IIT-Kharagpur to help GRSE build ships

[RPK]

IIT-Kharagpur to help GRSE build ships - The Times of India


KOLKATA: Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, will help the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata in designing the Navy's next generation stealth frigate. The over Rs 50,000 crore project, codenamed 'P-17A', envisages to build seven stealth frigates that will be more advanced than the three Shivalik Class ones (P-17) that the Navy commissioned in the last three years. The frigates under P-17A will also be capable of carrying the Brahmos cruise missiles. Three of these advanced frigates are likely to be built by GRSE. "We have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IIT-Kgp. While building the Kamorta-class Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) Corvettes - three of which have already been launched - we have already fine tuned our capability of including the stealth features. In the last two vessels of this class, we have integrated composite material (a kind of plastic) with high-quality steel developed by SAIL and DRDO.

It will provide us more technological knowhow about the frigates. Fortunately, we are close to the only IIT that has an ocean engineering and naval architecture department. If necessary, our engineers will also go abroad for training," said Rear Admiral (retd) A K Verma, chairman-cum-managing director, GRSE.

IIT-Kgp has been involved in several projects for GRSE. Authorities there confirmed that a MoU has been signed with the shipbuilders. "This is primarily on the design aspects. As it is, our department has been involved in testing of several models. Since both GRSE and IIT-Kgp are government organizations, we felt that things would be smoother if we sign a MoU," said Professor Om Prakash Sha, head of the department, Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture.

Verma sounded quite upbeat about the prospects of GRSE that has been declared the best defence shipyard in the country by the Ministry of Defence. He feels that Kolkata and Bengal ought to feel proud about this. According to him, GRSE has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for having supplied the portable steel bridge installed at Khardungla Pass. This is apparently the highest point in the world where such a bridge has been installed.

GRSE is presently undergoing modernization at a cost of nearly Rs 600 crore. Verma expects this to be completed by June this year. The modernization will help the country's oldest shipbuilders to go in for modular construction and nearly double its capacity. "Countries in Latin America, Africa, the Far East and the Gulf have expressed interest in tying up with us for shipbuilding. I shall take up this matter with the Government of India. If we get clearance, we may even start participating in global tenders," the CMD said.

 

[Ashoka The Great]

IIT-Kharagpur to help GRSE build ships - The Times of India


KOLKATA: Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, will help the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata in designing the Navy's next generation stealth frigate. The over Rs 50,000 crore project, codenamed 'P-17A', envisages to build seven stealth frigates that will be more advanced than the three Shivalik Class ones (P-17) that the Navy commissioned in the last three years. The frigates under P-17A will also be capable of carrying the Brahmos cruise missiles. Three of these advanced frigates are likely to be built by GRSE. "We have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IIT-Kgp. While building the Kamorta-class Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) Corvettes - three of which have already been launched - we have already fine tuned our capability of including the stealth features. In the last two vessels of this class, we have integrated composite material (a kind of plastic) with high-quality steel developed by SAIL and DRDO.

It will provide us more technological knowhow about the frigates. Fortunately, we are close to the only IIT that has an ocean engineering and naval architecture department. If necessary, our engineers will also go abroad for training," said Rear Admiral (retd) A K Verma, chairman-cum-managing director, GRSE.

IIT-Kgp has been involved in several projects for GRSE. Authorities there confirmed that a MoU has been signed with the shipbuilders. "This is primarily on the design aspects. As it is, our department has been involved in testing of several models. Since both GRSE and IIT-Kgp are government organizations, we felt that things would be smoother if we sign a MoU," said Professor Om Prakash Sha, head of the department, Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture.

Verma sounded quite upbeat about the prospects of GRSE that has been declared the best defence shipyard in the country by the Ministry of Defence. He feels that Kolkata and Bengal ought to feel proud about this. According to him, GRSE has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for having supplied the portable steel bridge installed at Khardungla Pass. This is apparently the highest point in the world where such a bridge has been installed.

