Ms. Priyanka Mahani, Assistant Professor of Electronics and Computer Engineering Department, Mr. Amar Saraswat and Ms. Pankti Brar Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Department, Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the panel discussion on Make in India organised by Delhi Chapter of the Computer Society of India (CSI) on 16th February 2015 at the India International Center, New Delhi.

The event was inaugurated by the Chief-Guest Dr. Ajay Kumar, IAS, Joint Secretary and Director General, NIC in the august presence of the eminent panellists Shri Hari R Mohan – President, CSI; Col Kewal Kohli – Moderator of the Discussion and Prof. D.P. Aggarwal – Former Chairman UPSC.

Mr. H.R. Mohan, President CSI delivered the presiding address where he talked of the major initiatives of the Govt. of India and the role of CSI in supporting and promoting issues of national importance like: Digital India, Make in India and Clean India. He threw light on the fact that IT has a major role to play in all these ICT based initiatives and how we can all come forward to support these things.

His address was followed by an address by the Hon’ble Chief Guest Dr. Ajay Kumar. He shared his views regarding the importance of such national initiatives. He also emphasised that today Hardware and Software are no longer mutually exclusive and any product requires the fusion of both of these.

Another panellist Prof. D.P. Aggarwal stressed on the need to change mind set of today’s youth and make them more open and receptive to hard work and Research & Development rather than just pursuing white collar jobs. He focussed on the need for Skill Development and Finance to support budding entrepreneurs and start-up companies.

The discussion was summarized by Col Kewal Kohli who also threw some lights on the challenges of the Make in India initiative and measures to overcome them.

It was overall a very informative and knowledgeable session.