The 12th edition of graVITas, the annual techno-management fest at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, was inaugurated virtually on Thursday.
For the first time, it will be a fully virtual fest, with over 100 online events in different categories.
The event was inaugurated virtually by A.K. Viswanathan, Additional Director-General of Police, Operations.
He said technology should transform the lives of people and touch everyone.
“Technology should be available to everybody at an affordable cost. Technology has transformed the way we live,” he said.
He said that in the last four years, the police department had used various technologies to improve service delivery and the feeling of safety, and to enhance law and order in Chennai city and Tamil Nadu. He encouraged students to bring about innovation and create a product that would transform the lives of people and make life more comfortable and make all services available to everyone.
VIT Chancellor G. Viswanathan said more than 8,000 participants, representing over 500 institutions from 20 countries — including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. — would take part at graVITas’20.
“Following the Prime Minister’s vision we have to make in India, whatever students do should be innovative and useful for society and the country. There are many areas where we have to progress; for example, we are importing all our aircraft from Europe and the U.S. We need to make aircraft in India itself,” he said, urging the youngsters to make products, wherever possible, not only for domestic consumption but also for exports.
Kadhambari S. Viswanathan, assistant vice-president, VIT; Ivan Elisabeth Purba, rector, Sari Mutiara University, Indonesia; Sankar Viswanathan, vice-president, VIT; Rambabu Kodali, vice-chancellor; and S. Narayanan, pro-vice-chancellor; and others took part in the inauguration.