Tag Archives: narendra-modi

06.02.12
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RCTC SANCTIONED Rs 3501 LAKHS UPTO MARCH 1990


The Risk Capital and Technology Finance Corporation Limited (RCTC), since its inception in 1976, has sanctioned a total assistance of Rs. 3501 lakh under its various schemes for setting up 230 projects up to March 31 31, 1990. These projects are expected to create direct employment for 41899 persons and catalyze an investment of Rs. 983 crore. The annual sales value of these projects at the optimum level would be Rs 1494 crore.

RCTC sanctioned the total assistance of Ps. 1221 lakh for 36 projects during 1989-90. Over two-thirds of the sanctions during the year were under the recently launched SScheme of Technology Finance and Development. The projects assisted under the Scheme cover a wide range, such as software development, artificial intelligence, educational robots, software for local area networks, digitized fonts, digitizers, intermediates for pesticides, thin-film composite membranes, hybrid seeds, software for 3-D computer animation, manufacture of Hexa-chlorocyclo-pentadiene and tissue culture plantlets, etc. Most projects assisted under RCTC were also based on new technology or were for manufacturing new products for further usage. The projects that have been sanctioned assistance include the manufacture of antibiotic drugs, tomato paste, radio paging system, pay-phones, calcium silicate bricks, granite and marble processing machinery, polymer concrete products, etc.

RCTC, sponsored by IFCI, is a pioneering institution providing risk capital assistance. RCTC, besides operating the SScheme of aid for medium-scale entrepreneurs to meet promoters’ contributions, launched its new Schemeyst of Technology Finance and Development towards the end of 1988 to provide impetus to technological innovations and their commercialization in the country by giving requisite financial support to eligible projects.

Source: Press Release
PIB
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Date: April 03, 1990

07.25.00
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IIT ALLAHABAD – AN APEX CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE


The Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIT) – Allahabad has been set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, as a nucleating Institute in Information Technology (IT).

The IIT promotes the development of all areas of IT and its applications to the highest level of excellence through extensively networked educational, research, and developmental programs. It will establish links with industry to bring the best professionals in IT and its application areas, computer science, and communication technology capabilities to solving any problem relevant to the country from a scientific, strategic, commercial or societal point of view.

The courses offered by the Institute are designed to match the best practices in IT provided anywhere in the world. The facilities and the learning environment in the Institute will be the best obtainable in the country. All courses are designed with the latest technology in mind. Some may be suitable for online self-study; in others, a degree of instructor-led sessions would be necessary.

The courses offered by the Institute include – The regular B.Tech Programme, Post Graduate Programme, Off-Campus Training and Education, Short Term Training(On Campus), Consultancy, IT Services, and other linkages with industry.

The IIT will create a network with the other regional institutes, including IIT Kanpur, Universities at Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, and other national and international institutes to support its research, development, and academic activities. The Institute has focused on growth, maintenance and implementation, knowledge-based product and service delivery, and business and consultancy projects in the IT area.

The IT is operational from the academic year 1999-2000 with a 4-year graduate program in IT. The contents of the program are similar to that of B.E/B—tech degree programs.

Mission

The mission of IIIT, Allahabad, is to be a unique and world-class nucleating “Apex Centre of Excellence” in information technology and Allied Sciences for enhancing India’s technological strength in IT and becoming a pace-setting institution for other similar institutes to be established. The IIIT seeks to derive its strength from a linkage with sound Indian traditions of centuries past and sets out to create knowledge-based resources in regional languages. It has the mission to train and educate, at certificate, diploma, undergraduate, and post-graduate levels, engineers of outstanding ability who can become leaders and entrepreneurs in the IT industry and profession. It will carry out advanced research and development in leading-edge areas in hardware and software, which can be helpful over a long-term basis. It will also help develop and promote national and international linkages by way of adjunct faculty, partnership in research, student exchange, credit transfer, and joint degrees. The IIT will work for the creation and development of databases and associated software and courseware for all applications to ensure the future availability of newer software technologies for English, Hindi, and Indian Languages. Research and Development

