IIT Guwahati to collaborate with North Eastern Space Application Centre in Meghalaya

Through this partnership, a multidisciplinary approach would be adopted to study disasters as North East India is prone to flood, earthquake, landslide, and riverbank erosions

GUWAHATI: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is going to collaborate with North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) to carry out several initiatives jointly for development of the North East Region and create a mass of skilled professionals in the field.

A MoU was signed between the two institutions on 28th June 2021. Some of the initiatives that would be taken up under this partnership include internship programs, joint degree programs, short-term training programs, student exchange programs and joint projects, among others. A multi-disciplinary approach would be adopted to study ways to tackle disasters.

Highlighting the unique aspects of this collaboration, Prof. T.G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “This is a historic day for both IITG and NESAC as on this day we make our long-standing intellectual relationship also in to a formal one. The opportunity is limitless for these two institutes to work together and achieving new heights in research, innovation and capacity development for Northeast Region. Joint Certificate programs, visiting Professorship for teaching few suitable courses along with IITG faculty are few of the initiatives that both institutes could take forward.”

North East India is prone to various disasters namely flood, earthquake, landslide, and riverbank erosions, among others. These disasters sometimes can become a roadblock to the growth of the region and to address these challenges in a more meaningful premier institutes of this region need to work together and collaboration is the key to success.

Elaborating on this partnership between the two institutions, Dr. PLN Raju, Director, North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC), said, “The signing of MoU with IIT Guwahati and specifically with CDMR (Centre for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction) at IIT-G focusing on training education and Research will further enhance NESAC in strengthening capacity building, training and research in this region. I am looking forward for a fruitful and highly successful MoU between IIT-G and NESAC benefiting the society as a whole.

Recently, COVID-19 pandemic has been a learning lesson, which showed that any form of disaster can affect a country’s growth. However, the nation can improve and be prepared for future to such uncertainty through proper strategy and skilled manpower development.

To work in this direction, recently, IIT Guwahati has established a new Centre for Disaster Management and Research (CDMR) on the kind advice of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi.