Minutes of the Meeting of the Standing Committee on the National Mission on Education through ICT held on November 07, 2009 at the lnstitute of Town Planners, India, 4-A, I.P.Estate, New Delhi.

The Standing Committee Meeting of the National Mission on Education through ICT was

held at the lnstitute of Town Planners, India, 4-A, I.P.Estate, New Delhi on 7"

November 2009. The following members of the SC and other invitees were present:

I S. No. I Name of SC Members 1 1 I Dr. Pradeep Kaul

2 I Dr. Yatindra Nath Sinah - I - -. - -. - .

3 1 Prof. Anil Kumar Tripathi

The list of participants and the invitees who made presentations of their project is

enclosed as Annexure 1.

4 5 6

The meeting was chaired by Prof. K. Mangala Sunder. IIT Chennai. The Chairman

welcomed all the members who were invited to the Meeting and highlighted the

collaborative aspect under which projects had to be carried out. He stressed the need to

keep the National goal of quality content creation, tools needed for effective and efficient

access of contents by everyone. He explained the parameters on the basis of which the

projects would be evaluated by experts and requested all those invited to have their

detailed project report for both pilot and the full project be uploaded in the Sakshat web

site.

Prof (Ms.) Jayashree Shinde Prof. Uma Kanjilal Prof K. Mangala Sunder

The following project presentations were made by various investigators to the National

Mission on Education through ICT. They are summarized and the recommendations of

the SC are given below:

1. Web-based Learning Resource in the subjects of Object Oriented Programming Using C++ and Data Structures for diploma level students (Control Number of the proposal - Re-02100910320)

8 9

Presented by: Mr. Rajesh Sharma , Govt. Polytechnic - Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh .

Prof. Kamal Bijlani-Special lnv~tee Prof. H P Kincha-Special lnvitee

Objective :

To develop Web-based learning resources for diploma level students in the area of

Object Oriented Programming usivg C++ and Data Structures.

Deliverables:

1. Establishment of a state-of-the-art digital studio.

2. Course contents having text, video, animations, applets, query posting, online

testing, user sessions, speech and streaming media, heuristic navigation,

puzzles, cross-words and games related to the subject.

Total Funding Required : Rs. 10.15 lakhs (Out of this, Rs. 5 Lakhs is proposed to be paid to two internal subject experts.)

Duration of the Project : 1 year

Observations & Comments of the Standiug Committee

The focus was particularly for diploma level students and the design was to have lots of

interactions by the students in the computer. The comments of the Committee Members

are as follows:

The institute is a Government Polytechnic from a remote region and therefore

minimal recording studio infrastructure and a server are necessary for the

development of course material in Object Oriented Programming.

More advanced course work in the above subject matter is available in plenty

and therefore the PI must spend considerable amount of time in going through

those and design non-repetitive examples.

It is preferable that PI develop layered content in which diploma level curriculum

will be a part and the remaining layers be done in such a way as to seamlessly

integrate with advanced courses already available in public domain and funded

by the NMEICT.

It is, however, important to provide clarity for diploma students throughout the country's

polytechnic institutions and the PI must use the most general curriculum needed to

address all the needs.

Recommendation of the Committee:

Project be sanctioned with fifty percent of funds required i.e. Rs. 5.08 lakhs for first six

months (upon satisfactory progress, the remaining funds of Rs. 5.07 lakhs can be

sanctioned).

2. lntranet Web-Application to implement the ERP solution for Academic Module

(Control Number of the proposal - RRe-06100910331)

Presented by: Mr. Rajesh Sharma, Govt. Polytechnic - Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh

Objectives:

To develop an intranet application using ERP educational modules for capture and

maintain data for various academic activities such as students profile, teacher profile,

sessionals, academic calendar, academic operations and lesson plans.

Dellverables:

ERP modules in all of the above areas (an effective Management Information System for

the campus).

Total Funding Required : Rs.7.30 lakhs

Duration of the project: 1 year

Observations & Comments of the Standing Committee

The PI proposed that the module developed by Hamirpur Government Polytechnic would

be used to impart quality Technical Education, eliminate redundancies in the

maintenance of data, improve efficiency, introduce transparency, result in paperless

academic office and thus establish an effective MIS for the institution. The SC

appreciated the fact that remote institutions wanted to setup ERP solutions for their

campus. The comments of the Committee Members are as follows:

It was pointed out that ERP is an ongoing project under the coordination by IIT

Kanpur, Amrita University and a number of other partners. Therefore,

Government Polytechnic, Hamirpur was invited to join the existing project and its

requirements would be accounted for by a suitable redistribution of ERP funds

already available1 enhancements w~l l be recommended as appropriate.

