I am sure most of you have heard about the recent environmental disaster, the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Recently Obama administration has announced more offshore drilling plans to help ease the energy short fall. That was before this massive oil spill, hopefully we can draw some lessons from this disaster and it stops us right in our tracks. a soul- searching is required before we approve any new drilling in these gifts of nature,our great oceans- is it worth the risk..bringing the whole ecosystem to a stop? Does it make sense to endanger the fine nature’s balance for our short term gain? Risk the very viability of this planet earth.

It is an ancient saying- “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors we borrow it from our children”. I wish the short thinking politicians realize this and do the right things like cutting green house gas emissions, stop polluting the oceans, stop massive deforestation and so on. The need of the time is a green economy which not only helps mother earth but creates new jobs. I do want to point out that not all politicians think short term, I recently attended Pan IIT 2009 conference in Chicago and President Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker. I took the privilege of being in audience with ex president under the watchful eyes of Secret Service agents He made a good case for green economy and how to help poor countries meet their energy needs in a sustainable way which also creates jobs for the poor. Here is a link to President Clinton’s non profit spearheading this movement. I also heard this Bill Gates presentation at Ted conference on reducing our carbon foot print. It is somewhat lengthy video but I think watching it is well worth your time coming straight from the richest man on the earth. The guy knows a thing or two about making money

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I am sure most of you have heard about the recent environmental disaster, the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Recently Obama administration has announced more offshore drilling plans to help ease the energy short fall. That was before this massive oil spill, hopefully we can draw some lessons from this disaster and it stops us right in our tracks. a soul- searching is required before we approve any new drilling in these gifts of nature,our great oceans- is it worth the risk..bringing the whole ecosystem to a stop? Does it make sense to endanger the fine nature’s balance for our short term gain? Risk the very viability of this planet earth.

It is an ancient saying- “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors we borrow it from our children”. I wish the short thinking politicians realize this and do the right things like cutting green house gas emissions, stop polluting the oceans, stop massive deforestation and so on. The need of the time is a green economy which not only helps mother earth but creates new jobs. I do want to point out that not all politicians think short term, I recently attended Pan IIT 2009 conference in Chicago and President Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker. I took the privilege of being in audience with ex president under the watchful eyes of Secret Service agents He made a good case for green economy and how to help poor countries meet their energy needs in a sustainable way which also creates jobs for the poor. Here is a link to President Clinton’s non profit spearheading this movement. I also heard this Bill Gates presentation at Ted conference on reducing our carbon foot print. It is somewhat lengthy video but I think watching it is well worth your time coming straight from the richest man on the earth. The guy knows a thing or two about making money

This morning as India celebrates its 60th year of independence, I got an email from Dr Sudhir Jain, Dean, IIT Kanpur, addressed to all alumni. I happen to be one of them, I passed out in year 1989 in Mechanical Engineering. Seems longtime ago, but who can forget breaking the head over Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and the Theory of Machine Design …

I haven’t obtained a formal permission to publish excerpts from his letter here, but I hope he is not going to mind it anyway, there is nothing personal in here. In his letter he notifies us that in a survey taken by the reputed magazine India Today, IIT Kanpur has been once again ranked number one in India. I knew it! I have been there four years, and I know what it takes to get through those grueling four years…with due respect to the other IITs, I wonder if any other institute in India can even come close to us for many years to come! I asked Dr Dhande (IIT K director, BTW, a very confident person with an amazing sense of humor), the same question five years ago when I met him in 2002 at the very first global IIT conference held in Santa Clara, California. The answer was a reassuring yes- our academics was the best and is the best in the country! This year we had Pan IIT conference 2007 at the beautiful Santa Clara convention center, and in the IIT K breakout session we again grilled Dr Dhande and Dr Jain, apparently the spirit of excellence has not dimmed a bit! Here’s the excerpts from the letter…

“August 15, 2007

From: Sudhir K Jain, Dean Resource Planning and Generation, IIT Kanpur

To: All alumni of IITK

Dear IITK Alumnus / Alumna:

Independence Day Greetings from IITK. You may already be aware that IITK has once again been ranked number 1 engineering college in the country by the India Today survey. Our past and current students indeed make a substantial contribution towards IITK consistently receiving such a high ranking over the years.”

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This morning as India celebrates its 60th year of independence, I got an email from Dr Sudhir Jain, Dean, IIT Kanpur, addressed to all alumni. I happen to be one of them, I passed out in year 1989 in Mechanical Engineering. Seems longtime ago, but who can forget breaking the head over Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and the Theory of Machine Design …

I haven’t obtained a formal permission to publish excerpts from his letter here, but I hope he is not going to mind it anyway, there is nothing personal in here. In his letter he notifies us that in a survey taken by the reputed magazine India Today, IIT Kanpur has been once again ranked number one in India. I knew it! I have been there four years, and I know what it takes to get through those grueling four years…with due respect to the other IITs, I wonder if any other institute in India can even come close to us for many years to come! I asked Dr Dhande (IIT K director, BTW, a very confident person with an amazing sense of humor), the same question five years ago when I met him in 2002 at the very first global IIT conference held in Santa Clara, California. The answer was a reassuring yes- our academics was the best and is the best in the country! This year we had Pan IIT conference 2007 at the beautiful Santa Clara convention center, and in the IIT K breakout session we again grilled Dr Dhande and Dr Jain, apparently the spirit of excellence has not dimmed a bit! Here’s the excerpts from the letter…

“August 15, 2007

From: Sudhir K Jain, Dean Resource Planning and Generation, IIT Kanpur

To: All alumni of IITK

Dear IITK Alumnus / Alumna:

Independence Day Greetings from IITK. You may already be aware that IITK has once again been ranked number 1 engineering college in the country by the India Today survey. Our past and current students indeed make a substantial contribution towards IITK consistently receiving such a high ranking over the years.”