerous. Wind energy is cleanest if we can harvest it cheaply, which at this moment it is not. Since a dam stores huge amount of water, a failure of such a structure will cause catastrophe in the down stream area of the dam. Leaving aside the environmental issues in the upstream of the dam, let us think of the downstream side. As an engineer, can we say that we can design a dam never to fail in a seismic region? The earthquakes are unpredictable events. Whatever seismic load we design for, there remains a possibility that a bigger event than the design one can always happen and therefore, the structure may fail. What we try to design for is that the effect of such a failure is minimised. Since failure remains a possibility, the down stream region must be protected against such a situation. Therefore, such a project needs a holistic approach. We reduce the probability of failure from the design earthquake but cater for the probability of failure at the same time. The design earthquake itself is a problematic decision. We rely on past earthquakes to make an estimate of the future on a statistical basis. However, statistics based on scant data is almost meaningless. People talk about reservoir induced earthquakes. There is no doubt that reservoir induces earthquakes. Reservoir water may increase the stress on the causative faults and reduce the strength of the material in the fault, thereby causing earthquakes. Without the reservoir, the same earthquake would have happened in a far future time. This is meaningful in regions where, without such reservoirs, the earthquakes are small, few and far between. In a highly seismic region, it is almost impossible to say, whether an earthquake is reservoir induced or not. Even without the reservoir, such an earthquake would have happened, which may not be at the time it happened but in near future. Therefore design parameters would have considered such an event automatically. Q: Being a specialist in Earthquake Engineering, could you please tell us more about the career prospects in this field for a young student of Civil Engineering? Earthquake engineering including Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering is much in demand within Civil Engineering. This is a more demanding subject, needing good grasps of dynamics, properties of materials with dynamic loads and these are over and above of the statics involved. It also requires a good knowledge of seismology and statistics. There are many areas where we deal with simplifying assumptions still and therefore have scopes for improvements. q: it is indeed an honour for entire ne that you have reached great heights of success and the peak of your career in a foreign land. what lessons can you share from your other roles and past experiences? some words of encouragement Thank you for your kind words. Whatever success I have achieved, it is through hard work. No one has batted for me at any time. I would say this to everyone that hard work is essential in whatever field you choose. Do not expect anyone to help you to progress. If someone does, then it is your good fortune.

SECTION 5EXPERIENCES INTERNSHIPS & TRAINING

A summer in iit roorkee

Manabendra Saharia CE Class of 2011 The summer in 2010 (after 6th semester), I got the wonderful opportunity to work in Department of Water Resources Development and Management (For the umpteenth time: Civil Engg is not buildings alone!) of IIT Roorkee on a Summer Internship. Before leaving, I had heard loads about the awesome Civil Engineering fraternity of IITR - Formerly Thomason College of Civil Engineering. And I wasnt disappointed one-bit. It has separate departments for many specializations of Civil Engineering: Earthquake, Water Resource, Hydrology, Alternate hydro and Earth Sciences! But first, let me take you through how I landed up there because IITR wasnt actually my original destination.

How I got in
IIT Roorkee wasnt my first choice as I had received confirmation of an Internship in the Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering of IIT Bombay. Naturally, I was very excited and had already drawn up a big shopping list too (Come on guys, its Mumbai) along with some advance prep for the project! But as it turned out towards the fag end of my 6th semester, my guide received a fellowship from US and he would have to leave midway through my project. As such, he wouldnt be available for the whole two months and suggested that I explore other opportunities. My heart almost plummeted in despair and it looked like I was going to spend another summer in IITG (After 2-3 stints in IITG, I was looking forward to working in a fresh environment with new people). But every problem presents with itself unique opportunities. I had very little time and started applying again. Thats when I applied to Prof. Sharad K. Jain, NEEPCO Chair Professor of Dept of WRDM, and to my utter surprise he replied! To be frank, I never expected him to reply an Intern mail; being a busy, well-known and widely-respected Scientist in the field of Water Resources (With more than 200 pubs, half a dozen books and numerous book chapters) and was formerly the Director of National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee. However the projects I was working on with Dr. Rajib Bhattacharjya (IITG), Prof. Parthasarathi Choudhury (NITS) and Mr. Parthajit Roy (NITS) was very close to Prof. Jains interests. Looking back, thats probably why he accepted my request. I jumped at this sudden stroke of luck and immediately accepted the offer

The road to IITR

Before leaving for Roorkee, I had many preconceived notions about the place including a filthy hot summer and potted roads everywhere. But was I prepared for what I saw! Uttarakhand is by far the most beautiful state in the North Zone I had seen. Roads were smooth, people were friendly, weather was moderate, the gushing cold water of Ganga flowing through a canal in Roorkee I fell in love at first sight! To my surprise, Roorkee was a tiny little place with very ambient surroundings, even smaller than Silchar! I reported to the Guest House of National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee on 29th May, 2009 where my room was booked by my guide and as he was out of station till 30th, I had two whole days to myself to unwind and discover the campus. The campus is well equipped with good sporting facilities, imposing library and a general sense of calm prevailed which suited me. I found many peculiar things though A huge majority of

the signs were in Hindi alone (Not even bilingual!) which is surprising as well as undesirable because IITs are supposed to be International Institutes. In fact, on the first night I got lost on campus.

My first meeting with Guide

I am putting this as a separate heading because it was a meeting that is etched in my mind. I was totally in awe of him because I had never even heard his voice on phone (Yes, from my application to his accepting it, everything happened only through Email). I had heard very highly of him from other Professors I had worked with. But the first thing that struck me was how amazingly humble the person is! Here, I was a petty undergraduate and he could have easily turned my Intern request down, but not only he accepted, but encouraged me at every step of my work. He gave me a very warm welcome and made sure I had no problems adjusting to the local environment, especially food.

My Projects
My stay duration was for a little over a month there which severely impaired my ability to carry out as much work as I would have liked, thanks to my Institutes infinite wisdom for having a summer break of only 2 months when IITs and most NITs give a break of 3 months. Nevertheless, I was simultaneously involved in two projects: One in collaboration with Dr. Vijay Kumar (Scientist, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee) and other one guided by Prof. Jain alone. The projects were related to Climate Change, Hydrologic Forecasting and Artificial Neural Networks. I got my own cubicle and mostly worked half-day though I didnt receive any specific work hours, which worked great for me as I am most productive in my work at night.

Last day of IITR

How can I not mention this day? The day before my departure, my Guide invited me to his house for a sumptuous lunch. I met his wonderful family who gave me a very cordial reception. And the food was awesome! It was more than a month I had tasted a home-cooked meal and the roti-dominated cuisine of Roorkee made sure I lost 5 kgs in a month. I couldnt but feel indebted to Prof. Jain who went out of his way to make sure I didnt have to worry about anything else but my work I expected him to send me to work under some PhD student, but not only did he guide me for the entire duration including meeting me twice a day, he never forgot to ask me how my stay was going or if the food was suiting my requirements. As such, I would highly recommend IIT Roorkee to all my Civil Engineering Juniors for spending an academically fruitful as well as a very enjoyable summer. You will discover things there that will not only broaden your horizons about Engineering but can also explore a lot of places with Haridwar 2 hours way and Mussourie 5 hours. The work culture is great and if you are planning for Higher Studies (MS/PhD/M.Tech) or just want to know your subject better, a summer in IITR can be the best springboard if used properly.

Tryst with a PSU after the 2

Debahuti Chakraborty CE Class of 2011

ND

Year

Time elapsed from the day of setting foot on this Institute to the day of understanding the fact that the feeling of cessation of a remarkable journey in a college is a grievous one. It is not a mere transition but a complex amalgamation of diversified feelings enriched with wide experiences and coupled with the taste of the technological world. During this college life, a few opportunities of conjoining the theoretical perceptions with practical glimpses were captured and here I would share one of those many experiences probably the most significant of them all - that enriched my life in more than one way. That significantly enriching part of my engineering life actually took place only after the completion of 2nd year. After delving deep into and considering the varied options along their respective aspects available for training, I tried to get into a place that would help to utilize my vacation fruitfully and decided upon one of the most prestigious PSUs, Engineers India Limited(EIL). The benefit of opting for this organization could be felt during the last couple of months when I sat for the campus recruitment process.EIL holds the crown for bringing many globally recognized companies into existence including Indian Oil and such other PSUs. I would like to add here that EIL is a company which not only makes the designs and plans for a project of its own but also implements those designs in site. I was asked to report at the EIL site office located inside the Indian Oil Corporation Limited(IOCL) Bongaigaon refinery on 25th May,2009.The training started on 25th May itself continuing up to 12th June at a note that seemed to go higher with every passing day, totally absorbing me and demanding more attention. During that very short span of training, in sync with my inquisitiveness towards the various conspicuously running units of the refinery, every day I was taken to the different functional units that structured he humongous mechanism existing in the refinery. During my training period, Bongaigaon refinery was having one of its most vital units constructed - the DHDT (Diesel Hydro Treatment) unit. I still believe that I was more than lucky to have seen that significant phase of construction. The site exposure also enabled me to have a look on the construction of units like Sulphur Recovery Unit(SRU),Raw Water Reservoir, Cooling Tower and also The Main Control Room. For the first time I got acquainted with various joints which are used in construction like separation joints, contraction joints, expansion joints et al. I also got to know about under-water concreting, grouting in equipment foundations, difference between design mix and nominal mix, star column, bracings, earth filling and many more. I could not but marvel at the control room which had the unique feature of having false floor that provided passage for underground cables and wires. The whole work-force there took immense interest in explaining and demonstrating even the minutest construction details and methodologies relevant to the subjects I had studied. Starting from the construction of a Pipe Way Bridge, Pipe Sleepers, Cable Trenches, Fabrication unit to the DHDT plant, all brought a wave of enthusiasm, as I could correlate with the practical applicability and veracity because of some shred of theoretical knowledge that was in me then. In this very short period of my experience with EIL, I must mention that I really liked the way I, who was just a trainee and 2nd year B.Tech student then, was treated. I am sincerely thankful to Mr.B.K.Sonowal Sir (Resident Construction Manager, EIL) for giving me the opportunity to undergo my summer training with the EIL group. EIL would always, definitely, hold a special position for me.

KOLKATA DIARIESFEWN How to enJoY Your summer trAining?