Prof. Y.N. Singh, IIT Kanpur who heads the ERP activity under the Mission was

requested to study the requirements of Govt. Polytechnic and provide them with

necessary software.

No separate servers for ERP would be needed and servers that may be

sanctioned on the basis of recommendation for the previous project could be

effectively used.

Recornmendatlon o f the Committee:

It was recommended that the Institute to join the ERP team headed by IIT Kanpur.

Hence, no funds are required to be sanctioned at present.

3. Implementation of virtual laboratory for online e-learning of control and Instrumentation courses (Control No. of the proposal - Ane 30100910373)

Presented by: Professor R. Anandanatarajan, Pondicherry Engineering College, Pundicherry

Objectives:

Create a virtual laboratory and a community of young learners, teachers and

researchers to explore practical aspects of Engineering Curriculum.

Implement online virtual and remote laboratory for Electronics Control and

lnstrumentation Engineering.

Deliverables:

1. Online laboratory teaching models which use a hybrid mode, lectures in class

and experiments conducted online.

2. Custom built simulation package.

Total funds Required: 1.59 Crores

Duration of the project: 2 years

Observations & Comments of the Standing Committee

SC noted that the proposal would be forwarded to IIT Delhi which is currently

coordinating the virtual labs projects jointly with' at least 10 other institutions. The PI

argued that Govt. Engg colleges throughout the country are poorly equipped to do

laboratory simulations; therefore investment in equipment infrastructure for the purpose

of virtual lab by the NMEICT is a minimum precondition for start of the project. The

comments of the Committee Members are as follows:

The proposal did not contain specific experiments apart from naming the labs

that needed to be set up such as circuits lab, control systems lab,

microprocessor lab, process control lab, transducers lab, digital instrumentation

lab, measurements lab, electrical machines lab and calibration lab.

The PI was requested to resubmit the proposal after studying the current

banctloned virtual lab project and provide a specific list of experiments to be

conducted in each and every one of the labs.

The revised proposal with a recommendation for specified quantum of financial

support, after it is approved by the PAB will be forwarded to the principal

coordinator of virtual labs project for including the Pondicherry team.

Recomrnendatlon of the Committee:

Revised proposal requested with specific list of experiments in each and every lab so

that the SC may recommend an amount for a Pilot project under the lab mission headed

by IIT Delhi

4. E-contents for Soft Skills Development (Control Number of the proposal - Ve-07100910336) (incomplete proposal uploaded)

Presented by: Professor R. Somasundaram, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai,Erode,TN.

Objectives:

To develop e-content materials for soft skills to enhance

1) employability of the students

2) superior performance and career growth of those who are employed and

3) Entrepreneurial ab~lity for success in business.

Several modules to be developed as e-content.

Deliverables:

E-content in positive thinking, motivation, critical thinking and problem solvirlg, time

management, communication skills, interpersonal skills, leadership, team building,

creative thinking, negotiation and stress management.

Total funds Required: 97. 38 lakhs

Duration of the project: 2 years

Observations & Comments of the Standing Committee

'The PI proposed that the project management team for e-content would consist of

domain experts, e-content development team and hardware, software and network

management team. Initially faculty from the school of management studies and English

department would be employed and this would later be expanded to include external

resource. Modules would consist of e-text material, video presentations, interactive quiz,

simulated exercises, case studies, animations, discussion forums and moderated

discussions. 'The comments of the Committee Members are as follows:

The proposal is broad and lacks focus on the specifics of contents to be

developed.

The sites like Merlot from which contents would be searched should be avoided

and contents should be developed independently since the soft skills requirement

of students and employees of India is quiet different from those in advanced

countries. Also free availability of contents on the internet does not automatically

imply free distribution or their incorporation since many website hosts insist on

visiting their websites to access their contents.

The committee suggested that two of ten modules should be studied thoroughly

and detailed listing of a forty lecture or one semester equivalent of contents

organized using multiple quadrants of learning should be provided for a pilot

phase.

The two modules should be completed in four months.

The PI must also interact with other teams which have approached NMEICT and

have been sanctioned pilot projects. During the pilot phase the PI must provide

details of other modules and complete the list of all external resources that they

are likely to be used.

Recommendation of the Committee:

A pilot project for the development of two modules is recommended by the SC

upon receipt of the revised and detailed project report along with details of two

modules.

As the proposal was not uploaded on the Sakshat Portal, final dec~sion by the

Standing Committee will be taken only when the PI uploads the proposal so that

all the members of the Standing Committee can peruse the details.

