Tathva

Tathva
Ideate. Revolutionize.
Genre	Techno-Management Festival
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	Kozhikode, Kerala, India
Years active	2000-present
Inaugurated	2000
Most recent	Tathva '12
Next event	Tathva '13
Participants	More than 1000 (2012)[1]
Organised by	National Institute of Technology Calicut

Tathva is an annual techno-management festival, organized by the National Institute of Technology Calicut at Kozhikode, in Kerala, India, in the month of September or October. It is one of the biggest technical festivals in South India.

The festival started as a small-scale technical festival during the era of Regional Engineering Colleges (REC). It has now grown, attracting about 8,000 students in over 40 events and with prize money of around Rs. 1.4 million in 2011.^[2]

Aimed at inspiring innovation, technical interest among students, and awareness among the public, the event hosts lectures, seminars, workshops, competitions, paper presentations, exhibitions, quizzes, model displays and robotics events.

History

Tathva was originally conceived as a technical symposium that would be conducted on an annual basis, incorporating students from reputed engineering colleges and technology institutes of India on a national basis. The first such symposium took place in the year 2000. In 2002, Tathva was transformed into a larger framework that coalesced many contests, demonstrations and exhibitions, in addition to presentations, speeches, workshops and seminars. In 2007, the event was transformed to encompass technology and management.^[3]

Events

Tathva hosts competitions, exhibitions, seminars, workshops, symposiums, and keynote speeches. Events are graded at several levels targeted at the varying interests of attending participants, who may include visiting professors, students, industry experts, delegations from peer educational institutions, and general public. Some of the regular attractions are dedicated to innovations arising out of distinct faculties of engineering and technology from inside and the outside the academic setting.

Technology events

Technological events include robotics, electronics, electrical, mechanical, structural, architectural and chemical engineering projects, value-oriented management subjects and personality development programs.

Online events

Online events of Tathva are popular among the student community. They allow for participation by students unable to directly attend the festival.

Workshops

Tathva includes workshops conducted on many topics that give participants an experience of various branches of engineering. During 2011, Tathva '11 provided workshops such as astro photography, RC plane, hack attack, cloud computing and automotive and engine design.

Previous editions

Tathva '13

Tathva '13 was hosted by NITC as its annual techno-management fest from 17 to 20 October.^[4] V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, former Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), inaugurated the three-day national event.

Tathva '11

A Wikimedia India Workshop session in progress at Tathva Annual Event of 2011

Tathva '11 was hosted by NITC as its annual techno-management fest from 20 to 23 October.^{[2][5][6][7][8]} With its huge leap in magnitude, with nearly 40 events, cash prize worth 1.4 million rupees, participation of about 8000 students, and exceptional media coverage,^{[2][5][6][7][8]} Tathva '11 boasted of being the second largest techno-management fest in South India. The fest was aimed at inspiring new dimensions in the minds of those seeking to showcase their technical and managerial skills.^[5]

The fest had events devoted to test the logical, managerial and technical aptitudes of the participants. The events were classified according to the type of technicalities involved and prepared by a team of students from various departments of the college. The fest had competitions to cover participants from all fields, encompassing fields such as complex logic design, tricky robotics problems and dynamic designs involving mechanics, chemistry and physics. Apart from the usual events like Bulls and Bears, transporter, League of machines, Interrupter, Koderkombat, Cheautic etc., Tathva '11 unlocked a new box of events like the Dirt Race, Aqua Missile and B Plan for those who seek out for newfangled and fresh ideas to compete on.

The major attraction of the fest was the workshops, which were aimed to be a fusion of ideas, interests and practical reasoning. Tathva '11 brought a set of workshops, such as RC Plane Design, Fabrication and Flying, Cloud Computing and Virtualization, Astro Photography (which was a free workshop), Accelero Botix where a robot is controlled using an accelerometer, Hack Attack which was a workshop on Ethical Hacking workshop, and the Automotive Engine parts workshop.

Tathva '11 also took up initiatives like the Young engineer,^[6] a science exhibition that gave high school and higher secondary school students a platform to share ideas or projects they had worked on, with cash prizes worth 20,000 rupees. Social initiatives like 'Teach My India' and 'My School' campaigns were also taken up. Exhibitions showcased in NITC during the 4 days were an integral part of Tathva. Organizations like Territorial Army, ISRO, Touch Magix, NPOL, HAM and a few others presented interesting exhibits for the public. A lecture series featuring renowned personalities like Tessy Thomas, etc. was also a part of Tathva '11.^[7] The 'Tathva Nites', which refer to the night-shows at Tathva, showcased hand shadowgraphy by Amar Sen and team, and a robotics show by Metal Mate.