The clouds were the darkest and the grimmest that day. Everyone was in a sense of hurry but nobody could move. The people were aghast and confused. It was ready to engulf and plunge humanity into fear. Though we all are eagerly - Dont worry! I am not suicidal! - waiting for the doomsday 21st December, 2012, it was a trailer on 24th May, 2010. It was the day when the tropical storm Laila was hovering along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Amidst all these, were the six morons from different parts of India, united in NIT Silchar. As usual, the train from Guwahati reached Howrah a few hours late on that day. Still, we had enough time to go out of the station and seek shelter in a lodge or hotel. But to our surprise, nothing was available at that point of time. Every hotel booked. Every room in every lodge in Kolkata booked! Drenched in the rain, we were all helpless. Now here comes the opportunity to introduce the first member of our group - Amartya. As they say A friend in need is a friend indeed. And so we saw Amartyas childhood friend who is in Kolkata. Just a call and we could here his friend cursing Why am I the last of all the options that you tried, you fool! Now come here fast with your friends! Werent we all relieved! Only a few are blessed with such a friend. On the very first day in Kolkata, we could experience the taste of the yellow taxies and the awful traffic. We reached to our temporary abode the flat of Amartyas friend. The hosts were very friendly and easy going. But, when it came to cooking for six plus two equal to eight young men, every one of us raised their hands. But the master chef among one of us was ready to steal the show with his stellar performance. It was none other than our very own Bijoy. The millions of mosquitoes of the locality could not dither us from helping him prepare the awesome dinner. Next day, we headed for our mission. We were in Kolkata for our summer training in one of the most reputed real estate companies - Shapoorji Pallonji Company Ltd. We were given two options as sites for training, one was the Eden Gardens where renovation work was going on and the other was a mass housing project in Rajarhat. Obviously, we chose the first one but perhaps we were not destined to meet Sourav Dada and we were put in the mass housing project. We shifted to a flat hired by the company and we were given a long room consisting of 6 beds. Meanwhile, we were joined by one more member of our group Souvik, who turned out to be a great help to us as he was more familiar with the streets and rules of Kolkata. On the first day of our training, we were very much excited as it was our first formal site visit. The project manager was a tall and friendly man. He guided us very passionately. But, he made it very clear not to wear six pocket trousers and rainbow colored t-shirts; instead to have some formal attire. After the lesson on safety at site, we were given helmets to wear. It was one of the proudest moments of our life. Soon came the lunch time and we were served nice Bengali food. The habit of bunking classes back in college had made us very lazy and we were not adapted to working continuously. No doubt, we were troubled very much. But, there was one of us who could make us burst into laughter at any situation with his jokes and he is Sanjib Paul our very dear Button!

QIHTHE

We reached our flat at 8 in the evening all exhausted. We had such a sound sleep on that night that even the dreams did not dare to disturb us. The next day was not going to be the same. After all, we are engineers, and we are never short of ideas. On the next day, it took only an hour to find an escape route. After learning some technical things and having lunch, we quietly slipped out of the site! No one can imagine how much elated we were! We had so much time to explore Kolkata. The place where we were staying was rightly named VIP colony as it contained many malls and showrooms (and bars too!). We used to roam about the streets in search of some Tina, Riya or Khuku, but the thing that appealed to us the most was the misty and doi along the roadside, not to forget the Maachher Jhol. At day-time, the scorching heat of Kolkata could not refrain us from visiting the world famous places such as Kalighat, Dakhineshwar, Victoria Palace, and Science City etc. Our stay in Kolkata perfectly coincided with two great events that every Kolkata nibasi eagerly waits for. First was the municipal election. In Kolkata, it is not unusual to have a big election rallies comprising of only five audiences (rofl). It is made possible by installing a large number of loud speakers and shouting even louder in shrill voice. And the second event was the FIFA world cup. In India, Kolkata is probably the best place to be during football world cup. It was an experience of life time to be among the football frenzy people and getting involved in heated discussions of these most non-violent violent people. Coming back to the training part, the mass housing project was really a mammoth one. We got the opportunity to meet many engineers and supervisors, all very friendly. The only harsh thing was taking the stairs up to the top of 14-storey buildings. But, there were two of the members of our group who could perfectly balance work and fun. Let me introduce you to Tribhuvan Rawat and Pawan Das the former always posing perfectly in front of the camera as if he was posing for some cement advertisement and the other suddenly turning health freak and becoming a regular gym visitor. The summer training in Shapoorji Pallonji is a never to forget experience for us. For the first time we got the chance to apply our theoretical knowledge into practice. But, apart from technical things we embraced the work culture. Training gives a good platform to learn labor and time management in a civil engineering project. As every story demands a conclusion, a successful training demands a training report. At first, none of us was paying any heed to this fact, but soon we realized its importance. With the help of the project manager and with our mastery in taking inspiration from our seniors reports, we could prepare a nice and concise training report. The project manager et al was quite impressed with our effort. An opportunity grabbed many opportunities created; so we didnt miss the opportunity to call the company for placements in our college. Mission was accomplished. The D day came when we received our training certificates. It was the time for us to say goodbye to Kolkata. So, all seven of us Amartya, Bijoy, Souvik, Sanjib, Rawat and Pawan headed for home, cherishing in our minds the wonderful time that we spent together in Kolkata. (Wondering about the name of the seventh member? No prizes for guessing.) Mantosh Kumar Pandey CE Class of 2011

iisc research internship my experience in 2009

IISc Bangalore is always envisaged as an epitome of learning; churning the so-called best brains of India. As a part of the college curriculum, I was selected as a research intern in the Electrical and Communication Dept., IISc Bangalore for a period of two months (June-July 2009). I worked in the field of wireless communication as a part of DRDO-IISc Joint Mathematical Program. The icing on the top was a two-month stipend waiting for me at the end of the project. Life never seemed so beautiful to me. A big scoop of black current in the Baskin-Robbins just outside the Bangalore airport greeted me; and I devoured it whole-heartedly. The year 1999 was when I visited the city last; and 10 years hence, zealous was the city in greeting me. Boarded a cab to Lalbagh, I committed myself I would make this summer a memorable one. A research opportunity at IISc was perhaps the best thing I could have in my entire academic career. I worked in a research group comprising a few M.S. students who were pursuing their full-time courses at IISc. It was Performance Analysis Lab aka PAL Lab (as the local guys used to call it) and I was working and analyzing in different methods in improving the performance of IEEE 802.11 WLAN. The lab had a very congenial atmosphere for research. The lab members were encouraged to work in teams of two/three which according to me increased the productivity and induced a sense of accountability. Original and innovative ideas were greatly appreciated. All the possible support was extended to pursue such ideas. People in the lab were highly spirited and always available for discussions on research related queries, and at times. In the lab, everyone was a few years senior to me and that was a big help because I spent most of the two months clarifying a number of doubts I had. My Prof was very pleasant to me and spared time while he could. Never was I made to feel inferior. Seeing his humble and down-to-earth attitude, I pondered how we guys bask in our past glories and contemplate ourselves as the King Ozymandias of Egypt. Perhaps, people tend to become modest and self-effacing as they start picturing in their minds eye the zenith of their success. I enjoyed every bit of time out there. The whole ambience of IISc seemed to instil in me a positive vibe in my psychological, philosophical, physiological and of courses my academic life. In short, I was happy! Despite some unexpected health problems, I stuck to my simple things and renewed my research activities at IISc and eventually completed the project. I felt that although, I did not create a big project there, I came out of there with a far better idea of what research life is likely to be. I conquered finally!!! PS: For those interested in pursuing summer internships at IISc Bangalore, a piece of information-IISc Bangalore invites internship applications through JNCASR or IAS at the institute level. This article was written by Soumyabrata Dev (ECE Class of 2010, NIT Silchar) on his Internship experience in IISc in 2009. Currently he is a Graduate Engineer Trainee in Ericsson. CES thanks him for writing this article as a part of our MISSION 2015 initiative and hopes that more and more students from NIT Silchar will take an active interest in Undergraduate Research.

training at ircon during summer

I joined IRCON International Limited for my summer training wherein I trained for 4 weeks. This company belongs to Ministry of Railways, India, which has one of its offices in Srinagar, J&K. I preferred to do my training there in Srinagar, J&K mainly because its my home place and also because of the good profile that IRCON has. The construction site was near to Srinagar. It is known as the Budgam yard and is a railway station yard. A lot of construction was going on in this yard. On my first day in site, I was very much excited because it felt like I was working in this company as an employee. I first interacted with my trainer under whom I did my training. He was a pass out student of NIT Silchar. He was quite happy on hearing that I belonged to the same institute, and I really felt that it was nice piece of luck to get an alumnus to train you.He took me to the site and showed me the many constructions that were going on in the yard. They were constructing foot over bridge, over which the public can go from one platform to another, water treatment plant, road in the yard, and the same time, they were also making the railway tracks. I came to know about a machine by the name of UNIMAT which is used to make the proper alignment of the track, level it and keeping the two rails in proper position. Also railway station buildings, station quarters for the employees and other people were constructed and diesel motor unit shed was also being constructed which is mainly used for the light and heavy repairment of trains. In the yard, one of the railway track lines is known as the washing line which is used for the washing and cleaning of trains. After going round the site, my trainer also used to discuss things such as drawings, layouts, and other site related things with me. I feel that the successful training depends on the interest of trainee and the trainer as well. A trainee has to show his interest in his training otherwise his trainer cant teach him properly and he has to be sincere enough and then only can he know the things properly and know about the underlying mechanisms and processes involved. I showed my interest with the result that my trainer used to extract his knowledge and teach me properly. I had to spend 6 to 7 hours in site, watching the constructions carefully. I realized that though the nature of site job is difficult but still it can be very much interesting. A civil engineer can learn a lot of things there which he cant learn from the theory subjects and books. The only pre-condition is that a civil engineer has to prepare himself before he goes for site job. He has to bear the heat and other atmospheric conditions in the very site. He has to fine tune his mental make properly, but who doesnt have to! In the transition from student life to job life, each of us has to fine tune our mental make so that we can enjoy that life too. Aamir Farooq Kutay CE Class of 2011

INTERNSHIP DESTINATIONS
Summer and winter breaks are the time when you have the opportunity to learn more about the world beyond classrooms. Its the most crucial period of your four years of UG studies because a good intern can land you a job, a GradSchool admit or a direction to what you intend to do in future. And more importantly, its the only way you can apply the knowledge you have gathered in class and add different skillsets to your expertise. You can go for training in a reputed company (handled by the TNP Cell), pursue a project in a research institution like the IITs/CSIR labs or work in NIT Silchar itself if you find a willing faculty member. Below are some of the names we have collected of different places where you can try your luck. All students are specially requested to apply in the organised programs as they are the most prestigious intern programs in our country and getting it massively help your career, regardless of whether you join industry or research.

