IIT Roorkee Alumni Association Meerut Chapter celebrated 175 years of its Alma mater IIT Roorkee on July 30, 2022, at IMA Hall, Meerut.
The gala event was graced by Lt. Gen. Vishwambhar Singh, President of IITRAA as chief guest.
On this occasion Mr. S.K Kumar, Chairman IITRAA, Meerut Chapter presented a thematic PRESENTATION on “CLIMATE CHANGE – CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES.”
Many alumni of the institute participated in this outreach event along with their families. 36 Medallions were presented to senior Alumni, who completed their graduation more than 50 years from IIT Roorkee
IITRAA views on CLIMATE CHANGE – CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
The brief note on the presentation given by Mr. S.K Kumar (B.E Civil Batch, 1960), Chairman IITRAA, Meerut Chapter of B.E Civil 1960 batch is shared below
Origin
- Few will realize that our Alma Mater was a consequence of recurring famines which plagued our country during the British rule.
- Col Proby Cautley who was entrusted with the herculean task of building 500 long canals to provide irrigation support to fertile Ganga-Yamuna Doab, soon realized that he required a team of trained engineers, technicians and surveyors.
- Upon his request, Governor of North West Province James Thomson sanction the first ever Engineering College in the whole British Empire in the year 1847, initially named Thomason College of Civil Engineering.
IITRAA Meerut Chapter members with Vice President IITRAA
Evolution
- Started initially in tents, as a modest College of Engineering, it then blossomed into prestigious University of Roorkee in 1949 and subsequently one of the topmost IIT’s of the country in 2001.
- Its alumni played a significant role in ushering an era of Green Revolution through a vast irrigation and power network, making recurring famines redundant and a dreaded memory of the distant past.
Climate Degradation Crisis
- The climatic degradation caused by industrial revolution has caused sea levels to rise, glaciers to recede and shrink, polar caps to melt and change in plant blooming timings.
- Increased levels of CO2 emissions have led to an alarming increase in Earth’s temperature, resulting in rising sea levels.
Emission control targets set by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – a UN authorized body were largely ignored by developed countries, resulting in global warming rising at an alarming rate and leading to air toxicity and acute water crisis all over the world.
Opportunity
- Taking Covid-19 as a recent example during which climate self-healed when left alone, technology can make a real difference. Some of the technology driven solutions can be:
- Moving from thermal to renewable energy sources like solar power.
- Switching from fossil fuel to electricity driven transport and then on to fuel of the future, hydrogen.
- Cleaning up our rivers by comprehensive basin management.
- Funding for such green reforms can be secured through the Green Investing initiatives from corporate sector such as Reliance Industries led by Mukesh Ambani aiming to cut green hydrogen price to 1$/kg in a decade and building mega-factories for solar panels, batteries, cells and electrolysis for green Hydrogen.
- India has made a bold commitment in COP 26 at Glasgow November 2021 to increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW, meet its 50% energy requirements from renewable energy, reduce projected carbon emission by one million tonnes and reduce carbon intensity of its economy by 45% — all of them by 2030.
Our Contribution
- On this 175th anniversary of our Alma Mater, let our 40,000+ Thomsonians from all over the world, pledge to cut carbon emission & use green energy, go for electric/hydrogen fuel transport, save water & increase forest cover, respect rather than worship rivers and reduce waste to keep habitats clean.
- This will be a single contribution of our glorious institution towards saving our planet.
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