GRSE is presently undergoing modernization at a cost of nearly Rs 600 crore. Verma expects this to be completed by June this year. The modernization will help the country's oldest shipbuilders to go in for modular construction and nearly double its capacity. "Countries in Latin America, Africa, the Far East and the Gulf have expressed interest in tying up with us for shipbuilding. I shall take up this matter with the Government of India. If we get clearance, we may even start participating in global tenders," the CMD said.

It's a good development i would say. Premier institues like IITs and NITs has a lot to offer when it comes to R&D of new technologies.

 

[shiv]

trust me except for a few professors in IIT and even less in NITs they can't provide consultation worth jack sh!t. Most of them are too much into getting/giving grades and zero practical knowledge !

 

[MilSpec]

I agree to what @shiv mentioned here, there needs to be widescale reform in universities to be constant source of research and support for defence and infrastructure.... US Mil ind complex stands on the shoulders of universities here!!!

 

[shiv]

I agree to what @shiv mentioned here, there needs to be widescale reform in universities to be constant source of research and support for defence and infrastructure.... US Mil ind complex stands on the shoulders of universities here!!!

Exactly, If u see the average amount of time a faculty in IIT spends time evaluating/grading students it will seem to be a govt. service. Its almost a routine to keep track of under grad students, setting papers for the next cycle/monthly tests/ grading etc.. Which is in complete contrast to Most renowned universities around the globe where the primary purpose of a prof is research and iff time permits offer some courses.

ANd let us not talk about NITs at all here... All they do in their entire tenure in those colleges is check Mid-Sem/End-sem papers. There are exceptions though but only few !

 

[AirDefence]

IITs are fully depending on their students not on their teachers.......

 

[Capt.Popeye]

I agree to what @shiv mentioned here, there needs to be widescale reform in universities to be constant source of research and support for defence and infrastructure.... US Mil ind complex stands on the shoulders of universities here!!!

There is a reason for that. One could, in a sense; say that the US Mil-Ind Complex was set up on top of the University system. While the Indian University System was set up to disseminate knowledge, not to create knowledge. That would apply to the IITs as well. However, the trend is changing. The IITs are now working on Research Projects as well, all of which may not 'cutting edge' I'll grant that. But the degree of IIT involvement is increasing. Actually in India; the areas of operations seem to have been clearly (and somewhat wrongly IMO) delineated. Universities to distribute knowledge, behemoths like the CSIR to research and create knowledge. Both were controlled by Govt. so they remained disconnected from most of Industry; so one can argue that a good deal of the research (ie Applied Research) remained either worthless or unutilised. In the Fundamental Research sector; India's record is far better but that is not something that makes it to the headlines.

In Applied Research, those delineations must dissolve and layers must overlap; Universities, Research Bodies and Industry must overlap. That seems to have taken off. One way to ensure that is to make both Universities and Resarch Bodies seek funding from Industry to function instead of getting pre-allocated funds. Govt. would do well to curtail funds only to the extent of setting up infrastructure for the above. After that the institutions must find funds for both operations as well as growth on their own. That is necessary, to kick-start research in India.

 

[MilSpec]

There is a reason for that. One could, in a sense; say that the US Mil-Ind Complex was set up on top of the University system. While the Indian University System was set up to disseminate knowledge, not to create knowledge. That would apply to the IITs as well. However, the trend is changing. The IITs are now working on Research Projects as well, all of which may not 'cutting edge' I'll grant that. But the degree of IIT involvement is increasing. Actually in India; the areas of operations seem to have been clearly (and somewhat wrongly IMO) delineated. Universities to distribute knowledge, behemoths like the CSIR to research and create knowledge. Both were controlled by Govt. so they remained disconnected from most of Industry; so one can argue that a good deal of the research (ie Applied Research) remained either worthless or unutilised. In the Fundamental Research sector; India's record is far better but that is not something that makes it to the headlines.

In Applied Research, those delineations must dissolve and layers must overlap; Universities, Research Bodies and Industry must overlap. That seems to have taken off. One way to ensure that is to make both Universities and Resarch Bodies seek funding from Industry to function instead of getting pre-allocated funds. Govt. would do well to curtail funds only to the extent of setting up infrastructure for the above. After that the institutions must find funds for both operations as well as growth on their own. That is necessary, to kick-start research in India.

