Umesh Dhyani - Bits Leading Change

westland ltd

UMESH DHYANI

Dr. Umesh Dhyani is Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences at BITS, Pilani, which is one of the premier deemed to be Science and Technology Universities of India, credited with continuing academic reforms since its origin. He completed his PhD from BITS-Pilani in Social Sciences and has also done his PGDBA programme.

For the last two and half decades, Dr. Dhyani has been involved in teaching, research and other academic and institutional activities at BITS-Pilani. He has for long taught courses in Public Policy and Conflict Management to the graduate students at BITS-Pilani. An extensive researcher, Dr. Dhyani has participated, presented and published research papers in numerous seminars, conferences and journals in India and abroad and has also delivered invited talks at various academic institutions. He is on the advisory board of an academic journal on Sustainable Development. His area of research is CSR and community participation. He is the author of among other works 'Global Corporate Executives 63 Mantras' (2005) and Co-author of 'Grassroots Entrepreneurship Strategy for Development' (2004). Apart from academics, he has extensively worked in promoting development projects for the rural population.

BITS

Leading Change

DR. UMESH DHYANI

westland ltd

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First published by westland ltd 2015

First epub edition: 2015

Copyright Dr. Umesh Dhyani 2015

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-93-85152-10-8

Typeset by PrePSol Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers.

Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, and determines your destiny.

- Aristotle

Contents

Preface

There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

Socrates

The book is a modest attempt to study the evolution and growth of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), a fully residential technical university, commonly known as BITS in general parlance. For the alumni, life at BITS, its drama clubs, debating societies, cafeteria, corridors, well laid campus, sports fields and gruelling academic regime is a source of nostalgia. For the general public, BITS is a trusted name and the institution rates on par with the best in the world.

The institutions growth has been phenomenal and it has contributed greatly to the continuously emerging national need for education. Unlike many other business men of their time who squandered their wealth in pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification, the Birlas generously invested theirs in the spread of education. BITS remains one of the biggest examples of their philanthropic endeavour. The educational campus is one of its kind in the country. It was developed in a remote desert village in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, Pilani, as it was the birth place of the Birlas. The story of BITS is the saga of men and women who gathered in Pilani and devotedly worked to build a unique institution of higher learning.

The Birlas were enthused by a sense of compassion and public service, a family legacy to promote education in the birth place of their ancestors. The Birlas who made their wealth in the port cities of the country understood well the significance and application of education for national growth. They saw in these growing cities that education was enabling people to better their condition in every department of life. Opening the doors of education for the common people at Pilani in early 20 th century was indeed a historic and progressive foot forward and it fulfilled the Birlas vision of empowerment of the common man through education.

On a personal level, it is indeed a pleasure to describe something that is close to me in simple English. As I jot down my thoughts, I want to humbly remind my readers that my mission is not to pass judgments on the institution or the people associated with its growth. I am content to leave that to the readers. My work traces the fascinating journey that the institution has undertaken from pre-independent India to the 21 st century, emerging as one of the most prestigious technical institutes in India.

BITS is the best privately endowed technical institution and is constantly upgrading its curriculum and preparing itself for future generations and preparing students for a dynamic society. To reach its current position, BITS has innovated an education system that constantly upgrades itself through quality research and innovation. I have narrated the challenges and changes that this educational institution has faced over the decades and it is for the readers to judge what made BITS a premier centre of learning and research and why many talented students from across the country compete for admission and see their future in it. The alumni of the Pilani institutions in general and BITS in particular comprise the Chairmen and Managing Directors of Public Sector Navratnas , CEOs of private sector corporates like WIPRO, Aircel, Sony Ericsson etc., bankers, civil servants, Professors at global academic giants like Stanford in USA and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, Directors of CSIR (Government of India institutions) laboratories, Brigadiers and Generals in the Indian armed forces, Ministers and Chief Ministers.

In penning down the adventurous growth of BITS, I have tried to unveil the journey from a humble past to educational supremacy of an institution for the new generation. In communicating the story of BITS to the next generation, my endeavour is to recapitulate a stirring story of trials, tribulations and the unselfish commitment of men and women in developing an academic system envied and admired by many.

Introduction

THE HUMANE PLEDGE FOR EDUCATION

Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.

Aristotle

Four years ago, while India was yet shaking off her last shackles of bondage, far away in the heart of the desert, a new colony was growing up to acquire a fresh importance and significance. Few, I dare say, could at that stage understand the meaning of the gesture, fewer still could read in it the will of the nation expressed for self-development. Pilani, in fact, seldom received, from those to whom was entrusted the task of nation building, that attention and cordiality which was its due. wrote K.C. Saraswat, first batch alumnus of the Birla College of Engineering in an article in the College Magazine in the year 1951.Who would have ever imagined that a tiny Paathshala started amidst the sand dunes of the Shekhawati region in Pilani, then a small village in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan in the early 20 th century would gradually grow into a national institute of higher learning. (The Shekhawati region in Rajasthan mostly encompasses the administrative districts of Jhunjhunu and Sikar It is bounded on the northwest by the Jangladesh region, on the northeast by Haryana, on the east by Mewat, on the southeast by Dhundhar, on the south by Ajmer, and on the southwest by the Marwar region. Some parts of the Churu and Nagaur districts are also considered part of the Shekawati region.)