Destinations for Research internships

Organized Programs
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. SURGE Programme, IIT Kanpur. IITD Summer Research Fellowship IAS Summer Fellowship JNSCAR Summer Fellowship IITB Summer Research Fellowship TIFR Fellowship National Remote Sensing Centre, Dehradun. IITM Summer Fellowships IISc Summer Fellowships.

Academic Departments
1. 2. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Guwahati Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Roorkee

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Dept. of Civil Engg., IISc Bangalore Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Bombay Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Madras Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Kanpur Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Delhi Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Kharagpur Dept. of Hydrology, IIT Roorkee Dept. of Water Resources Development & Management, IIT Roorkee Dept. of Earth Sciences, IIT Roorkee Dept. Earth Sciences, IIT Bombay Dept. of Ocean Engg., IIT Madras Dept. of Earthquake Engg., IIT Roorkee Environmental Engg and Mngmnt., IIT Kanpur Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, IIT Kharagpur School of Water Resources, Jadavpur University Dept. of Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences, IIT Kharagpur Dept. of Ocean Engg and Naval Architecture, IIT Kharagpur Alternate Hydro-Energy Centre, IIT Roorkee

CSIR Research Labs

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee. Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi. National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur. National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi. Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai. Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat. National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee.

Research Labs/Centres
1. Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun. National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO. Space and Atmospheric Research Science Division Physical Research Lab, Ahmedabad. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune. Tata Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi. Centre of IT in Building Science, IIIT-Hyderabad. Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, IIIT-Hyderabad. Lab for Spatial Sciences, IIIT-Hyderabad. National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Andhra Pradesh. Space Applications Centre, ISRO. Space Applications Centre, Shillong

Industry Internships
ITD Cementation/ BHEL/ Shapoorji Pallonji Co. & Ltd./ NTPC/ Bhusan Steel/ IOCL/ Gammon INDIA/ NHPC/ Kothari & Association/ CBRI/ Ahluwalia Contracts/ OIL/ THDC INDIA Ltd./ CMERI/ L&T ECC/ HPCL/ ASEB/ RRL/ NRL/ BMTPC/ NCC/ EPIL (NIT Silchar students have interned here. You may explore places outside this list also)

SECTION 6 CAREER BLUES

construction Planning and management

A construction manager is known by various other profile names - constructor, construction superintendent, general superintendent, production manager, project manager, general construction manager, executive construction manager, general contractor, contractor and subcontractor are some of them. The job profile of a construction manager may require him to be available 24x7, to deal with the n number of factors that can create problems at a construction site. A construction manager may be self-employed, or working on a payroll for some construction company.

Areas:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Construction administration Asset management Object-oriented specifications Field data collection and analysis Machine control using global positioning systems Sustainable development Design-build / alternative contracting (Shane & Strong) Engineering management and decision-making (Strong) Cost estimation and cost management (Shane) Risk (Strong & Shane) Project management (Shane & Strong)

Career prospects:

Construction/Project managers have limitless employment opportunities both in public and private sector infrastructure development companies. Public sector air port, highways and port development institutions and government departments like railways and defence are among the top employers. Project managers also find favourable employment options in power, energy, telecommunication and IT companies. They also can work with real estate developers. Small companies may hire project/construction managers for proper management of their projects. Experienced project managers also can work independently as consultants. They also can work with consultancy firms dealing with building and construction matter.

Institutes Offering Courses:

National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR), Pune The Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Delhi, Guwahati.

n.B.: For advice and guidance regarding career opportunities in these areas, contact Dr. A. I. Laskar or Dr. Mokaddes Ali Ahmed

geographic information systems/remote sensing

Geographical Information System (GIS) is an upcoming field concerned with generating, maintaining and utilising geographical and cartographic data in the best possible way. The growing awareness about its applications has thrown open a large number of jobs for GIS professionals in civil engineering and construction firms as also the fields of mining, defence, forest research, oil and mineral exploration. As a GIS professional you can work as an analyst/ consultant/ manager/ developer/ trainer/ map developer and technician. Many public and private companies employ professionals with experience in GIS technology at different levels. There is also a huge demand by power companies to monitor and analyse the electricity load. The experience will make you a specialist in this booming niche field. Some institutes offering courses/Summer Trainings and Projects in the same are 1. Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun 2. All IITs and IISc have a remote sensing/GIS lab. 3. Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in the Asia Pacific region (CSSTE- AP), Dehra Dun where training is provided in Remote Sensing, GIS, Satellite Meterology and Global Climate, Atmospheric science, Satellite Communication and Space Sciences. 4. Allahabad University 5. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad; 6. BIT, Ranchi n.B.: We also have a GIS lab in NIT Silchar under Prof. Parthasarathi Choudhury where you can get valuable experience in these areas. Please contact him if you are willing to pursue MS/M.Tech/PhD in this and related fields like Hydrology and Hydrometeorology. Durgesh Singh CE Class of 2013

intelligent transportation systems

ITS refers to transportation systems which apply emerging hard and soft information systems technologies to address and alleviate transportation congestion problems. For example, using advanced surveillance systems, the early stages of a traffic bottleneck situation can be detected, and traffic can then be directed to other routes to mitigate the congestion and to provide faster and more efficient routes for travellers. New technologies enable this type of surveillance and guidance response to occur in real time, and therefore, to allow potential congestion situations to be addressed before they develop into serious traffic jams.

Labs in India: 1. 2. 3. CiSTUP(Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable transport and Urban Planning), IISc. All IITs (Look for Professors with Transportation Specialisation). Central Road Research Institute, Delhi

International lab with lot of Info on their website: 1. MIT Intelligent Transportation Research Centre.

n.B.: In our College, Dr. Pabitra Rajbongshi has specialised in Transportation Engineering. If you need advice and direction on how to make a career in this field and if you are interested in pursuing higher studies in some area of Transportation Engg, contact him.

geoenvironmental/geotechnical engineering
GEE is a interdisciplinary branch of CE which brings together the expertise of Geotechnical Engineers, Environmental Engineers, Hydrogeologists, Earth Scientists, Geochemists, Hydrologists, Biologists, and Ecologists, amongst others. GeoEnvironmental engineers are involved in a wide range of activities, including contaminated land management, hydrogeology, water resource management, geochemical analysis, groundwater and surface water contamination fate and transport prediction, environmental impact assessment, environmental risk assessment, and habitat management. GeoEnvironmental engineers frequently work in multidisciplinary project teams. After graduating, GE Engineers join engineering consultants, where they work in multidisciplinary teams undertaking a wide range of geoenvironmental monitoring, geoenvironmental engineering, and geoenvironmental management activities. Labs: 1. 2. All IITs. (Look for Professors with a background of Geotechnical) Lots of labs worldwide including in Iowa State University and University of Colorado, Boulder.

n.B.: In NITS, Prof. A.K.Dey and Mrs. Nirmali Borthakur maam has a specialisation in Geotechnical Engg/Foundation Engg. (Not necessarily in GEE). Please contact them for advice regarding a career in this and related fields.

Sub-Specialisations
Civil Engineering is the oldest and largest branch of Engineering and there is are literally hundreds to specialisations. Below we have listed a large number of sub-specialisations in Civil Engineering which will help you to narrow down your interests for pursuing higher studies (M.Tech/MS/PhD).

1.
a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h.

Coastal & Ocean Engineering

Hydrodynamics, Turbulence & Sediment Transport Dredging Technology Beach Nourishment Coastal Structures Hydromechanics Wave Dynamics Fluid-Structure Interaction Remote Sensing

2.
a. b. c. d. e.

Construction Engineering & Management

Project Management Process Modeling Stochastic Simulation Service-Life Prediction and Life-Cycle Costing Information Technologies

3.
a. b. c. d. e.

Environmental Engineering
Hazardous Wastes/Remediation Natural Environmental System Water/Wastewater Environmental Management Subsurface Contaminant Transport

4.
a. b. c.

Geotechnical Engineering
Soil Mechanics Numerical Modeling Scour

d. e.

Expansive Soils Soil-structure Interaction

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Aquatic Biology Aquatic Chemistry Chemical Oceanography Coastal Oceanography Geochemistry Hydrodynamics Marine Ecology Ocean Acoustics Plankton Ecology Operations Research Earthquake Engineering Engineering Geology Environmental Chemistry Computer Aided Engineering Construction Planning & Management

5.
a. b. c. d. e. f. g.

Materials Engineering
Asphaltic & Concrete Pavement Recycled Materials Construction Materials Pavement Evaluation Corrosion Within Structures Nondestructive Testing Fracture & Damage Mechanics

6.
a. b. c. d. e. f. g.

Structural Engineering
Seismic & Wind Performance Damage Detection Fatigue & Fracture Vibration & Control Risk & Reliability Offshore Structures Preservation of Historic Structures

7.
a. b. c. d. e. a. b. c. d. e. f.

Transportation Engineering
Planning & Modeling Traffic Management/ Control Highway Capacity Intelligent Systems Geometric Design

8.

Water Resources Engineering

Water Resources Planning & Management Hydrology Hydraulics Remote Sensing/GIS Sustainability Hydrometeorology

some releVAnt ciVil engineering softwAres

Many students and people outside the Civil Engineering community have a misconception that Civil Engineering is a low-tech branch. Mostly this can be attributed to ignorance and lack of proper branding of our community. Worldwide, Civil Engineers are engaged in cutting edge work that is contributing to the betterment of humanity. Today, much of the work that was done manually earlier has been replaced by software suites. (Eg. Manual digitisation has been replaced by remote sensing). In most workplaces, design firms and research institutions, you will need to be proficient in several of these softwares depending on your work profile. The best way to learn them are on your own, a professional or working on a live project under a faculty member. (Avoid coaching institutions as far as possible.)

Structural Engineering Softwares

(Analysis and Design)

1. AutoCAD
It is a CAD (Computer Aided Design or Computer Aided Drafting) software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting.

2. STAADPro
A software suite addressing all the production needs of the structural engineering office.

3. Structural Analysis Program (SAP)

An integrated structural design & analysis software package.

4. ANSYS
A tool for all types of advanced Civil / Structural Engineering analysis (linear, non-linear, static and dynamic) and design.