5. Enrlchlng Engineering Education Through e-Learning

Presented by: Professor N. Kasthuri, Kongu Engineering College, Tamilnadu.

Objectives:

To enhance engineering education thorough e-learning methodology, specifically

through training and its on-demand availability, self-based study and providing virtual

collaborations.

Deliverables:

E-contents for courses in Electronics and Communication Engineering. creation of

discussion forums, examinations, online assessment and assignments, teaching aid in

synchronous and asynchronous learning.

Total funds Required: Rs.61.47 lakhs

Duration of the project: 2 years

Observations & Comments of the Standing Committee

The SC noted that the proposal did not contain any details of the type of courses to be

developed. The objectives of the project are already within the scope of the NPTEL

project sanctioned by the NMEICT. Therefore the SC redirected the PI to study the

NPTEL project and propose complementary/supplementary content in specific areas in

ECE.

Recommendation of the Committee:

Revise the proposal and provide details of how the content to be developed by the

Pls and their team would supplement/complement all content development in ECE

sanctloned under NNIEICT.

The SC suggested the PI that she may take the help of the coordinators of NPTEL

for a focused project.

a As the proposal was not uploaded on the Sakshat Portal, final decision by the

Standing Committee will be taken only when the PI uploads the proposal so that all

the members of the Standing Committee can peruse the details.

6. Proposal for Connectivity to Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded(M.S.) & Affiliated Colleges (control Number of the proposal - Gne 10100910346)

Presented by: Professor G. N. Shinde, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded

Objectives:

1. To setup a primary working group in affiliated colleges of the University for

integrating intelligence into virtuallonline learning systems.

2. Design tutors and student modeling systems.

3. Develop e-learning resources

4. Establishing networking within the University campus and affiliated colleges.

Deliverables:

49 courses with 176 subjects in PG classes and 28 courses with 231 subjects in UG

classes. Pilot phase will deliver 10 courses of PG classes and 10 subjects of UG

classes.

Total Funds Required: Rs. 103.37 Crores

Duration of the project - 3 years

Observatlons & Comments o f the Standing Committee

The SC requested the University to go through the Sakshat website and also obtain all

the relevant information regarding high speed connectivity between the University

campus and affiliated colleges. Seventy five percent of the cost of the connectivity had

already been provided by the MHRD and the remaining twenty five percent must be

borne by the university. The comments of the Committee Members are as follows:

It Is not possible for NMEICT to provide infrastructure to the University, also the PI

ehould avoid reproducing content from Mission document as part of the proposal. No

detallr for courses are given.

The PI was requested to obtain all available information on sanctioned projects

under the NMEICT and also study projects such as NPTEL before proposing to

create substitute contents.

The proposal for content development in a few specific subjects tailored to meet the

needs of the region, as above, be submitted.

The PI suggested that possible beneficiary of contents developed by the University are

all in tribal area (remote), rural and under-served community including natives, urban

poor women, differently able persons, senior citizens, small and medium enterprises.

The SC recognizes the fact that Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University

serves a large population in the above areas and therefore needs to be supported

certainly, however, the PI and his team in the University must propose courses with the

help of ICT that would serve the region and Country together rather than merely

duplicate existing NMEICT sanctioned programmes since the output from these

programmes will be freely available to all citizens of our country.

Recommendation of the Committee:

Resubmit the DPR by taking into account the comments in the deliberations.

7. Develop a virtual technical school to support for weaklless-able learners of ICT for B.Tech and M.Tech Degree Programme

Presented by: Professor A. Muthuramalingam, Pondicherry Engineering College, Puducherry.

Objectlves:

1. Establigh a prospective virtual technical school under Pondicherry university

2. Update and modernize instructional classroom.

3. Facilitate and enhance learning.

4, Tallor and augment the above e-content to suit weak and less -abled learners

Total funds Required: Rs. 19.6 Crores

Duratlon of the project: 3 years

Observatlonr 81 Comments o f the Standing Committee

The committee requested the PI to avoid student classifications such as less-able and

replace it by "slow learners". The phrase "less-able" in its current usage, implies

physically challenged students and not others. The process of disseminating NPTEL

video lectures to students with different aptitudes of learning was not indicated. The

comments of the Committee Members are as follows:

The Mission does not have the mandate for ICT infrastructure development support

to institutions.

The PI needed to provide details of areas where additional training material for

NPTEL lectures could be developed so that the students who are slow learners (as

against less-able learners) and with insufficient background could be brought in the

main stream.