Captain, educational reform measure would be a great topic to discuss indeed. Too bad that thread wont survive for more than aday... but I do think it would be fun to deconstruct Indian higher education system, discussing pros and cons, lets see if we can create a thread dedicated to that, what say? It will definately be good education for me..

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Captain, educational reform measure would be a great topic to discuss indeed. Too bad that thread wont survive for more than aday... but I do think it would be fun to deconstruct Indian higher education system, discussing pros and cons, lets see if we can create a thread dedicated to that, what say? It will definately be good education for me..

Good idea, Sandy. I am not from the educational sector; so it is not my area of expertise but solely an area of observation. Though I must confess that I have got pulled in by some friends back home who are part of a NGO that is working on trying to bring value to education in Primary and Middle schools run by Municipalities and Local Bodies who are considered to be at the bottom of the heap. That sounds challenging enough to me.

Maybe we should rope in @Joe Shearer who has donned a new avatar and is involved in setting up a Pvt. University now. He has better academic credentials than me to start with. As do you, most likely!

 

[MilSpec]

Good idea, Sandy. I am not from the educational sector; so it is not my area of expertise but solely an area of observation. Though I must confess that I have got pulled in by some friends back home who are part of a NGO that is working on trying to bring value to education in Primary and Middle schools run by Municipalities and Local Bodies who are considered to be at the bottom of the heap. That sounds challenging enough to me.

Maybe we should rope in @Joe Shearer who has donned a new avatar and is involved in setting up a Pvt. University now. He has better academic credentials than me to start with. As do you, most likely!

sounds good...will try to put up a thread onthis..see how it goes!

 

[surya kiran]

Good idea, Sandy. I am not from the educational sector; so it is not my area of expertise but solely an area of observation. Though I must confess that I have got pulled in by some friends back home who are part of a NGO that is working on trying to bring value to education in Primary and Middle schools run by Municipalities and Local Bodies who are considered to be at the bottom of the heap. That sounds challenging enough to me.

Maybe we should rope in @Joe Shearer who has donned a new avatar and is involved in setting up a Pvt. University now. He has better academic credentials than me to start with. As do you, most likely!

Wow! @Joe Shearer that's a great initiative! And @Capt.Popeye superlative. Hats off to you guys!

 

[Joe Shearer]

Wow! @Joe Shearer that's a great initiative! And @Capt.Popeye superlative. Hats off to you guys!

I feel very excited about it, and have just got off the mail with some of my new colleagues, planning to go to the north-east to talk to potential students, and to go to the IIMs to hire faculty for the management school.

The new univ. will have seven schools to start with: Technology, Management, Commerce, Information Technology, Media and Cultural Studies, Law and Education. I am involved with them to organise their placement, to teach management classes and to coordinate the humanities faculty.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

I feel very excited about it, and have just got off the mail with some of my new colleagues, planning to go to the north-east to talk to potential students, and to go to the IIMs to hire faculty for the management school.

The new univ. will have seven schools to start with: Technology, Management, Commerce, Information Technology, Media and Cultural Studies, Law and Education. I am involved with them to organise their placement, to teach management classes and to coordinate the humanities faculty.

All of that sounds very good. Yousuf Saeed is getting associated with the Media part; that is nice.

 

[Joe Shearer]

All of that sounds very good. Yousuf Saeed is getting associated with the Media part; that is nice.

HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW THAT? I'M GOBSMACKED!!!

He's Dean of Media and Cultural Studies, btw.

 

[surya kiran]

HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW THAT? I'M GOBSMACKED!!!

He's Dean of Media and Cultural Studies, btw.

Damn cool buddy. In case, you need any help please feel free to ping me. Teach a subject (only part time) related to marketing in my alma mater just for the pleasure of it. Though am not an IIM grad, my fiance is the female of the species is much smarter Can get you in touch with the top chaps in advertising and media in case you are interested.