Over ten students of Delhi University’s Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) have been selected to work as Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists. Sharing the news, CIC director professor MM Chaturvedi said on Wednesday that this is the first time whenthe students from any education institution are directly involved in DRDO project. They are working on the DRDO’s encryption project in Defence Terrain Research laboratory (DTRl) in New Delhi.
According to the CIC officials, this year more than 500 students will participate in the CIC projects. Every year, Delhi University and CIC invite the project proposals from the students of different streams. The selected projects are funded by the University Grant Commission (UGC). The trans-disciplinary teams comprising students and teachers from different streams work collectively and develop new engineering fundaments based on the grass-root researches.
“Though old fundaments are gold, time has changed now. We need to break conventional theories / fundaments by inventing something new with respect to the demand of our present Indian society,” said Chaturvedi.In this year, students have submitted their proposals to construct night shelters to provide shelters to homeless people in Delhi and to optimise the existing
shelters by using social and scientific sciences. “The students have prepared the data base of homeless people and, an innovative project will be started soon,” said Shobha Bagai, Expert on Mechanical Engineering, DU.
According to the experts in CIC, India is following the western studies in Engineering. The western fundaments have been set on the basis of their socio-eco system. However, culturally and economically diverse India has separate demands and needs. These demands propel Indian students to think out of the box which is relevant to the present scenario.
“Students from humanities and social science collect data of the social behaviour and requirement of the society. This data help the science students come up with new innovation to meet the actual requirement of real world with respect to the society,” added Chaturvedi.
There are other proposals submitted by the students on Translators of Bhaskar leelawati and manufacture of scientific instruments especially for Physics lab. The CIC is collaborating with TATA motors in a joint venture programme, in which the students will work with industry professionals.