All of you must be aware of the tragic news by now:
Flesh and blood everywhereMany of you have written privately and some have blogged publicly their deepest feelings.
Sankat Mochan plans own security
This is no time to indulge in politics
As BHU and Varanasi go through these trying times, the thoughts of ITBHU alumni everywhere are with the victims. We may have left Varanasi many years ago, but it has always been in our hearts. Sankat Mochan was a natural extension of the wonderful years of campus life for many of us.
All ITBHU alumni deeply share the grief and the outrage with the BHU and Varanasi community.
We feel the pain in the press statements of Professor Veer Bhadra Mishra, the Head of the Civil Engg Dept at ITBHU and the celebrated TIME Hero of the Planet. We also feel assured that as the Mahant he will ably guide the Sankat Mochan community out of this tragedy.
Some of you have expressed willingness to contribute time, efforts or resources towards rehabilitation or reconstruction efforts. We do not know what is needed at this point. We have written to the Director Professor S. N. Upadhyay. We will inform all those who leave a comment here or write to one of us at ITBHU.org how you can join in helping.
Our prayers are with the victims and for peace!
Dear friends,
We are grateful to the alumni community, friends and wellwishers for the overwhelming response to the petition. If you haven't yet, it is never too late to sign: http://www.petitiononline.com/NewIITs/.
Thank YOU!
The signatures are another testimony that our successful and diverse alumni are second to none!
We have submitted the petition to all the concerned decision makers and influencers.
As you may know, there was no mention of new IITs in the Union Budget two days ago. However, the Ministry of Human Resource Development's process to beef up the seven short-listed institutions for potential IIT conversion continues at a good pace.
Recently, there have been cases of confusing media reports about some colleges, that they are already granted, or in the process of being granted, an IIT status. None of them are an official HRD release.
Some of the colleges are engaged in -- to put it mildly -- delicate negotiations whether and how the states may cede control to the central government after IIT conversion. Luckily that isn't one of our concerns as BHU is a central university. That might even work in favor of expediting our case besides our obvious advantages of the higest standing in the quality of education, research, admissions, national character and faculty quality.
Earlier today (Friday), Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited BHU and delivered the convocation address on Evolution of Enlightened Citizenship. Our highly motivated and well-connected alumni in Delhi and Bangalore pulled a coup of sorts by arranging a last-minute personal meeting of a small group of IT students with the President.
Here is an update from Arvind Gupta ECE92, the force behind this:
This turned out be a good event. The students got a good audience with the H'ble President. According to the students, the President expressed surprise that we were not an IIT. He knew about our history and the students have personally handed over the petition to the President.Our main concern, as always, is lack of sufficient political momentum behind our case.The students and the President had a one-one discussion without the presence of the Director, VC or other officials apart from the two presidential staff members and ADC to the H'ble President.
Let's hope the petition drive and the recent exposure to the President, also an honorary (D.Sc.) BHU alumnus, should help! We will keep you posted.
Thank you,
Sanjay.