Tathva '10

The 2010 edition of Tathva was organized from 21 to 24 October.^[9][10][11] It witnessed large participation in the numerous technical and management events. The cash prize was a wholesome 1.2 million rupees. Apart from the usual events that were held, an intriguing competition called the IDP (Industry Defined Problem) was introduced with an idea of encouraging new ideas in the student community. Lectures by Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, Mr. T. Ramasami and a few other magnanimous personalities were a major add on to the fest. Exhibitions by ISRO, DRDO and a few other organizations opened new opportunities for the students. Workshops like Humanoid hand workshop, Automotive and Engine design, etc. helped them foster their interests. The Tathva Nites, with sand art by Dr. Amar Sen, a scintillating performance by the rock-band Slingshot, and a fire show that was conducted by the Pa-litchi company, a Czech Republic-based team, all made Tathva '10 exciting for the participants.

Tathva '09

Tathva 09

The 2009 edition of Tathva was held from 22 to 25 October 2009,^[12][13][14] with the theme 'Inspiring Innovation'. The fest was inaugurated by Suhas Gopinath, the young founder, CEO and President of Globals Inc. This edition of Tathva was characterized by a lecture series featuring Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, Former President of India; Harold Kroto, one of the co-recipients of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his co-discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, a form of pure carbon; et al.

Tathva '09 featured a blend of competitions, lectures, workshops, demonstrations and papers in technology and management. Events ranging from Robotics to Coding, Electronics, Managerial and online events, workshop and Guest Lectures were organized. Tathva also featured the popular Business plan competitions like B-Aptist. Besides, Tathva showcased a plethora of online competitions like IOPC (Programming Competition), Bulls N Bears, and Online Quizzes. The total prize money exceeded a sum of Rs. 8 lakhs. The competitions were designed to encourage the questioning spirit and challenge the conventional way of thought, while the lectures and workshops by eminent personalities were meant to update the student folk with the current pulse of the techno-management world.

Tathva '08

Between 23 and 26 October 2008, NIT Calicut played host to over 5000 students from across the country, all gathered to join in the celebration of Tathva ^[15][16][17]

With the innovative events, the students enjoyed participating in a fine display of technical and management competitions, be it advanced robotics like the minimouse and i-bot, basic engineering like the Road Zepplin and Floating Tombstones, business events like the B-Aptist or even a mock stock market simulation.

The festival included eminent personalities like Mr Richard Stallman, the father of the free and open source software movement, Dr P.M. Ajayan a pioneer in the field of nanotechnology and discoverer of the darkest matter known to man, Dr V.P.N. Namboori the photonics head of CUSAT, and Dr P.V. Manoranjan Rao from the VSSC and ISRO, lecture and interact with the student community during the days of Tathva.

In terms of exhibits, the stalls of DRDO and Nexrobotics provided a novel experience highlighting futuristic technologies and fields that are evolving as the technology era flourishes. From futuristic robots to cutting-edge technology in space research and defense, these stalls lifted Tathva to what time demands of a techno-management fest. The exhibits by the students themselves, like the stall by the Civil department, the Club Mathematica stall and the stall by the Nature club were a whole new experience. With exotic creations like the light-passing concrete, true-to-detail model of the Parthenon, and the feel of the outdoors, made these stalls an inspiring experience throughout Tathva.

Tathva '07

Proving itself to be a genuine platform to showcase technical expertise, Tathva 2007 was presented by NIT Calicut during 27 to 30 September 2007.^[3] Like its previous editions, Tathva 2007 was a proving ground for the "engineers of tomorrow" to test their mettle. The fete was flooded with an atmosphere of techno-managerial knowledge on all 4 days through events of international standards, lectures by front runners in various fields, workshops and informative stalls. It asserted the brand's ever-alive thirst to grow in all respects and achieve a distinct standing among its contemporaries. The torch of Tathva 2007 was set ablaze in the inaugural ceremony by Prof. R.V.G. Menon on the evening 27 September 2007 at NITC and the days followed saw the participation from all over South India. Unlike its precedents, Tathva 2007 rose to a Techno-Management event, widening its vistas with the business competitions B-APTIST and BULLS N BEARS as a game simulating a stock market. The 2007 edition also saw superior robotic events like Minimouse (automatic grid solving robot), ibot (image processing robot) along with the classic, League of Machines (robo-soccer, acting as footballers). Associating with Techfest 2008, Tathva became a preliminary stage venue for their Nexus competition.

Tathva 2007 was privileged to present video conferences with Jimmy Wales, the wiki guru and Aaron Swartz, the technology whizkid who had co-authored RSS 1.0 at age 14. It also hosted lectures by frontrunners like Dr Subramonia Sarma (director PGP, ISB), Nagendran S (NAL), Mr Hemachandran S (VSSC), Dr P S Harikumar (CWRDM). Asserting the necessity of effective managerial skills and role of 'market' in developing science and technology, Tathva07 became a venue for the entrepreneurship workshop by Mr Vinod Dumblekar of MANTIS group. The workshop which got mass reception, was planned to inform and inspire the crowd at Tathva to become corporate visionaries. The image processing workshop at Tathva too saw greater participation and enthusiasm.