Recommendation of the Committee:

Revise the proposal and suggest a few courses in EEE where the PI and his

team would be providirlg clear and unambiguous supplementary material to

NPTEL video lectures from Phase I. Such development also needed interactions

with Subject Matter Experts, therefore the PI may budget the conduct of number

of workshops for interaction between their team and NPTEL team. All curricula

development must conform to the multiple quadrant approach recommended by

the NMEICT.

Pilot phase to be sanctioned after the revised proposal is uploaded and

submitted.

As the proposal was not uploaded on the Sakshat Portal, final decision by the

Standing Committee will be taken only when the PI uploads the proposal so that

all the members of the Standing Committee can peruse the details.

8. Development of low-cost rapid detection microwave bio-sensors for efficient dlagnosls of health risks i n rural zones of India (KRe 27100910365)

Preaentrd by: Dr. K. S. Daya, Microwave Physics Laboratory, Department of physics & Computer Science, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra

1. To demonstrate a non-invasive planar microwave sensor for blood glucose detection.

2. To demonstrate rapid detection microwave sensor for the presence of pathogenic

bacteria in drinking water.

Deliverables:

Non-invasive blood glucometer, which is a low cost, no prick and easy-to-use solution for

continuous monitoring of blood glucose.

Total Funds Required: Rs. 1.74 Crores

Duration of the project: 1 year

Observations & Comments of the Standing Committee

The PI proposes the development of microwave sensors which are sensitive to change

in the dielectric constant and most of the bacteria commonly found in water. The device

was to be developed based on simple operational principles such as easy-to-use, least

technical expertise, easy portability, dispensing with a chain of chemical and reagents

etc. The comments of the Committee Members are as follows:

They did not have adequate expertise to determine the viability of such a device.

The committee felt professionals from health and medicine must be invited to review

the proposal.

The devices that were mentioned in the Mission document were mostly of the low

cost access devices for networking and accessing e-content, in addition they

requested the PI to mention in the proposal with clarity the Copyright transfer of such

devices and development cost associated with them to the NMEICT.

The committee also requested the PI to design e-contents in the area of microwave

sensors. The decision on the quantum of pilot funds as well as peer review of the

proposal by domain experts was postponed till next SC meetiqg.

Recommendation of the Committee:

The committee decided to seek the advice of appropriate domain experts. The members

of the SC to suggest the names of domain experts before the next meeting. The SC will

make the recommendations of the experts to the Mission Secretariat for the needful in

the next meeting.

9.Technology for Analysis of Rare Knowledge Systems for Harmonious Youth Advancement (TARKSHYA) (Control Number of the proposal - De 29090910310)

Presented by: Dr. P. Ramanujan, Head, C-DAC, (KP), Bangalore

Objectives:

1. Providing knowledge base of Sanskrit and vedic original treatises

2. Development of application programs for 20 disciplines.

3. Organize training for traditional Scholars and computer scientists on lndic knowledge

structures.

4. Development of text-to-speech interface for Sanskrit and porting programs and

applications thorough Open Sources.

5. Providelenhance e-Shikshak for devising e-learning courses in the open University

mode.

6. Development of speech interface / OCR interface for grantha scr~pt based on

Malayalam OCR.

7. Develop vedic Unicode.

8. Introduce heritage computing as M. Tech course.

9. Hosting, offering courses in Sanskrit informatics, computational linguistic,

humanities, heritage etc.

10. Provldlng natlon-wide network access and connectivity.

11. Provldlng NMM repository access.

12. Contlnulng with NLP research in Sanskrit.

All of tho above. Considerable initial work has been done by more than ten national

Instltutlons, organizations 1 centers for the last ten years.

1. Develop an extensive consortium activity for Sanskrit on the internet at all levels.

2. Center for excellence for computer processing of vedic literature in academics

research and training.

3. Video conferences for designing new scales.

4. A large repository of textual recorded audiolvideo and live interactions workshops

/ seminars1 conference.

5. Publication of rare unpublished works.

6. Reference materials like Dictionaries, encyclopedia, regional language

translation of scriptures in Sanskrit.

7. Universal standard for the script speech and image modes of language

computing.

Total Funds Required: Rs. 50 Crores (For Pilot - Rs. 5 crores)

Duration of the project: 3 years and for Pilot - 6 months

Observatlons & Comments of the Standing Committee

The PI described in detail the efforts of CDAC, NIC and several organizations with which

he was involved for nearly two decades in the creation of a large number of resources

and assets for reviving in a format suitable for internet using natural language

processing tools, India's ancient and most valuable knowledge. The comments of the

Committee Members are as follows:

The SC unanimously agreed that a project of such national importance and criticality

in whlch more than 15 national centers and nearly 100 or more Sanskrit scholars

and computer scientist propose to work together is an ideal for the NMEICT.

