Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates centres for nano technology at IIT Guwahati

The top priorities include Indian classical music, Yoga, Sanskrit, traditional medicines, temple architecture, ceramic tradition and special agricultural practices of North-East India, herbal plants of north-east as health food and metal work of Assam.

New Delhi: Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the state-of-the-art Centre for Nanotechnology (CNT) and Centre for Indian Knowledge System (CIKS) on Sunday at IIT Guwahati. The major funding for the Centre, which included Rs 37 crore for the building, apart from equipment, was obtained from the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), said a statement.

Centre for Nanotechnology (CNT) aims at meeting future challenges and augmenting academic partnerships with industry in Nanotechnology. Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan congratulated IIT Guwahati for achieving excellent rankings in various international and national ranking systems and appreciated the efforts of IIT Guwahati for creating an ecosystem for research and education as well as focusing on the overall development of the north-eastern region.

Director of IIT, Guwahati said that the Institute has been proactively pursuing high-end research and working towards the vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, while fulfilling the aspirations of the region, aligning with national policies, especially implementing the NEP2020, and competing globally in research and technology development.

The CNT will host 25 advanced laboratories that will focus on advancements in multi-disciplinary, scientific and translational research and is equipped with Class-100 clean room facilities integrated with state-of-the-art fabrication, characterization and testing laboratories. The CNT presently hosts two Centres-for-Excellence sponsored by the MeitY and the ICMR.

Centre for Indian Knowledge System (CIKS) will focus on preserving, documenting and sustaining the knowledge that is unique to India. The top priorities include Indian classical music, Yoga, Sanskrit, traditional medicines, temple architecture, ceramic tradition and special agricultural practices of North-East India, herbal plants of north-east as health food and metal work of Assam.

Constructed at a total cost of Rs 132 crore, these hostels will further help in enhancing the capacity of IIT Guwahati. Disang hostel adds another 1000 rooms to the existing hostel capacity of IIT Guwahati. Dikhow hostel is the first hostel on the campus specifically for the accommodation of project staff. Dr Ranoj Pegu, Education Minister of Assam congratulated IIT Guwahati and said that "the Institute should focus on entrepreneurship and produce job creators and not only job seekers. Institutes like IIT Guwahati should also focus on developing new agricultural technologies to help double farmers' income."

The Minister highlighted that "during the COVID-19, innovation and technology-aided us with PPT kits helped with the development and production of vaccines and represented the resilience of this country. Institutes like IIT Guwahati have to play an important role in leveraging innovation for societal good," he added.