5. ABAQUS
A finite element program designed for advanced, nonlinear continuum and structural analysis.

6. ETABS

A suite of linear & nonlinear static & dynamic analysis & design of building systems. (Recommended: STAADPro/ANSYS/SAP)

GIS/Remote Sensing 1. ArcGIS

It a scalable system of software for geographic data creation, management, integration, analysis, and dissemination for every organization, from an individual to a globally distributed network of people.

2. GRASS GIS
Open Source GIS

3. ERDAS Imagine
Used throughout the entire mapping community (GIS, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, and image compression).

4. ILWIS
(Integrated Land and Water Information System) Integrates image, vector and thematic data.

Hydrology/Hydraulics 1. HEC - HMS / HEC - RAS 2. MIKE-SHE

Advanced integrated hydrological modeling system. It simulates water flow in the entire land based phase of the hydrological cycle from rainfall to river flow.

3. Watershed Modeling System (WMS v8.2)

The comprehensive hydrology modeling package

4. MODFLOW
This program is used by hydrogeologists to simulate the flow of groundwater

5. Fluent
For Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Construction Management 1. Primavera

Primavera Contractor is an affordable solution specifically built for Contractors that makes scheduling, reporting and progress planning simple.

Transportation Engineering 1. TransCADGIS software product for transportation and public transport application. Programming Languages/Environments
1. C/C++ 2. Fortran 3. Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) 4. SPSS 5. MS-Excel (Advanced capabilities) (Please try be fluent in atleast one of the programming programming languages during the course of your projects, specially if you are going for MS/M.Tech/PhD. Learn on your own using internet and other resources)

Another Management Lesson!

A turkey was chatting with a bull. I would love to be able to get to the top of the tree, sighed the turkey, but I havent got the energy. Well, why dont you nibble on some of my droppings? replied the bull. They are packed with nutrients. The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally, after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Lesson learnt?
Bullshit might get you to the top, but it wont keep you there.

orgAnisAtionAl tools for engineers

Manabendra Saharia CE Class of 2011 msaharia@live.com Over the years, the education scenario has changed from dusty books in libraries to todays era of OpenCourseWare and Smart Tools. As an Engineer, we are supposed to be at the forefront of technology and keep abreast of all tools that can help us do our work in smarter way. I use most of the tools mentioned below in my daily life and they have made my life a whole lot better. While there is no set way to organise as different people have different organisational paradigms, I hope atleast few of them will work for you.

Online Tools
LASTPASS
How many times have you lost passwords to your Email accounts and the million websites you had registered for? Install this add-on for Firefox or Chrome and remain future-proof of a situation where you lose some important document or communication. You never have to remember passwords again.

SCRAPBOOK

Once in a while you will come across an important article that you would really like to read but dont have time. Use this add-on for Firefox to save WebPages that you can read later. This is especially useful because many a times websites are taken down and you maynt have access to that article at a later date.

XMarks

If you are a voracious reader or do any productive work on the net, you will very soon collect hundreds of links of websites and pages that you would never want to lose. Have you wondered what will happen if your PC suddenly crashes? Use Xmarks add-on and stay worry-free. It basically syncs all your Bookmarks to the cloud as well as multiple browsers.

Habits
Bookmarking
If you are one of those students who have NEVER bookmarked a single link on your browser, then yosu are probably not reading enough or not doing it effi-

ciently! Bookmarking and categorising them into folders is a very important skill that will help you to not only learn more but also keep important links for future reference. DONT trust your brain. Its worse than you think. (Atleast mine is).

Google Reader

You read news & blogs online by the same old way of opening a dozen tabs in Firefox? Use Google Reader where you can subscribe RSS Feeds (The orange button on websites). You will never have to open news websites & blogs again & this way you will never miss any!

Backup

Dont blame anyone when you lose your old school photos, favourite songs or important documents everytime the hard drive of your PC gets fried. With memory becoming very cheap, buy an external hard drive and back up your things there. Or if you have access to fast net, backup online to DropBox, Box.net or SkyDrive. You will get anything from 2 to 25 GB free.

Personal Branding
Weebly/Google Sites
Its no longer enough in todays world that you work hard. You must put equal importance on efficient communication. Get yourself a free website on one of these sites and host your CV online along with other details. You simple and you dont need any designing experience. It will not only help you immensely when applying for Projects or Graduate Studies but also help you to keep track of your learning during your B.Tech career. As you gather more experience and skills through trainings and projects, keep your online CV updated.

Facebook Profile

Its not a place to put the pictures of your drunken state and your strategic finger! And if you do, atleast make sure you dont invite your boss to your friend list (Or people you dont know). It may seem trivial today but 10 years from now, when you are up for a big promotion to a position of responsibility, your wild nights may become fodder for your opponent.

LinkedIn Profile

The No. 1 thing you should realise Its not Facebook! So Hey buddy isnt an appropriate introduction there. Please keep all your social networking profiles updated. This gives a good impression of you and also makes life easier for a person who might be a lot of use to you and is desperately trying to contact you\

Research Tools
Google Scholar/Microsoft Academic Research
Find research papers online in your area of interest.

Mendeley/Zotero

Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. It helps immensely while writing project reports or papers.

Organisational Tools
A notepad and a pen.
Classic and perfect.

Stickies on your desktop (computer or physical)

Use Sticky Notes/ Remember The Milk program and keep a running to-do list for each task. The most important things go at the top, and stickies are deleted as tasks are done. You can also use actual Post-It notes, on your physical desktop, in the same manner. Analog or digital, it works well.

One Note (Microsoft Office)

This must be the one of the most awesome and least known products of Microsoft Office. Just take a swing and you will know why. You can sync them online with your Live/Hotmail Account. Try them out and see which of them work for you.

Aspects and scope :: enVironmentAl engineering

Vibusshana Ellango CE Class of 2014 Environmental Engineering is a unique accredited engineering branch which fields for characterizing, managing and restoring the impacts of mankind on our planet. It integrates the sustainable development philosophy into the principles of water management and treatment, solid waste management, remediation of surface water and groundwater systems, biotechnology, and contaminant transport. Waste management is the least of the priorities in any industry, and open water bodies are the usual destinations for liquid and solid wastes generated in the process of manufacturing. Industrial emissions are not the only contributors to air pollution; motor vehicles running on adulterated fuel, old engines and low maintenance add their share to the increasing level of gaseous pollutants in the air. Government agencies that manage sewerage and garbage still lack the expertise to process solid and waste water wastes effectively. Likewise, the lack of regulation in using chemical fertilizers for agriculture and the continued use of even banned substances have resulted in long-term damage of humungous proportions. Environmental engineers are concerned with local and worldwide environmental issues. They study and attempt to minimize the effects of acid rain, global warming, automobile emissions, and ozone depletion. Using the principles of biology and chemistry, they develop solutions to such environmental problems which include water and air pollution control, recycling, waste disposal, and public health issues. Environmental engineers conduct hazardous-waste management studies in which they evaluate the significance of the hazard, offer analysis on treatment and containment, and develop regulations to prevent mishaps. They design municipal water supply and industrial wastewater treatment systems, conduct research on proposed environmental projects, analyze scientific data, and perform quality control checks. They also are involved in the protection of wildlife.New understanding of the critical needs of environmental protection created a rapidly growing industry in environmental clean-up and technology management. Expansion of this industry has resulted in an emerging market for highly skilled engineering professionals and has placed new demands on engineers to understand the fundamental environmental transformation processes that describe natural and engineered system. Many environmental engineers work as consultants, helping their clients to comply with regulations and to clean up hazardous sites.

Where do Environmental Engineers Work?

Industrial Sector
Environmental engineers work at two levels in industry. When an industrial project is initiated, an approval from a governmental regulatory agency is required. A specialist in environmental engineering assesses the consequences the facility will have on the existing physical environment in the context of ecological balance, biodiversity, wasteland management and the preservation of natural resources, and makes recommendations if any on altering the planned development to minimize the impact. At the more intensive level, industrial establishments require the services of an environmental engineer to assess on a continuous basis, the impact of the manufacturing processes on the immediate environment and waste management, and implement better processes.

Research & Development

With the increase in public awareness about the environment, there is tremendous scope for research and development in the context of design of better tools, processes and practices that can be used to tackle the problem of environmental pollution and degradation at several levels. Various universities, governmental organizations and environment management companies offer scope for intensive R&D. Some of these R&D labs are even called in to study, test, assess and certify environmental conditions.

Recycling & Waste Management

Its only in the last decade or so that companies offering services in recycling and waste management have set up shop to meet the requirements of industry, government and the public. These companies employ environmental engineers not only to provide advice but also to design and implement processes for the purpose.

Social Development

Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) help to create awareness regarding the degradation of the environment, bring the masses closer to various environmental issues, generate awareness and initiate public debate. They also work towards disseminating information and in bringing about changes in regulatory policies affecting the environment.

Environmentalist

Polluted waterways and degraded forests are some of the work-areas of an environmentalist. Afforestation, regeneration of rivers and rainwater management are the focus areas. An environmentalist works closely with the government, NGOs, the public and industry as part of a co-operative process to initiate problem resolution. Consultants There are independent environmental consultants working with the governments Central and State Pollution Control Boards, as well as the private sector. These consultants offer advice related to the environment, especially from the regulatory and legal perspectives. For example, when a government or the private sector decides to establish a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which would require the acquisition of large tracts of land, environmental consultants assess the location, land use pattern, nature of industry, the existing ecology, and possible impact of industry on the biodiversity. SEZ development takes place only after obtaining an approval from the consultant.

Government

Regulatory agencies operating at the central, state and local levels govern and manage the processes that impact the environment, and intervene when required to enforce policies. Pollution Control Boards for instance, employ environmental engineers to oversee implementation of best practices in pollution control. Agencies working in the areas of public health, water resources and waste management have environment specialists on their rolls in an advisory capacity.

soil mecHAnics :: An important study in civil engineering

Tampishree Choudhury CE Class of 2014 Soil mechanics is a branch of engineering mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluids mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and water) and particles (usually clay, silt, sand and gravel) but soil may also contain organic solids, liquids and gases and other matter. Along with rock mechanics, soil mechanics provides the theoretical basis for analysis in geotechnical engineering, a sub discipline of civil engineering. Soil mechanics is used to analyze the deformations and flow of fluids within natural and man-made structures that are supported on or made of soil, or structures that are buried in soils. Example applications are building and bridge foundations, retaining walls, dams and buried pipeline systems. Principle of soil mechanics are also used in related disciplines such as geophysical engineering, engineering geology, coastal engineering, agricultural engineering, hydrology and solid physics.

