FM praised the Artificial Intelligence initiative in BITS Pilani, which is working on message to video conversion using AI and hoped that it will be available to market in affordable way for usage
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, February 24, 2024: First Complete digital campus where hybrid learning is possible is a noteworthy thing and it is impressive that an institute which just started as a Pathshala has grown in strength to have 5th campus today with one of the campuses being in Dubai. It has given 7400 CEOs to the Fortune 500 companies, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while inaugurating 5th Campus of Birla Institute of Technology in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) today in the presence of the Chancellor of BITS Pilani, Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla. This is the 5th campus of the storied educational institution that will house its management school—BITSoM, law school—BITSLAW, and design school—BITSDES.
Spread over 63 acres and with an investment of Rs1500 Cr, this is a future-ready, all-residential campus designed to accommodate 5000 students at peak capacity. It will be the 5th Campus of the institute after Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai.
India’s growing Startup industries have largely benefitted from BITS institutions. BITS has given 6400 start-ups to India of which 13 Unicorns and 2 decacorns. Smt. Sitharaman further said that “170 start-ups were incubated in BITS campus which shows how BITS is playing the role of catalyst. 17,800 academic publications from BITS show culture of research that is encouraged in BITS. Indian government is giving a big push to Semiconductor sector and Minister showed happiness over the presence of separate semiconductor department in BITS Pilani.”
Finance Minister mentioned the 1 lakh crore corpus created in recent interim budget for Research and innovation Special purpose vehicle and appealed all to take benefit from it.
Minister also praised the practice of 125 crore rupees given by in-house promoters of BITS in the form of scholarships. BITS is an example of culture of charity existing in India, said Finance Minister.
Minister went on to praise the Artificial Intelligence initiative in BITS Pilani which is working on message to video conversion using AI and hoped that it will be available to market in affordable way for usage.
Union Finance Minister, said, “I congratulate Kumar Mangalam Birla for setting this campus. You have a tradition of excellence in education. BITS Pilani has always been a centre where very many young people in India always aspire to be in. You can have institutions and institutions where students can enroll, study and pass out and also manage to excel in their fields but to make available a very complex set of courses, but make it also market relevant, give them the ability and skills required so that they can be readily recruited and be of value to the institutions is something which is seen as a USP of BITS Pilani. I wish the fifth campus all the very best and it is continuing with the tradition of high -quality education for the aspiring Indian youth.”
Smt. Sitharaman further further said that Government of India is working with 5 principles and they can be a topic for case study. These 5 principles are:
'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance'
Whole of Government Approach
User Feedback and Grievance Redressal
Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework
Kaizen
Minister appealed students to take up the research on how the covid pandemic, two wars and piracy in high seas have affected India’s supply chain.
“Even the success of Covid vaccines and use of Digital public infrastructure for generating covid vaccine certificates are ideal subjects for case study. Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is doing wonders in addressing public grievances and ensures that they do not get accumulated,” minister added.
Minister also elaborated on improved technological co-ordination among centre and state whereby the taxpayers’ money is utilized without any delay and Outcome-output from it are monitored by Niti Ayog.
“67 government departments are using outcome-output framework for over 600 central government schemes.” Informed the minister.
Minister hoped that India will find trained professional who can work in International Arbitrational boards. She further said the government believes in using the law as enabling tools and not as tools of harassment. Indian Youth should take up International Arbitration where there is scope of increasing India’s representation.
Chancellor of BITS institutes Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla said on this occasion that “5th campus of BITS Pilani marks the glorious journey of an esteemed organization. IT has 18000 students across 4 campuses. It has instilled in generations capacity to dream ambitiously, think criticially and strive relentlessly. It has given thousands of entrepreneurs to India and the world.
Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor, BITS Pilani, said, “I thank the Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, for inaugurating a new chapter in BITS Pilani’s glorious tradition. At BITS, we stand at the precipice of blending India’s rich heritage of education with new-age knowledge systems and modern learning environments. This globally benchmarked campus is a visible marker of India’s growing intellectual prowess and a symbol of BITS Pilani’s whole-hearted embrace of multi-disciplinary education and innovation. I am certain that the new campus will create an enabling environment that sparks creativity, excellence, and collaboration, emerging in the process as a talent factory for the New India envisioned by our Honourable Prime Minister.”
With a vision to work towards a zero-carbon footprint, it has been built on a zero-discharge scheme with 100% recycled water utilisation, energy saving lighting systems and solar power. This digital-first campus has state-of-the-art infrastructure for classrooms, multimedia studios (including video and podcast rooms), and a startup incubation centre. It boasts of 80% open, aesthetically landscaped lush green spaces, and sports and recreation facilities for students.
