It is all about going green. From the competitive events to the conferences, workshops, science and technology series, and cultural programmes, all ride on the ‘go green' concept.
The third edition of ‘Anokha,' national level students' technical festival of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is about making participants environmentally responsible and making them to find solutions for the sustainability of the planet.
The three-day fest with the theme ‘Eco tech and sustainable development' that took off here on Thursday with its signature event ‘Green i – a campus green conference,' advocated designing green buildings and focussed on energy security and innovations sans environmental damnation in technology.
Day one witnessed nearly 2,000 students from 300 institutions across the country taking part in the 50-odd technical events that tested their domain skills as well as their creativity.
The varsity has Rs.1.5 million worth prizes up for grabs and the teams were seen eagerly competing for these.
The organisers expect a total of 7,000 students to take part in the events.
Terming this a great opportunity, R. Venugopal, Vice-President, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, Coimbatore, said solutions for maintaining sustainable environmental balance lay in technology. He urged students to learn to focus on technology without damaging the environment.
N. Saravanan, Chief Executive Officer, Nissan Ashok Leyland Technologies, Chennai, asked the student participants to explore and use their potential to the optimum level as this was an era of opportunities.
Inaugurating the tech fest, he urged the students to conform to core values and ethics.
Terming Bill Gates his role model, he exhorted them to give a thought to the way Mr. Gates gave back to society and also motivated other millionaires to do the same.
P. Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said ‘Anokha' provided an ideal platform for giving wings to one's creativity and innovation. Also, for the host students it was the best opportunity to learn to organise an event.
Abhayamrita Chaitanya, Pro-Chancellor; M.P. Chandrasekharan, Dean-Engineering; and Prashant R. Nair, Convenor of ‘Anokha 2012,' spoke at the inauguration.
Mr. Saravanan threw open the showstopper of the tech fest – ‘Torq – auto expo.' Two-wheelers and four-wheelers, both vintage and modern, are on display till Saturday.
Day one of ‘Anokha' ended on a musical note with a flute recital by faculty member Pushpa Raj.
The Hindu is the media partner for the three-day event.
