Building self-reliant India a necessity, says IIT Madras Director

TIRUCHI

India’s indigenous microprocessor, Shakti, has been declared a national programme by Ministry of Skill Development and Electronics, V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, who had developed the computer chip, disclosed on Wednesday.

Mr. Kamakoti who was here to deliver Vidya Seva Ratnam K. Santhanam Memorial Lecture at Santhanam Vidhyalaya Senior Secondary School, referred to the announcement made to this effect by Minister of State for Skill Development and Electronics Rajeev Chandarasekar, and urged students to utilise the microprocessor to develop new applications suiting the country’s requirment.

Mr. Kamakoti, who had also contributed to developing the Aarogya Setu app, estimated that about 19.5 crore people used the app.

He informed about a free course, ‘Out of the Box Thinking Through Mathematics’ offered at IIT-M under Pravartak Technologies Foundation which teaches the students to come up with creative logical reasoning.

He also shared information about a virtual B.Sc. degree course in Data Science and Programming offered by IIT-Madras in which students of any age group could enrol without having to take JEE-MAIN or JEE-Advanced exams.

"The tailor-made programme opens the door to the world of data science where the demand for skilled resources is very high to anyone from any background and provides them with an option to fulfil their dream of studying from an IIT," said Mr. Kamakoti, highlighting the importance of learning data science.