Engineers Without Borders

An engineer, according to the dictionaries, “is a person capable of finding highly efficient and economically viable solutions for the day to day problems through a technical approach”. India produces 1.5 million engineers in a year, and an engineer is perhaps the most abundant professional visible here. Still, problems are enveloping the nation, and India is stumbling at the helm of the podium of a “developing nation”. The main reason behind this sad state is the lack of involvement of these engineers in the society.

Engineers without borders(EWB) is an international organization spanning across 66 countries, and aims to devote the engineering zeal prevailing among students towards a brighter future. The paramount ideology of EWB lies in the use of technical expertise for helping the poor and needy, and to inculcate scientific fervor among budding students. EWB targets obscure villages, believes in helping this unfortunate section of society and working towards their upliftment. This initiative aims to develop enthusiastic engineers, who view the world from a gleaming, compassionate perspective. To put it in a nutshell, it is essentially a community of dedicated engineers who have ventured into the pain stricken world to create an impact.

3 April 2016 saw the inauguration of the Manipal chapter of Engineers without borders. The chief guests included Dr. Shaukat Ali Mirza (EWB President), Mr. Abhishek Ojha (EWB secretary- Bangalore), Dr. M Vijay Kini, Ms. Shilpa Ratnoji (Faculty Advisor), and Mr. Balakrishna Maddodi. The event started on an auspicious note by lighting of the lamp ceremony.

Next, an introductory agenda of EWB was presented, wherein, the problems faced in nearby villages such as Nittur and Pragathinagar, were addressed in front of the audience. Problems such as lack of water sources, education, electricity, are not indigenous to these two villages, and are widespread problems in some towns of India as well. The need of the hour is to curb these problems as soon as possible, in order to take the leap from “Developing” to “Developed”. Several small scale projects such as Sand Filters, small biogas plants, solar bottles, etc. were explained in brief. These are some of the projects lined up for the forthcoming semesters.

This was followed by a speech by Mr. Abhishek Ojha, who encouraged students with new ideas and techniques to join the initiative, and work towards a certain goal in their lives. He further mentioned that students will receive professional help for refining their ideas and projects while working for EWB. He stressed on the immense need for an engineer to have a hands on experience before stepping into the chaotic corporate world.

An inspiring speech by Dr. Shaukat Ali Mirza followed, forcing the students to suddenly contemplate about their roles as responsible engineers and citizens of India. He argued that degrees and accolades are a materialistic notion, and the real purpose of an engineer should lie much beyond this superficial milestone. One should be determined to give something back to the place where he belongs. He urged students to break the shackles of streams, and contribute to the cause irrespective of which branches they belong to. In this process, a student will eventually develop interdisciplinary skills as well. Finally, he concluded by sharing the achievements of the various other EWB chapters around India, and how we can make a difference.

The event closed with a speech by Shilpa ma’am and Maddodi sir, who expressed their immense pride for students undertaking this just cause.

The recruitment for Engineers without Borders- Manipal Chapter is on 6th and 7th April 2016.

Come, be the change you want to see!!

–Diptark Bose for MTTN