Genesis and composition of soils

Genesis
The primary mechanism of soil creation is the weathering of rock. All rock types (igneous rock, metamorphic rock and sedimentary rock) may be broken down into small particles to create soil. Weathering mechanisms are physical weathering, chemical weathering and biological weathering. Human activities such as excavation, blasting and waste disposal may also create soil. Over geologic time, deeply buried soils may be altered by pressure and temperature to become metamorphic or sedimentary rock, and if melted and solidified again, they would complete the geologic cycle by becoming igneous rock. Physical weathering includes temperature effects, freeze and thaw of water in cracks, rain, wind, impact and other mechanisms. Chemical weathering includes dissolution of matters composing a rock and precipitation in the form of another mineral. Clay minerals for example can be formed by weathering of feldspar, which is the most common mineral present in igneous rock. The most common mineral constituent of silt and sand is quartz, also called silica, which has the chemical name silicon dioxide. The reason that feldspar is most common in rocks but silicon is more prevalent in soils is that feldspar is much more soluble than silica. Silt, sand and gravel are basically little pieces of broken rocks. According to the Unified Soil Classification System, silt particle sizes are in the range of 0.002mm to 0.075mm and sand particles have sizes in the range of 0.075mm to 4.75mm.The gravel particles are broken pieces of rock in the size range of 4.75mm to 100mm. Particles larger than gravel are called cobbles and boulders.

Transport

Soil deposits are affected by the mechanism of transport and deposition to their location. Soils that are not transported are called residual soils they exist at the same location as the rock from which they were generated. Decomposed granite is a common example of a residual soil. The common mechanisms of transport are the actions of gravity, ice, water and wind. Wind blown includes dune sands and loess. Water carries particles of different size depending on the speed of the water, thus soils transported by water are graded according to their size .Silt and clay may settle out in a lake, and gravel and sand collect at the bottom of a river

bed .Wind blown soil deposits (Aeolian soils) also tend to be sorted according to their grain size. Erosion at the base of glaciers is powerful enough to pick up large rocks and boulders as well as soil; soils dropped by melting ice can be a well graded mixture of widely varying particle sizes. Gravity on its on may also carry particles down from the top of a mountain to make a pile of soils and boulders at the base; soil deposits transported by gravity are called colluviums. The mechanism of transport also has a major effect on the particle shape. For example, low velocity grinding in a river bed will produce rounded particles. Freshly fractured colluviums particles often have a very angular shape.

Soil mineralogy
Silts, sand and gravels are classified by their size, and hence they may consist of a verity of minerals. Owing to the stability of quartz compared to other rock minerals, quartz is the most common constituent of sand and silt. Mica and feldspar are other common minerals present in sand and silts. The mineral constituents of gravel may be more similar to that of the parent rock. The common clay minerals are montmorillonite or smectite,illite and kaolinite or kaolin.These minerals tend to form in sheet or plate like structures ,with length typically ranging between 10^-7m and 4x10^-6m and thickness typically ranging between 10^-9and 2x10^-6m,and they have a relativity large specific surface area. The specific surface area (SSA) is defined as the ratio of the surface area of particles to the mass of the particle. Clay minerals typically have specific surface areas in the range of 10 to 1000 squares meters per gram of solid .Due to the large surface area available for chemical ,electrostatic, and van der waals interaction,the mechanical behavior of clay minerals is very sensitive to the amount of pore fluid available and amount of dissolve ions in the pore fluid. The minerals of soils are predominantly formed by atoms of oxygen, silicon, hydrogen, and aluminum, organized in various crystalline forms .These elements along with calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium and carbon constitute over 99 per cent of soil solid mass.

Grain size distribution: Soil Gradation

Soils consist of a mixture of particles of different size, shape and mineralogy. Because the size of the particles obviously has a significant effect on the soil behavior, the grain size and grain size distribution are used to classify soils. The grain size distribution describes the relative proportions of particles of various sizes. The grain size is often visualized in a cumulative distribution graph which, for example, plots the percentage of particles finer than a given size as a function of size. The median grain size, D50, is than size for which 50% of the particle mass consists of finer particles. Soil behavior, especially the hydraulic conductivity, tends to be dominated by the smaller particles; hence, the term effective size, denoted by D10, is defined as the size for which 10% of the particle mass consists of finer particles. Sands and gravels that possess a wide range of particle sizes with a smooth distribution of particle sizes are called well graded soils. If the soil particles in a sample are predominantly in a relatively narrow range of sizes, the soils are called uniformly graded soils. If there are distinct gaps in the gradation curve, e.g., a mixture of gravel and fine sand, with no coarse sand, the soils may be called gap graded. Uniformly graded and gap graded soils are both considered to be poorly graded. There are many methods for measuring particle size distribution. The two traditional methods used in geotechnical engineering are sieve analysis and hydrometer analysis.

OUr esTeeMeD FACULTy

In the picture:
1st row (From left to right): Dr. D. N. Bhattacharjee, Dr. Ashim Kanti Dey, Dr. Satyabrata Choudhury, Dr. Parthasarathi Choudhury, Dr. A. K. Barbhuiya 2nd row (From left to right): Dr. Asit Kumar Das, Dr. Dibakar Chakraborty, Dr. Aminul Islam Laskar, Mr. A.M. Choudhury, Dr. Mokaddes Ali Ahmed, Dr. Pabitra Rajbongshi 3rd row (From left to right): Dr. Tauhidur Rahman, Dr. Upendra Kumar, Mr. Parthajit Roy, Mrs. Nirmali Borthakur, Mr. Pallab Das

About our faculty:

Dr. D. N. Bhattacharjee Professor and Head Ph.D. -IIT Kharagpur, M.C.E- University of Roorkee, B.E.-Jadavpur University Specialization: Water Resources Engineering Area of Interest: Water Resources (Hydrology) Dr. Ashim Kanti Dey Professor Ph.D.-IIT Madras, M.C.E.-Jadavpur University B.E.- R.E.C. Silchar (Gold medalist). Specialization: Geotechnical Engineering. Area of Interest: Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. , Ground Improvement. email: ashim_kanti@yahoo.co.in Dr. Satyabrata Choudhury Professor Ph.D.- IIT Rourkee, M.Tech- IIT Kharagpur, B.E.-R.E.C. Silchar. Specialization: Structural Engineering Area of Interest: Performance Based Seismic & Earthquake Resistant Design, email: chou_s@rediffmail.com Others: Recipient of Dr. Jai Krishna Gold medal award Dr. Parthasarathi Choudhury Professor Ph.D.-R.G.T.B. Bhopal, M.Tech-IIT Bombay, B.E.- R.E.C Silchar Specialization: Water Resources Engineering. Area of Interest: Hydrology. email: ps_chou@yahoo.com Dr. A. K. Barbhuiya Associate Professor Ph.D.-IIT Kharagapur, M.E.- A.E.C. Guwahati, B.E.-R.E.C. Silchar. Specialization: Water Resources Engineering. Area of Interest: Fluvial Hydraulics, Open Channel Flow, Sediment Transport. email: akarim@nits.ac.in. Dr. Mokaddes Ali Ahmed Associate Professor. Ph.D.- IIT Kharagpur, M.Tech-IIT Kharagpur, B.E.- R.E.C. Silchar. Specialization: City Planning. Area of Interest: Transportation Planning, Infrastructure Planning. email: ali.mokaddas@gmail.com

Dr. Dibakar Chakraborty Associate Professor Ph.D.-IIT Kanpur, M.E.- A.E.C. Guwahati , B.E.-R.E.C. Silchar. Specialisation : Hydraulics and Water Resource Engineering email: dibakar@nits.ac.in Dr. Aminul Islam Laskar Associate Professor Ph.D.- IIT Guwahati, M.Tech- IIT Delhi, B.E.-R.E.C. Silchar. Specialization: Building Technology Area of Interest: Civil Engineering Materials email: amimul@nits.ac.in Mr. A.M. Choudhury Assistant Professor M.E.- AMU, Aligarh, B.E.-V.R.C.E, Nagpur. Specialization: Building Engineering, FRP email: amc@nits.ac.in Dr. Pabitra Rajbongshi Associate Professor Ph.D.-IIT Kanpur, M.Tech-IIT Rourkee, B.E.- J.E.C. Jorhat. Specialization: Transportation Engineering. Area of Interest: Pavement Engineering, Pavement Materials. email: pabitra@nits.ac.in Dr. Tauhidur Rahman Assistant professor Ph.D.- IISc,Banglore, M.E- MNNIT, Allahabad, B.E.-R.E.C. Hamirpur. Specialisation: Structural Design. Area of Interest: Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures. email: tauhid_srm@yahoo.com

Dr. Upendra Kumar Assistant Professor Ph.D-IIT Kgp,M.C.E-Jadavpur University,B.E-Bhagalpur University. Specialization: Environmental Engineering. Area of Interest: Environmental Engineering, Pollution Control and Adsorption. Mr. Parthajit Roy Assistant Professor M.Tech-IIT Kharagpur, B.E.-R.E.C. Silchar. Specialization: Water Resources Engineering. Area of Interest: Flood Flow Propagation. email: parthajit_roy@yahoo.co.in Mrs. Nirmali Borthakur Assistant Professor M.E. A.E.C., Guwahati, B.E.- J.E.C. Jorhat. Specialization: Soil Mechanics Area of Interest: Geotechnical Engineering email: borthakur_nirmali@rediffmail.com Mr. Pallab Das Assistant Professor M.Tech-IIT Guwahati, B.E.-R.E.C. Silchar. Specialization: Structural Engineering. Area of Interest: Earthquake Engineering, Structural Design. email: pallab@nits.ac.in Dr. Asit Kumar Das Associate Professor Ph.D.- Gauhati University MSc- Gauhati University. Specialization: Geology