The external appeal of the event was tied to the weight of its sponsors, and Tathva '07 was able to have the PSUs such as ONGC, SBI, Canara Bank, and global corporate giants like Toshiba, Aricent, Wipro, Accenture, Larsen and Toubro, Satyam and Reliance General Insurance. In short, Tathva 2007 was a contribution from NITC to science and technology and the duty of a T-school of her standing, fulfilled, and living the caption 'inspiring innovation'.

Tathva '06

Tathva 06: Grey matters.

Tathva '06 saw an attendance of more than 700 registered participants and 64 colleges, and donned the tagline "Grey Matters". It was noted by its organizers and participants to be the most innovative Tathva to date.^[18][19][20] Keeping abreast with modern trends, the main highlights were the robotics competitions held over the three days. Robotics competitions included Capto-tractus (line-following robots), League of the Machines (robosoccer), Transporter, and Cruise Control. Participation in these were strong, and extremely competitive skills were put up by all teams. Various other innovative Design on Paper competitions and Model displays evidently kept the Grey-matters running. In addition, there were more than 25 competitions spanning over the various branches of engineering. Besides these deviceful competitions, the fest played venue for various seminars, workshops and exhibitions. The key features included the HAM Radio and Automobile Embedded Systems workshop, seminars on "India in space", "Chaos Theory", "Spoken Dialog Systems", etc. One of the most creative displays by the students of the college was "Return to the Montgolfier", where students launched self-made hot-air balloons. The various exhibitions set up by the college and ISRO attracted many students as well as the general public.

Tathva '05

Tathva '05, which was held from 30 September to 2 October 2005, acted as a platform for the engineering minds to demonstrate their intellectual aptitude and innovative ideas. True to the tagline "Where parallels converge", the fest saw the confluence of ideas in different fields of scientific interest. This edition of Tathva saw over 300 participants from over 60 colleges, battling it out, under different events like 'Spardha', the paper presentation contest, 'Prayoga', the design contest, 'Prashnothara', the technical quiz and 'Pradarshini', the model exhibition. Aero enthusiasts were spellbound by the model air show conducted by Bangalore based Sri. P Easwar as a part of the fest. The Crossroads, the only quiz fest of its kind in Kerala, conducted by the Enquire club of NITC was one of the star attractions of the fest. The quiz fest also saw one of the most prominent quiz masters of all time, Arul Mani, of Karnataka Quiz Association (KQA) hosting a quiz.

Tathva '04

Tathva 2004 was held from 28 February to 1 March 2004.^[21] It was this year that Tathva transformed itself from a technical presentation contest into a full-fledged techno fest, with the tagline "The Joy of Innovation". Complete funding for Tathva came from corporate sponsorship and alumni contribution. For the second year running, there was an open house and a science exhibition. The various events were organised by the various departments under their own banners as Vigyan - The Quest for Discovery (Science), Vishvakarma - the Quintessence of Creativity (Architecture), Lakshya - Focus on the Virtual (Computer Science), Kanika - Small is Beautiful (Electronics), Vidyulatha - The Power of Electricity (Electrical), Yantramaya - The Magic of Machines (Mechanical) and Nirmaan - Cementing Aspirations (Civil). Events like the 'Debugging Contest', 'Board game design ', 'Quick circuit design', 'Rural innovation' and 'The structure building competition' were held for the first time.

Tathva '03

After CREC got a facelift to NITC, the tech-fest saw a growth in terms of stature and a widening of realms. Conducted on 6, 7, and 8 March 2003, Tathva 03, for the first time, was a united effort of all the departments of NIT-C including Mathematics and Applied Sciences. There were a wide range of competitions including paper presentations, design contests, and technical quizzes (etc.) which covered all fields and provided a platform for students from all over the nation to exhibit their knowledge and skills. The fest also hosted some workshops on management and software and saw a participation of about 40 colleges from various parts of the country. Another major attraction was the Open House Exhibition in which, for the first time since 1986, all the labs and workshops of NIT-C were open for the general public. Also part of this exhibition was a scintillating display of talents that attracted more than 2,000 visitors, which included students from schools and colleges, as well as the general public. On the whole, year 2003 showed a complete facelift for Tathva as it had been known, latching to it the tag of one of the best Tech-fests in South India.

Tathva '02

Tathva 02 was much different from the humble beginning it made the year before. It was with this edition, that Tathva saw it being placed as an annual event in the college calendar. The inaugural function saw Dr P.S. Nair (the then Group Director of Aerostructures Division ISRO) and Dr V.A. Thomas (the then Director of Programme Planning, ISRO) addressing the audience and stressing the need for technical excellence. Apart from paper presentations in five different streams of engineering, there were design contests, software contests and twin workshops, one on information technology and one on management. The workshops were handled by reputed professionals in respective fields. Students of nearly 40 institutions from various parts of the country attended the festival. Tathva 02, sponsored by AICTE, ISRO and CSIR-India provided an opportunity for students to interact in an intellectually stimulating environment as well as to promote the scientific temper and creativity among the student community.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Institute of Technology Calicut.

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