The IIIT is undertaking cutting-edge research focused on those areas that could have tangible applications in the immediate geographical and social milieu. It is striving to persuade industry leaders, such as SUN, IBM, MICROSOFT, SILICON GRAPHICS, MOTOROLA, INTEL, and others, to set up advanced state-of-the-art research laboratories within the Institute; recently, SUN has donated equipment and software to the Institute worth Rs—one crore. The Institute will take up R & D in typical areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Automatic translation from one Indian language to another or English, Bio-chips, Fiber Optic communications, Database systems for water, sanitation, health, and agriculture, Development and organization of legal knowledge; Fuzzy systems; Legal Informatics (Commercial Educational, Governmental, Administrative); Natural language processing; Nanotechnology; Neurocomputing; Neuro-Fuzzy systems; Quantum computing and Robotics, speech recognition and Visual perception. The Institute has established many laboratories, for example, General Labs (Physics & Electronics, Digital Electronics and Microprocessors, Communication and Computer Programming) and Specialized Labs (Advanced computing-parallel & distributed, multimedia technology, digital signal & image processing, artificial intelligence and robotics, nanotechnology, digital communications, CAD, Neurocomputing, and fuzzy systems); and research Labs are being established in due course. Besides, projects are evolving for Indian Railways and Surface and Water Transport Ministries to apply IT in their varied operations. To encourage young engineers, the Institute is awarding five Merit-Cum-Means Scholarships for the students of IIIT. Allahabad Bank has also instituted five scholarships to promote IT education. (PIB Features)

Source: Press Release
PIB
Date: July 25, 2000
07.02.99
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INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE —A TRADITION (Prof. S.B. Rao)


Research in the theory and applications of statistics as a new scientific discipline began in India in the early twenties through the pioneering initiative and efforts of the late Professor P.C. Mahalanobis, who has rightly been described as a great visionary. He picked up a small group of young scientists for the Department of Physics, Presidency College, Calcutta, where he taught. This group formed the laboratory’s nucleus, later known as the Statistical Laboratory.

In the early thirties, realizing the necessity for a concerted effort for the advancement of theoretical and applied statistics in India, Professor Mahalanobis, together with Professor P.N. Banedee and Professor N.R. Sen, both of Calcutta University, convened a meeting on December 17, 1931, to consider various steps for setting up an association for the advancement of statistics in the country. It was unanimously resolved to set up the Indian Statistical Institute with Sir R.N. Mookeerjee as President and Professor P.C. Mahalanobis as Honorary Secretary.

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was registered as a non-government and non-profit distributing learned society on April 28, 1932. The total expenditure in the first year was Rs. 238.00, and the number of workers was only two or three. From such a modest beginning, the Institute grew under the able leadership of Professor Mahalanobis into an all-India organization which is now functioning under the aegis of the Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning & Programme Implementation, Government of India with 1600 workers, including about 500 scientific personnel and an annual expenditure of about Rs. 42 crores.

The Institute has its headquarters in Calcutta, two other Centres in Delhi and Bangalore, and a branch at Giridih in Bihar. Also, it has a network of service units of Statistical Quality Control(SQC) and Operations Research (OR) Division at Baroda, Mumbai, Pune, Coimbatore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Delhi, and Bangalore. Evolution From the beginning, Prof. Mahalanobis and his associates worked zealously and enthusiastically to develop statistical theory and methods and promote research and practical applications in different natural and social sciences areas. Sankhya -the Indian Journal of Statistics and the official organ of the Institute, started publishing in 1933 under the editorship of Prof. P.C.

Mahalanobis is still considered a prestigious and internationally acclaimed journal in statistics. With a history of about 70 years of meaningful work as a centre of excellence, 1SI is regarded as one of the world’s leading organizations for promoting statistics as a critical technology for all scientific endeavours. The objects of the Institute include the study and dissemination of knowledge of statistics, research and development of statistical theories and methods for their use in various fields of natural and social sciences, as well as collection and analysis of information, investigations, undertaking projects and operational research for planning and improvement of efficiency of management and productions.

The enactment of the “Indian Statistical Institute Act 1959” (the bill was piloted by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru) by Parliament recognized it as an Institute of National Importance. It empowered ISI to confer degrees and diplomas in Statistics. Thus, the Bachelor of Statistics (Hons), Master of Statistics, and post-graduate Diploma in Computer Science courses started in 1960. The Institute was also empowered to award Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees from the same year. Later, courses leading to a Master of Technology degree were started in Computer Science and Quality, Reliability and Operations Research, which received formal recognition from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). In honour of the excellent research work done by the scientists of the Institute in several areas related to statistics, section 4 of the Indian Statistical Institute Act of 1959 was amended by Parliament in September 1995 to empower the Institute to award degrees and diplomas not only in statistics but also in mathematics, quantitative economics, computer science and other such subjects related to statistics as may be determined by the Institute from time to time. Subsequently, a Master of Science programme in Quantitative Economics was also introduced.

Contributions

The role and importance of the ISI in conducting and promoting the teaching of statistics have been appreciated by international bodies as well. In 1950, the ISI, jointly with the International Statistical Institute, set up the International Statistical Education Centre under the auspices of UNESCO and the Government of India to impart training in Theoretical and Applied Statistics to participants from countries of the Middle East, South and South-East Asia, the Far East and Commonwealth countries of Africa.