VOX POPULI

sEction

RANDOM, ARBITRARY, ANONYMOUS, ME: THE THOUGHTS OF A CIVIL-ENGINEER-TO-BE

Amartya Dey CE Class of 2011 We did not change as we grow older; we just became more clearly ourselves. - Lynn Hall. How true! Life really is our greatest teacher. Each moment a chapter; each day a book. I am now seated here trying to recount about as many as 1400 books you see. But I neither have the memory nor the patience to recount it all. I shall recount some chapters - some moments - in this almost four year long saga that we all composed, and were part of in this place called NIT, Silchar, along with my friends in my branch Grand Royal Civil Engineering. But which oysters do I touch and open, and which I dont? Each pearl, each moment, following from Lynn Hall, made me more clearly myself. Which moments do I share with you? Should I be like a counsel or should I be prophetic? Should I convey my message as someone who has seen it all or should I just be a friend? Should I be stern or be uber cool? Aah! I frankly dont know. I have learned so many things and gathered so many moments that I dont know which to share with you all. You see I learned between all the procrastinations practised and the assignments submitted. I learned between all the ogling and the snide remarks made. I learned between all the late night parties and the class test the next day. I learned amidst the toppers and those who were not. I learned when I chose to bunk a class because I simply did not understand what the teacher was trying to teach or because I simply found it boring. I learned when I went to Saraju Cafe to get the notes xeroxed just before the examinations. I learned when I chose to cheat in the class tests. I learned that nobody is perfect. I learned that there are smart people and not-so-smart people, and people who pretend to be. I learned that there are people who love to help and there are those who dont. I learned that there are people who judge and there are people who dont. There are people who like to label a person, and also those who dont. I learned that basically all people are good, all care. I learned in our freshers party where we were welcomed by our seniors and I was asked to dance to the song Tip Tip Barsa Paani. I learned when a teacher refused to give me an extra mark which would have helped me score a grade change. I learned when I chose to spend my entire summer after the second year doing nothing. I learned when I went for summer training after third year in Shapoorji Pallonji. I learned when I bagged a job in the same company. I learned when I fell in love in September, last year and came to know what love was really about, and what a thing commitment is. I learned how all change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. I learned how to be constant in happiness and wisdom, one must often change. I learned about Ellen Glasgow and Confucius.

I learned what it takes to organise a freshers party, or for that matter, a farewell. I learned how exciting an excursion can be, and what hospitality actually means. I learned how important having vision is, or for that matter, making a mission statement is. I learned how to raise funds for a society as also how to have a website designed and released. I learned what networking is and how important alumni are. I learned how important juniors and batch-mates are, with all their cooperation and positive inputs. I learned how there shall never be a dearth of critics. I learned how not to give a damn. I learned how cool a boat ride can feel and how there is a child in us all. I learned where Annapurna Ghat is, and how fun water-fights can be. I learned how Life is its own journey, how it presupposes its own change and movement, and how one tries to arrest them at ones own peril. I learned how important pointer is, and how important bagging a job is. I learned how happy one feels when one sees ones friends getting placed, and when one comes to know that 100% placement of ones branch has been achieved with more than 2 months in hand and more companies still pouring in. I learned how there isnt a single path or rule to true happiness. I learned how lucky I am to be here in this place I am now and how I feel that there is nowhere else on earth I would rather be this moment, this now. I learned how lucky I am to be in the branch of engineering that I am in this life, and how there is no other branch that I would rather be in. I learned that I can be proud. I can be proud of my batch-mates. I can be proud of my teachers (the reasons remaining however varied and diverse). I can be proud of my branch. I can be proud that I could learn so many things. I can be proud that I am who I am. I can be proud to be a civil-engineer-to-be. I can be proud when I read this US Corps poem: We lay down their rolling roads/And cut down all the trees; And if the orders ever came,/Wed forge the raging seas. Whenever they want to sleep awhile/We put them up a town, And we build the blasted bridges/So the Infantry wont drown. We get them over rivers/And across mountain streams Do everything but tuck them in/And wish them pleasant dreams; And when the goings really rough/And bombs burst in their ears, A whole division is apt to pray, God, send the Engineers!

Hail civil!

OUr TIMe, CAreer AND NIT sILCHAr

Soumitra Sankar Roy Alumnus, NIT Silchar My tryst with NIT Silchar (then REC Silchar) began in the summer of 1984 as I took admission in the 13th batch - only to find that classes would not start before year end. Reason was delay in session commencement in the Assam Engineering College (the other Engineering College affiliated under the then Guwahati University). The year saw upheaval in Indian politics as the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31st October, and the subsequent riots in many places shook the country. As the Political scenario unfolded, we had to wait patiently for a joining call from the institution which at last came in the month of December. We were accommodated in quarter hostels in one part of the campus and thus started our professional journey in the winter of 1984. Little did we know about what lay ahead. As usual, we had our fair share of ragging during the initial days - but nobody complained as those treatments were within a reasonable limit. Seven years after its inception in 1977, REC Silchar of 1984 was vastly different from its today`s avatar. In the entire campus, only the three hostel buildings, the class room building and the library were the RCC buildings. No boundary wall, no permanent girls hostel, no exclusive Departmental Building(s)! Faculty strength was modest with visiting professors doing duty. Only few computers of the pre-Microsoft era ordained the deserted looking departments. One had to be very smart in grabbing important books from library as it never had enough copies. Medical, Canteen, Gymnasium, Banking, Post Office, Placement facilities in the Campus were elementary. As question papers used to be set by the faculty of the Assam Engineering College, we had no clue and thus in the process had to toil a lot. Each hostel had one TV set in the common room to telecast doordarshan programmes - no satellite channels. Those were the times of the serial Hum log. We watched the genius of Maradona in 1986 helping Argentina win the World Cup in Mexico. Our batch was unique in the sense it was a pool of very good students. This happened as students from two consecutive years from Assam competed for admission in the 1st Entrance Examination held in 1984. It was a consequence of the cancellation of the 1980 academic year due to the political agitation in Assam (1979-1980). Thus, two batches were merged together and we appeared the Class 12 (then Pre-University) Examination in 1984. With students from all over India joining, the talent and potential was abundant. Campus stay was fun as usual. There used to be a fair amount of sports and cultural activities. The annual cultural extravaganza, THE RENCOFEST, used to be of great attraction and we used to wait eagerly for the celebration time.

As we progressed in academic course, one very unfortunate incident took place in 1987 that shook us. We were in 5th semester then. One of our batch mate committed suicide by jumping from the running train into a gorge at hill section. He took the extreme step as he was ejected out of the examination hall for copying. He was a foreign student from Nepal and it was his last chance of clearing the compartmental paper. I believe the incident could have been avoided had it been handled with a bit of care and compassion. The death resulted in student unrest and the Principal was gheraoed. Police was called in the campus to handle the protesting students and the college authority was more than happy to declare it closed sine-die. It came as a rude joke to all, especially the final and pre-final semester students and out-station students who had to go through a harrowed time in arranging train tickets from Silchar to their native places all over India. The college re-opened after one and half months and in the mean time the GU conducted the 5th Semester Examination for the Assam Engineering College students. Without appearing the 5th semester exams, we had to attend the 6th semester classes with no clue when the re-exam would be conducted. And when the re-exam routine was given, we discovered with utter disdain that there was a gap of only two weeks between the 5th and the 6th semester exams. Such was the tyranny. We were un-necessarily stressed, deprived of a fair preparation period which consequently affected the final results of almost all. The disturbed academic environment in NITS campus was not conducive for preparation and success in competitive examinations. The geographical remoteness and weak communication added to the woes. As we were drawing closer to final semester exam in summer of 1989, employment scenario became very bleak as our economy reached its nadir. The pre-reform period of late eighties and early nineties was the worst in post independent India in terms of poor economic condition. Fiscal deficit was mounting and we had meagre balance of payment. Old economy was crumbling and the new economy had not yet come up then. The economic condition was so bad that it was not in a position to support any kind of development, be it industrial or infrastructural or consumer growth. There were no organisations like Infosys, Satyam, and Bharti Airtel. Wipro, TCS were in the very early business form. MNCs did not open up their shops. Almost all State and Central Government departments stopped recruiting. PSUs were reducing their intakes. We learnt in the hard way, the relation between the economic condition of a country and the employment scenario. Under the circumstances, people like me, who could take any other branch in other RECs ( by virtue of good position in Entrance Examination) but opted for Civil Engineering in REC Silchar to enjoy home town advantage and expecting swift recruitment by State Government Departments as it used to be till then, became all the more frustrated. By the time we passed out, the situation became totally dismal. I remember how only 3 or 4 companies came for campus recruitment and out of a total batch strength of around 120, only few (less than 10) got campus recruitment. I considered myself lucky to get an appointment call before getting the Final Mark sheet. My first employer, Cemindia Co. Ltd. (present name ITD Cementation Co. Ltd.) was a construction company engaged in specialised construction with HQ in Kolkata. It was a part of Britain`s Trafalgar House business conglomerate (like our Tata/Birla/Reliance group). Put to a situation like this and the ensuing need to support family finance, there was hardly any option left for me and I grabbed the offer with both hands and landed in Kolkata in August 1989 with a suitcase in hand and appointment letter in pocket. My first employer offered me a total salary of Rs 4500.00 per month with other facilities. It was not a bad starting salary at that time. The company was a very good organisation to work and I learnt many aspects of Civil Engineering which helped me immensely later. But it did not provide housing in Kolkata which was a dire need for someone like me who had landed up from Silchar. Though I had a few relatives around Kolkata, I decided to stay on my own and initially checked in Assam House, Little Russell Street, Kolkata. From there I could contact some of my batch-mates who were there then trying for jobs. One of them had a vacancy and I joined. It was a 15X 10 mess room in Bhawanipur area of South-Central Kolkata. I had not seen such living condition earlier as the room had two beds (those sold in weekly markets), a ceiling fan, a window and a 100 watt electric bulb hanging from a black hole like ceiling. Toilet was

