03 Day Entrepreneurship and Rural Development Conclave Inaugurated at NITTTR

By Samachar Vishesh News

Chandigarh 17^th Dec:- A Three-day entrepreneurship and rural development conclave (ERDC – 2019) was inaugurated at National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chandigarh on 17^th December 2019. The event is being jointly organized by NITTTR, Chandigarh and Young Hopes of India Foundation in association with Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, Panjab University, Chandigarh and Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, Punjab.

The conclave was inaugurated by Ratan Lal Kataria, MoS, Jal Shakti, Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. The event was also graced by Mukul Kanitkar, General Secretary, Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, Nayab Singh, Hon’ble MP, Loksabha, Kurukshetra, Prof. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Panjab University, Chandidgarh, Prof. Sarit Das, Director, IIT Ropar and Prof. S S Pattnaik, Director, NITTTR, Chandigarh.

This unique conclave aims at bridging the gap between the most creative minds i.e., school children, teachers, educators, entrepreneurs specially focused at rural entrepreneurship and the rural governance. The outcome of the conclave is to provide the platform for materializing the innovative ideas of creative children. It provides necessary networking amongst schools, colleges, universities, public representatives, wanapreneurs, entrepreneurs, industry representatives and officials while promoting rural entrepreneurship.

The first day of the conference was focused on the need of entrepreneurial development in children by focusing on school administrators and educators. The conclave convenor Chetan Sahore introduced the guests. Prof. S S Pattnaik, Director, NITTTR Chandigarh welcomed the dignitaries and stressed on the need of for training the next generation teachers, so that they can become catalysts in educating the children of the current technological era. Shri Mukul Kanitkar in his address discussed the need to educate the children regarding the glorious traditions of the country and emphasised on making educational system in tune with Indian culture and ethos. He said that the future entrepreneurs in India should develop technologies specially focused on Indian needs.

Ratan Lal Kataria, MoS, GoI spoke about various government of India initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship skills among the youth. He also stressed upon the role of teachers in promoting entrepreneurship skills among the students at their early age. Nayab Singh, MP of Kurukshetra spoke about the need of rural entrepreneurship. Prof. Rajkumar, VC of Panjab University detailed upon the initiatives of PU and its incubation centre. Prof. Sarit Das, Director of IIT Ropar discussed the requirement social entrepreneurship culture to be developed among the students and offered the facilities of IIT for school children of the catchment area.

Understanding the need of bridging the gap between the current education system and the millennial generation, towards training the next generation teachers a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between NITTTR Chandigarh and Research for Resurgence Foundation for establishment of Research for Resurgence Outreach Centre at NITTTR Campus. The MoU will mutually benefit the students and faculties for nurturing the research, innovation and creativity among students.

The conclave is having three one day conferences on (i) Need for Entrepreneurship Development (ii) Innovative Rural Development Projects (iii) Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna. The broad theme of the conclave is to create a platform to collaborate different stakeholders of rural entrepreneurship and to describe the role of colleges and universities in association with Gram Panchayats. The expected outcomes of this conclave are Rural Entrepreneurship projects in Rural areas and Sharing of ideas and understanding of mutual expectations.