The Mlsrlon has two extremes to work together to build national character, namely

the convergence of top institutions on content development and the formation of

con8ortls for vigorous discussions and a consensus on the national level as one

extreme and a large number of talented individuals not necessarily tied with best

lnatltutlonr but having energy, enthusiasm and willingness to contribute to the

National cauee as demonstrated by a large number of PIS from smaller institutions in

the NMEICT so far in the other extreme.

This project clearly belongs to the NMEICT domain. Specific questions about the

content development in Sanskrit in the higher education domain raised by the SC will

have to be accounted for in the submission of a more detailed proposal.

The PI was requested to provide an extensive list of national experts to whom the

project would be referred to for detailed review and all possibilities as well as

suggestions for integrating and speeding up the availability of contents proposed by

the PI.

The SC members also agreed unanimously that a pilot sanction of Rs. 5 Crores be

provided by the PAB to kick-start the project and to the fact that some of the experts

whose knowledge and wisdom that must be captured are quite old and live in

remote, IT-less areas due to their choice of personal lifestyle as advocated in vedic

scripts.

Therefore, the project must be carried out with a mission-critical approach and timely

assistance by the NMEICT is crucial. The SC invited the PI and few maior partner Co-

PIS to make a detailed presentation of the project in the next PA6 meetinq~

Recommendation of the Committee:

Pilot recommended for Rs. 5 Crores.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

Attendance of the Standing Committee Meeting held on 0 7 ~ ~ November 2009 at 11:OO A.M. under National Mission on Education through Information & Communlcatlon Technology at Conference Hall, lSt Floor, lnstitute of Town Planners, Indla, 4-A, Ring Road, I.P. Estate, New Delhi

nstitute of Technology HU, Varanasi - 221 005

PI Swami Ramanand Teerth Marothwada University, Nanded

CO-PI Swami Ramanand Teerth Marethwada University, Nanded Maharashtra

6

I I Dayalbagh Educational Institute 1 1

7

I ~ayalbagh, Agra-282005 8 1 Mr. Prem Saran.T +4%21149

Mr. Govind Katalakute Dy. Finance Officer Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada Universitv, Nanded

09-5 - 1 govindkatalakute@yahoo.com

Maharashtra Dr. K S Daya Department of Physics & CG

-

09411403166 sdayak@gmail.com -d

I I Department of Zoology Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Department of CSE Govt. Polytechnic Hamirpur-HP --- A

premtsaran@gmail.com

9 ~ayalbagh, Agra-282005 Mr. Rajesh ~harma--

- -- 0941 8672006

Mr. Chander Shekhar Department of CSE Govt. Polytechnic ~ a m i r ~ u r l ~ ~ Mr. R.Sundaramurthy Assistant Professor Dept. of EIE Pondicherry Engineeriqg College Pondicherry-605014 Mr. R.Anandanatarajan Professor & Head Dept. of Electronics & Instrumentation Engg. Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry-605014 Dr. N.Kasthuri

Kongu Engg. College Pondicherry -Erode Dr.R.Somasundaram ProfessorlSchool of Management Studies Kongu Engg. College Pondicherry -Erode Dr. A.Muthusomalingam Professor EEE Department Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry-605014 Dr. J.Shinde Head DET, SNDTU Mumbai Dr. Yatindra Nath Singh Asstt. Professor, EE, IIT Kanpur Kanpur-208016 UP Prof. Kamal Bijlani Head, E Learning Amrita University Kollarn Kerala Pradeep Kaul IT Director, CEC Asaf Ali Road, N. Delhi - 67 Prof. K.Mangala Sunder Professor chemistry IIT Madras, Chennai-600036 --

041 326551 01 (Fax) sundar@poc.edu

0984070608 0413-26551 01 (Fax) ananda-natarajan@pec.edu

Fax: 051 2-2597944 Email:ynsingh@ieee.org

rajanish@iimahd.ernet.in

Prof. P Ramanujan 09844090 188 Director rama@cdac.in - I CDAC, Bangalore

23 1 Ms. R.C.Saritha 1 099728221 99 I I NTS I rsaritha@cdacb.ernet.in I

I CDAC-Bangalore 24 1 Prof. H P Kincha I vc@vtu.ac.in -i

Vice Chancellor mu Belgaum