common with outdoor bathing under the sky. It was part of a very old building - front portion of that was used for furniture & garment shops and other commercial purposes. In the early part of night we could not sleep due to the sound disturbance caused by the running of sewing machines nearby. Apart from us two, the room accommodated few more of my batch mates as and when vacancy was there. My friend was a good student and an Electronics & Tele-communication Engineer with no job. As he was very desperate to bag a job, he advertised in The Statesman Newspaper. Few days later, one sultry after noon, a gentleman came looking for him and gave him a bizarre proposal of tutoring his son who had compartmental in some of his engineering papers. The deal was struck at Rs 500.00 per month and two visits per week. The purpose of citing the incident is to give an idea about the prevailing condition at that time. Almost all of my Civil Engineering batch mates were jobless at Silchar. Subsequently, many of them were recruited by SAIL courtesy to the then Union Minister of Steel who was a Loksabha MP from Silchar. However, after recruitment, they all worked with equal competence and prospered. After working three and half years for my first employer, I joined my present employer, Engineers India Ltd, as an Engineer (Construction) in 1993. I take pride in the fact that I have done my part of duty successfully in creating asset for the country in very difficult working conditions of Assam (3.0 MMTPA grass root Numaligarh Refinery Project in the Golaghat District of Assam during 1993-1999 for BPCL), NALCO Smelter Expansion (PH I) Project at Angul, Orissa (2000-2003) and NALCO`s Alumina Refinery Expansion (Ph II) Project at Maoist infested Damonjodi, District Koraput, Orissa (2004-2008). Since 2008 I am posted at EIL`s HQ in New Delhi as Senior Manager (Int. Audit) and settled in New Delhi. I take this opportunity to mention few facts about my employer, Engineers India Ltd. It is a PSU with Ministry of petroleum and has its core business in Hydrocarbon sector. It provides end to end Project Management Consultancy to clients like ONGC, IOC, HPCL, BPCL, MRPL, and GAIL etc for their Mega Projects like Petroleum refinery (both green and brown field), Petrochemicals, Cross Country Pipe lines etc. It also provides Project Management Consultancy including detail engineering in Non-ferrous Metal Industry (Aluminium, Copper etc) for clients like Nalco, Hindustan Zinc etc. It has diversified into Infrastructure Projects by providing Project Management Consultancy in Projects like Delhi & Mumbai Airports, Road projects for NHAI, Urban Waste Water Management for Delhi Jal Board, Connaught Place Redevelopment work for NDMC, Rajiv Gandhi Petroleum Institutes at Bareilly and Rudrasagar, Rugby Stadium for Delhi University as a part of Commonwealth Games venue etc. EIL is the premier consultancy organisation in Asia and has technology for some of the refinery process units, job standards and specifications accepted by clients within and outside India. It earns income from both Consultancy as well as Lump sum Turnkey Contracts. It is a very good organisation for engineers (especially chemical engineers) to work and enhance one`s professional competence. Being under Ministry of petroleum, it provides a good pay package almost at par with its big brothers like IOC, ONGC, GAIL etc. to lead a decent life. Career-wise, competent engineers with good discipline knowledge and managing capability can reach higher management level in a time bound manner. One should not compare different generations and situations. Every generation has their own positives and negatives. The problem of recruiters not visiting campus does not exist now. With our economy developing at the 2nd highest rate in the world after China, there is huge demand of trained manpower including engineers, as many of them get appointment letters before reaching final year. NITS as an institution has developed a lot which we witnessed during our visit to the campus during the 1st Alumni meet recently. I believe it has attained the status of a deemed university and Post Graduate and Doctoral Programmes have been started. The institution boasts of full campus recruitment. But, I feel real

success of an institution like NITS depend on quality and quantity of teaching imparted by it and success of its students in different competitive examinations. A recent unfortunate incident showed problems still persist and need immediate redressal. I optimistically think that these will be sorted out with effort from all. Coming back to our batch, the most satisfying fact for me is seeing my batch mates being professionally successful with some climbing heights in corporate ladder within or outside Indi, some reaching very good position in Government jobs, some becoming faculty of premier institutions and, some successful entrepreneurs. Would our lives have been any different had we joined any other Engineering College outside this part of the country? Probably, yes. But I am satisfied with the fact that I could build my career of my own after graduating in Civil Engineering (at a wrong time and from a little known Engineering College of that time). But it has taken a lot out of me and maybe this is the reason why my biological clock has ticked more than some fortunate (?) who is not familiar with struggle and career building. As priority changes with life stages, for someone like me it is important now to support my family, provide guidance and good education to my children and stay healthy which I am trying earnestly. Challenges taken - now it is time to consolidate and move ahead. That is what life is all about!

Jai Ho!

Yet Another Management Lesson!

When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be the boss. The brain said, I should be boss because I control the whole bodys responses and functions The feet said, We should be the boss as we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go. The hands said, We should be the boss because we do all the work and earn all the money. And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs and the eyes until finally the asshole spoke up. All the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the boss. So the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work. Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic and the brain fevered. Eventually they all decided that the asshole should be the boss and so the motion was passed. All the other parts did all the work while the boss just sat and passed out the shit.

Lesson learnt?
You dont need brains to be a boss - any asshole will do!

ENgINEErINg IN INdIa : PaST aNd FuTurE

Mridu Pawan Uzir CE Class of 2014 India has emerged as one of the potential powers in fields of science and technology during these years. The Indian economy has been growing at 9% per year and Indian industry has become globally competitive in several sectors and a large share of this success goes to the technical education system in India. Engineering education in India started during the British era and focused mainly on civil engineering at that time. The Engineering College at Roorkee (1847), Poona Civil Engineering College at Pune (1854), Bengal Engineering College at Shibpur (1856), Banaras Hindu University (1916), Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur (1920) were some of the earliest engineering colleges established that continue till the present day. In 1945 the Sarkar Committee [3] was appointed to suggest options for advanced technical education in India. The Sarkar committee recommended the establishment of higher technical institutes modelled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the four regions of India. This resulted in the setting up of the five IITs in Kharagpur (1950), Bombay (1958), Kanpur (1959), Madras (1960) and Delhi (1961) (Delhi was added on to the original four). The All India Council for Technical Education was set up in 1945, to oversee all technical education (diploma, degree and post-graduate) in the country.

Some Statistics
No. of Bachelors degrees in Engg every year: 270 (in 1947) to 2.37 Lakhs (In 2006) Compounded Annual Growth rate: 12% No. of degree-granting institutions in India: 50 (in 1950) to 1511 (in 2006). Masters output: 30 (in 1947) to almost 20000 (in 2006). Enrolment of Women Engineers: 910 (In 1970) to 26, 437 (in 1995) Share of women in the Engineering enrolments:16% (in 1995) to 22% (in 2001) which was higher than the enrolments of US (19.3%) and UK (14%). In 2002, the numbers of graduate engineers produced by India was 2nd in world wise rank with china in the 1st position followed by Japan (3rd), South Korea(4th), US(5th), Germany(6th) and UK(7th). But India secured the 1st position on the Growth rate of graduate engineers which is 9.7% (2004).

The IITs are the most reputed engineering institutes in India. Every year they produce thousands of well-qualified graduate, master-graduate and doctorate in engineering giving placement all over India and abroad. The NITs are holding a good share in the excellent output of engineering students. Apart from the IITs and NITs, the various govt. and private engineering institutes are aiding their prospects in this field. The era of competition has brought drastic change in the education system in this field in India. Industry-academia relationship has given students to go out in the field and experience the real world during study course. Various technical, cultural and social programmes, workshops and seminars in all the engg. Institutes are strengthening the back-bone of the students. During these twothree decades technical education in India has flourished in all direction. Indian students have taken over in many multi-national companies, research fields, teaching arenas and all. Renowned companies like Intel, Microsoft, Google, IBM, NASA, Adobe, DLF and many more are recruiting Indian students in numbers.

Suggestions
But there is an urgent need for the industry, government and academia to formulate a strategy for engineering and science education in India. India has the potential to be a leading research and design hub in the world. We need to have a mechanism to identify important areas/disciplines that will grow and develop policies and institutions that facilitate this. There needs to be a high level think tank that reviews the higher engineering and science education system in India and provides direction for future growth. This need not be a one-time committee or an ad-hoc arrangement but should be a continuous activity (members may have fixed tenures.). This think tank should not be saddled with administrative or financial responsibilities like AICTE or UGC. The think tank can facilitate debates and discussions on the future directions of higher technical education and provide the vision and new direction required. If everything moves with proper planning, thinking and timing, soon India will become one of the strongest power in technical education.

The Final Management Lesson!

A small bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing out of joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Lesson learnt?
1. Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy. 2. Not everyone who gets you out shit is your friend. 3. And, when youre in deep shit, keep your mouth shut!

SECTION 8 CES FLASHBACK

our society in 2010-11

Amartya Dey General Secretary Manabendra Saharia Coordinator (MISSION 2015) When we took over in 2010, we started with a mission - To catapult our society into the National/International arena and make it one of the most active student bodies in NITs within a year. But to start off, we needed to prioritise our ideas due to limited funds. We identified various problems plaguing the student community and societies of NIT Silchar in general and took concrete steps to mitigate them.

Our prime focus this year was:

1. Improve Technical proficiency of members. Societies are NOT for freshers, picnic and farewell alone. 2. Encourage diversification of interests (Niche and Specialised Jobs, MS, M.Tech, PhD, MBA) 3. Create role models using National and International-level Speakers. 4. Encourage students to apply for high-profile Internships.

With this view in mind we initiated the following programmes:

1. INSPIRE Lecture Series in Civil Engineering. 2. INSPIREmini Seminar Series. 3. GradSchool Club - A club for students interested in MS/M.Tech/PhD/MBA. (www.gradschoolclub.cesnitsilchar.org)

Some of the events organised under various initiatives till now from August 2010 are:
1. MBA and CAT Seminar by Nabanshu Bhattacharjee (IIM Lucknow) on 20th September, 2010. (250 Attendees) 2. INSPIRE Lecture by Prof. Jin Hung-Hwang from National Chinese Universiy, Taiwan on 10th Nov, 2010. (200 attendees) 3. GRE and GradSchool admissions seminar by Nirjhar Bhattacharjee on 29th Jan, 2011(200 Attendees) 4. Higher Education Opportunities in United Kingdom by British Council on 25th Feb, 2011. (100 Attendees) 5. Strategies to crack CAT and IIMs and insight into IIM life by Aniket Ghosh of IIM Bangalore on 7th Mar, 2011 6. Release of Internship Apping - Jointly authored by TNP 2011 and CES. It is a comprehensive document on industry and Research Projects, Trainings and

Internships. 7. Release of the first yearbook of NIT Silchar CES SUPERSTARS. 8. Release of third edition of SHRiSHTEE. Many other seminars and events are under planning, and would be hopefully executed by the future CES team. CES this year became the first and only branch society of NIT Silchar to launch its self-hosted website. Visit our website for latest updates and resources: www.cesnitsilchar.org

launch of society and club website

After months of hardwork, we finally launched our society website in March. Despite being one of the most active societies of NIT Silchar as well as among all NITs, we were suffering from lack of branding. This website will not only increase the stature of our branch nationally but also communicate our work to the outside world.