The fundamental contributions made by 1SI include, among others, Mahalanobis Distance, Sample Surveys, Multivariate Analysis, Design of Experiments, and Inference. The Institute was pivotal in establishing the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and Central and State Statistical Bureaus and creating an international understanding for disseminating knowledge of quality, statistics, and applications. Its recent significant contributions include small-area statistics, environmental statistics, and Bayesian Analysis.

The ISI also played a pioneering role in starting the Statistical Quality Control (SQC) movement in India by organizing a visit by Professor W.A. Shewhart, the father of SQC, to India in 1948 and later by inviting other experts like Prof W.E. Deming, Dr. J.M. Juran, Prof. L.H.C. Tippet, Prof. E.R. Ott and Prof G. Taguchi for the same purpose. SQC promotional work was gradually extended to all the industrial centres in India under a comprehensive programme covering education and training, applied research, and consultancy services. Over the years, the SQC and OR Divisions have grown to the size of having ten operating units all over the country and have served in promoting, educating, training, and technical guidance in Total Quality Management Methodology and Quality Assurance Systems for the benefit of the Indian manufacturing and service industry over the decades and continuing its quality service to the industry. Since its inception, the Institute has recognized the need to develop and use accurate and fast computing equipment for the processing and analysis of data.

In 1953, a small analogue computer was designed and built in the Institute. In 1956, the Institute acquired an HEC-2M machine from the U.K., the first digital computer in India. From 1956 until the mid-sixties, the Institute was the country’s de facto national computer centre. In the early sixties, the Institute, in collaboration with Jadavpur University, undertook the design, ‘ development, and fabrication of a fully transistorized digital computer called ISIJU-1, commissioned in 1966.

The Institute has maintained its tradition of high-quality research and development in computer science. Keeping pace with the global advances in computer technology, the activities of the Institute in the field of computer science gathered tremendous momentum in the late seventies, resulting in the diversification of research in different areas. In recognition of its contributions to computer science, the Government of India, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, established one of the five national Nodal Centres for Knowledge-Based Computing Systems at the ISI in 1988. Also, a new division emphasizes research in the theory and application of computer science, pattern recognition, image processing, artificial intelligence, machine intelligence, computer vision, natural language processing, documentation analysis, and remote sensing. The ISI is nationally and internationally recognized as a centre of excellence for its contribution to theoretical statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, and other interdisciplinary research areas in natural and social sciences and their applications in related areas. With the new millennium approaching, the ISI is ready to accept the new challenges ahead -(PIB)

Source: Press Release
PIB
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Date: July 02, 1999

08.09.94
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GUJAR MAL MODI SCIENCE FOUNDATION AWARDS ’94’



SHRI SINGH DEO CALLS UPON SCIENTISTS TO PREPARE NATION FOR THE FUTURE

The Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Shri K.P. Singh Deo, has called upon the Indian scientists to prepare the nation for the future and find answers to the inherited and new problems. They were speaking at an award presentation ceremony of Gujar. Mal Modi Science Foundation here today, the Minister said that technological advancements in Microelectronics, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, computer networks, and information superhighways are bound to change society beyond imagination.

Shri Singh Deo said planned support for science has been one of the significant characteristics of the Government’s policy since Independence. Various steps were taken to build a chain of national laboratories, centres of research, and advanced technical training and integrate science into the planning process.

Shri Singh Dee complimented the Indian scientists for their achievements and urged the industrial houses to come forward with incentives to provide a fillip to scientific research in our country.

PIB
Date: August 9, 1994

07.28.94
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WORKSHOP ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPLICATIONS


The Department of Electronics will conduct a three-day workshop on artificial intelligence applications on June 29. The Workshop is conducted under the auspices of the Knowledge-Based Computer Systems Programme.

The Programme was launched by the Department of Electronics in 1986 with UNDP assistance to gain extensive expertise in this area through research, design, and development to demonstrate KBCS technology-based solutions to major socio-economic problems. This Workshop aims to disseminate information regarding breakthroughs and international scenarios in Artificial Intelligence Applications, particularly in the Financial sector and other practical applications.

Two UK and USA experts have been invited to this Workshop through UNDP. These experts have done considerable work in the area of Artificial Intelligence applications. This Workshop is likely to be attended by many participants from a broader cross-section of computer experts and users, including representatives from financial institutions and the IT industry, both from the private and the public sector.

Source: Press Release
PIB
Date: July 28, 1994