The Engineers Day was celebrated by the Institution of Engineers (India), Goa State Centre on 15th September at Taj Vivanta, Panaji. The Chief Guest for the function was Shri. Sreedharan Pillai, Honourable Governor of Goa. The key note speaker was Shri. Lalit Saraswat, CEO of Sancoale Technologies who spoke on the theme, ‘Engineers for Skill Development and Employment in combating Covid’ and the other speaker was Shri. Suneel Grover, Chairman, Board of Governors – National Skill Development Forum.
Welcoming the gathering, the Chairman, Institution of Engineers (India), Goa State Centre, Er. Chandrashekar Prabhudessai requested the engineers and senior engineers to train and skill the youth who have gone through hardship due to online classes and get them job ready to get them prepared to work anywhere in the country and the world. The Honorary Secretary, Institution of Engineers (India), Goa State Centre, Er. Anwar Khan made a presentation about the Institution of Engineers (India) and highlighted the various activities organized by the institution. He also talked about the AMIE examinations being taken up by the students of the institution passing which they get the certificate which is equivalent to graduation. The Jt. Secretary, Shri. Austin Rodrigues presented a life-sketch of Sir. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Shri. Sreedharan Pillai, Honourable Governor of Goa garlanded the portrait of Sir M. Visvesvaraya, the eminent engineer and statesman who played a key role in building of modern India on whose birthday the Engineers day is celebrated all over the country.
Shri. Lalit Saraswat, the key note speaker gave an example of Nocca Robotics and explained how the startup company started from scratch during the pandemic and created the invasive ventilators within 90 days. The new inventions have created a lot of employment with high development during covid times. Lots of things have changed such as classroom on mobile, doctor tele-consultations, buying online, etc. Covid has been a talent mismatch wherein industries have gone for a toss. Demand of some commodities has reduced whereas others sky-rocketed. Educational institutions have to look at how they can address skills to students and re-skilling. Use virtual reality to sell the properties as customer no longer goes to the site to see the real estate. Speed of implementation and multi-skilling is important in today’s world. He urged the employers to get women as 50% of the workforce. Faculty start-up policy and student start-up policy is a must today to get the transformation of the nation. Shri. Suneel Grover, Chairman, Board of Governors – National Skill Development Forum, said that many students and people have anxiety created by the covid pandemic. The unemployment level is very high due to job loss and less openings available at present. The future employment potential would be technology based. The engineers are needed to scale up the skill development eco-system for upskilling and skill enhancement so as to create more jobs, and get other people job-ready and productive. NSDF was taking a lead in contributing towards skill training so as to facilitate people with anxiety and distress due to the pandemic.
The Chief Guest, honourable Governor of Goa, Shri. Sreedharan Pillai in his address gave the example of how a professional should not stick to one single profession, but should be a multi-professional. Also, giving the example of Mahatma Gandhi, he explained that at the spur of the moment one should be ready to change and deal with the problem or crisis. He explained how the industries stood up to the occasion and helped the country to quickly adapt and fight the virus during the pandemic to keep infections and deaths to minimum. The mementoes were presented to the Chief Guest and the Key-note Speaker at the hands of the Chairman, Institution of Engineers (India), Goa State Centre, Er. Chandrashekar Prabhudessai. The Honorary Secretary, Institution of Engineers (India), Goa State Centre, Er. Anwar Khan conveyed the vote of thanks. Ms. Yogita Kharkanis compered the function. The function was in hybrid mode attended by the Managing Committee members of the Institution of Engineers (India) Goa State Centre and the programme was telecast via zoom and platform pan India.