Visit:

www.cesnitsilchar.org

Updating it will be the responsibility of the upcoming batches and we hope you will take adequate measures to improve upon the small impetus we have provided. With this, we have become the first society in NIT Silchar to have its own self-hosted website.

Some people who made this possible: Web Team

Shashank Mathur (CSE Class of 2012) Gaurav Parwani (CSE Class of 2013)

Support and Design Team

Manabendra Saharia (CE Class of 2011) Amartya Dey (CE Class of 2011)

Supporting website: www.cesnitsilchar.wordpress.com

Prof Jin-Hung Hwang delivered the 1st INSPIRE Lecture Series in Civil Engineering in NIT Silchar on 10th November, 2010. It was organised by the Civil Engineering Society with the help of Prof. A.K. Dey of NIT Silchar. Prof Dey and Prof. Hwang are currently pursuing Indo-Taiwan Joint Research project on the following topic Centrifuge modelling and Numerical Analysis on Seismic Response of Clay Embankment Prof Hwang is a distinguished Professor of the Dept. of Civil Engineering of National Central University of Taiwan. His research interests are in Soil Liquefaction, Tunnel Engineering, Pile Engineering, Soft Clay Engineering, Geotechnical Construction Vibration.

Lecture Topic
Prof. Hwang delivered lectures of the following topics, the presentations of which are provided below. 1. Seismic Capacity Assessment of Sanyi Old Railway Tunnel. 2. 2. A practical reliability-based method for assessing Soil-Liquefaction Potential. More than 150 undergraduate and graduate students of Civil Engineering Dept. of NIT Silchar attended the event including Prof. Satyabrata Choudhury, Dr. A.K. Das and Mr. Parthajit Roy. Prof. Hwang encouraged NIT Silchar students to apply to NCU for Masters and Doctoral studies and scholarships. Prof. A. K. Dey also expressed his comments and knowledge on the topic after the lecture. The event was coordinated by Amartya Dey and Manabendra Saharia. All presentations are available online.

management studies and cAt Preparation

SPEAKER: Mr. Nabanshu Bhattacharjee (NIT Silchar, ECE Class of 2008). Total Attendees: 230 students, 20th September 2010. Presently: Pursuing MBA in IIM Lucknow. Mission 2015 is a comprehensive 5 year initiative by Civil Engineering Society (CES) with innovative programs like INSPIRE Lecture Series in Civil Engineering, INSPIREmini, INSPIRING INTERNS, Koffee with CES. As a part of our INSPIREmini Series programme CES cordially invited Nabanshu Bhattacharjee, from IIM Lucknow (NIT Silchar, ECE Class of 2008).He belled the CAT with a score of 99.6 percentile. Prior to his IIM life, he worked in IBM Bangalore, as an application developer. The session was organised on 20th September 2010 in CET hall. It was expected to be a 1-hr session but was prolonged due to an overwhelming response wherein around 200 students took part. The session was kick started with a brief introduction of the days guest by chief coordinator, Manabendra Saharia. The General Secretary of CES, Amartya Dey, felicitated the guest and extended him a hearty welcome on our campus. The photography secretary, Debankur Jana, helped in capturing the moments of the seminar. The guest chose not to be monotonic, but was keen in having an interactive session. He first gathered the queries which ranged from preparation perspective of entrances to the life beyond. Most of the questions seemed to be clustered around the preparation of CAT, as it is of prime importance for 4thyear and 3rd year students. The questions also hovered around the necessity of further studies after a Bachelors degree. Though time was a constraint the session was highly productive to the gathering as the guest tried to clear the general cobwebs which a student in a professional college encounters. He was also generous to offer another visit for an exclusive CAT seminar as he felt that it should be dealt with in depth analysis. The session was concluded with a memento presentation to Nabanshu Bhattacharjee by the General Secretary of CES on behalf of the gathering. This news report was prepared by an enthusiastic first-year student of the Dept. of Civil Engineering, NIT Silchar Praveen Kumar (Civil Engineering, Class of 2014).

An insight into management studies and iim Bangalore

SPEAKER: Mr. Aniket Ghosh (IIM Bangalore, Class of 2012). Total Attendees: 120 students, 7th of March,2011. Presently: Pursuing MBA in IIM Bangalore. As a part of the INSPIREmini Series programme the General Secretary of CES, Amartya Dey cordially invited his friend Aniket Ghosh, from IIM Bangalore who cracked CAT in his first attempt and also earned the prestigious Willamson Magor scholarship. Mr. Aniket is a resident of Guwahati and prior to being in IIM, he did his graduation with Physics major from the Guwahati University. He would do his internship in Caterpillar. The session was organised in the afternoon of 7th March which was a Monday, in the new gallery. The seminar had to be done on a working day because the speaker was on a very tight schedule. Mr. Aniket showed true professionalism as he came here in Silchar braving a 22 hours bus journey from Guwahati to Silchar just to keep his word. He left that evening itself. We thank and salute Mr. Aniket for his zeal and support. The session took off at around 2 pm with the General Secretary, CES, giving a brief introduction to the crowd that had gathered despite the fact that little or no publicity could be done for this seminar. This went on to show the popularity the MISSION 2015 campaign has earned on campus. After the brief introduction, it was a total one man show as Mr. Aniket grasped the attention of the audience by his grace and humour throughout the session which went on for about 2 hours! Mr. Aniket gave an insight not only to the various facets of management studies marketing, finance, HR, strategy, operations but also on the darker sides of a management studies and how a student could cope with the stressful life-style of a management student. He also lectured on how a person could decide whether to go or not go for management studies, and when to go and not to go. He showed how the grass on the management side of the river was not that green. He boosted the confidence of the students present too by citing examples from personal experiences. His seminar was not only interactive but also by far, one of the most interesting as told by the students. Time as usual was a constraint as the guest had a bus to catch. The guest was presented by a gift on behalf of CES by its General Secretary, on the way to ISBT. The guest, reportedly, told how he found the crowd very intelligent and helpful during the whole course of the seminar. Samujjal Das CE Class of 2013

Future activities of CES Some proposals from our side

Amartya Dey Manabendra Saharia CE Class of 2011 Throughout this year, CES has been more active than previous years as well as any other society in NIT Silchar. Some of the feathers on our branch and societys cap: First and only branch to have its own and, more importantly, self-sponsored printed magazine. (Started in the year 2008-09) First and only society to have a self hosted website (www.cesnitsilchar.org) (Launched in the year 2010-11) First Society to have an organised Lecture Series (INSPIRE Lecture Series in Civil Engineering) (Started in the year 2010-11) An active club for aspirants of higher studies (MS/M.Tech/MBA/PhD). (www.gradschoolclub.cesnitsilchar.org) with more than 250 members of present students and alumni.(Started in the year 2010-11) First and only society to have come up with its own printed yearbook CES Superstars. (Started in the year 2010-11) First and only society to have a flagship program MISSION 2015 which helps and encourages students to take up internships at respectable organizations and institutes, and pursue higher studies. (Started in the year 2010-11) But we shouldnt rest on past laurels and junior batches are expected to build on this platform and take our branch to newer heights of success and achievement. One of the prime reasons we have been successful in giving great value to members this year was our financial strength. We explored newer avenues of fund-generation rather than only sponsorships and we are very proud of the fact that we are leaving substantial amounts of funds in CES accounts for future initiatives.

Some initiatives that successive administrations can take apart from supporting the existing programmes:
Department Website Its deplorable that in the 21st century when universities worldwide our leveraging internet to publicize their activities, our college IT cell is incapable of maintaining a decent website for our dept. CES should take notice of this matter with urgency and come up with a good-looking website that gives great coverage to the wonderful work being carried out by Faculty members and students. We have a ready-made platform now in the form of the website launched this year, but as always the scope for improvement remains here too. Keeping an updated website is not that big a task.

Lecture Series It should be made monthly with national and international speakers. Focus should be on giving early exposure to undergraduates and networking opportunities to faculty members. A Small Branch Library Its pathetic that the library of an NIT doesnt have an adequate stock of books for students and a small branch library made through donations from senior students can be easily set up. A small space in the dept. can be requested from HOD sir. Also, B.Tech, M.Tech and PhD thesis are not being properly preserved for future batches currently and lie around in chambers of faculty members. The library could become a stock of all project reports that students can use later. Awards With a citation (Cash optional), a series of awards may be set up to honour students who have achieved excellence in various fields like academics, UG Research, Co-curriculars, Community Service etc. Selections to be made by faculty members in consultation with CES Office bearers.

Why we believe SHRiSHTEE should be stopped from 2012?

SHRiSHTEE has been our pet project for the last three years but it time we move on to greater things. Currently we are spending more than 80K every year on our magazine that takes a herculean effort on the part of a select few and 95% students have no contribution in it. Also, a one-off magazine once a year doesnt bring much value to students and faculty members except for purposes of memories and archival. Hence we are proposing a few initiatives so that we can optimise our limited funds to give maximum benefit to all members: 1.Stop the highly-quality printed magazine. Start a NEWSLETTER per semester of 15-20 pages. The newsletter, even if brought out 2 times a year, will cost around Rs 20,000. 2.Use this money on our Lecture Series and make it monthly.

Philosophy behind the design and make of SHRiSHTEE 2011

SHRiSHTEE 2011 has all its pages, except the cover pages, in black and white. The motive behind it is saving on unnecessary expenses as coloured pages cost approximately 3 to 4 times more than black and white pages. We believe that there are better avenues to spend in, as we have cited above. Also, the theme of SHRiSHTEE 2011 is minimalism, which drives home the concept of Less is more and also stresses on the optimum utilisation of the resources available, in the best possible way, as is shown by the utilisation of gaps in this magazine.

SECTION 9 CLICKS!

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TEAM SHRiSHTEE 2011

AMARTYA DEY (chiEf cOORDiNATOR, DESiGNER, cO-EDiTOR) MANABENDRA SAhARiA (chiEf EDiTOR) DEBAhUTi chAKRABORTY (MARKETiNG hEAD) SUDiPTA DiBAKAR BORAh (cONSULTANT DESiGNER) SPEciAL ThANKS TO EAch AND EVERYONE WhO cONTRiBUTED TOWARDS ThE MAGAZiNE BY WRiTiNG ARTicLES fOR iT! chEERS!!!

Meghalaya ceMents liMited, Mega PlaZa, 4th FlOOR, chRistian Basti, g.s.ROad, gUWahati-781 005, assaM eMail: guwahati@topcem.in WeB: www.topcem.in