My Initiatives

My (Sorry Our) Initiatives (46)

Here I mention some of our successful initiatives (carried out by me, my family and friends) that remind us our strength. I am sharing these here with the hope that the reader will get encouraged or motivated if he or she is not already doing similar work.

In the Neighbourhood (IIT Delhi) (4)

  1. Layout of Taxila Apartments (2010)
    Layout of the floors with flat locations were made in AUTOCAD and displayed in both the towers of Taxila apartments for the benefit of the visitors/residents to locate a flat easily.
  2. Pasting of Paintings/Gods’ pictures in the lifts of Taxila Apartments (2005)
    Paintings and Gods’ pictures were pasted on the dirty words written on the walls of the lifts so that we don’t get embarrassed, particularly, when the sons/daughters ask the meaning of those written by dirty people (who are they?)
  3. Letter box facility and direction for the flats in Vaishali Apartments (1998)
    A Pigeon-hole box was installed with the help of some neighbours on the ground floor of a six-storey building so that the postman does not dump all the letters on the ground floor. Holes were arranged as per the number of floors and the number of flats in each floor. The boards separating the holes were used to put flat number and directional arrows so that a visitor knows which floor button to press inside the lift.
  4. Scooter/Bicycle parking area in the Indraprashtha (IP) Apartments (1996)
    With the help of 5-6 newly joined faculty and their families, ways for the two-wheelers parked inside row of a covered parking space with only one side open were painted so that they can be easily brought out. Otherwise, the scooters/bicycles kept in the front row were blocking the way.

In the Workplace (i.e., IIT Delhi) of S.K. Saha (4)

  1. Weekly/Bi-weekly meetings in Mechatronics lab. and Student Affair Section (2001/2010)
    Weekly laboratory meetings were introduced to discuss the problems of the users (students, staff, and faculty), where each of them take some responsibility (computers, hardware set-ups, documentations, etc.). This has been very effecitive for the efficient functioning of the lab. The concepts is now introduced in the Student Affairs Section as a bi-weekly meeting.
  2. Electronic In/Out display cum switch board in the Mechatronics Lab.(2004)
    Implemented by the technical expert of the lab, Mr. D. Jaitly, it counts how many are inside the lab. and switched off the lights when nobody present.
  3. “Where are we” (WAW) board in the Mechatronics Lab. (2002)
    How do you feel when you are seriously working in the lab and people come asking about others’ whereabouts? A WAW board displays where the others are, e.g., library, bank, leave, etc. Two versions (non-electronic and electronic) were implemented.
  4. Overhead Projector (OHP) cover changing in LT-II (lecture theatre) (2001)
    A wooden-cover while uncovering the glass of an OHP used to hit its lens. So, the lens had to be lifted up, place the transparency sheet and bring the lens down for focusing.  A sliding version was implemented. Still a better would be to cut the cover in the middle and put hinge joints to make the two pieces fold before rotating.
     

Initiatives as the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Delhi (July 01, 2015-August 31, 2018) by Prof. S. K. Saha (30)  [Sept. 02, 2018]

The initiatives listed below were motivated based on the following priorities:

Priority 1: Non-teaching staff
Provide them with the sense of belongingness, emphasize on their outlook by taking them outside IIT Delhi (several factory visits were conducted for them every year, etc.), cooperativeness through more interactions, etc. ACluster concept was introduced in the department where 5-6 lab staff, faculty associated with those labs., and the students/project staff working there must meet once in a month to discuss the well-being of those labs in terms of sorting out their daily issues (e.g., cleanliness, beautifying, facility sharing), buy new equipment, initiate new research, etc.).
 
Priory 2: Ph. D students
Strengthen weekly GPS (Group of Post-Graduate Students) presentations on every Wednesday afternoon for enhanced interactions and knowing who is doing what, along with the learning of quality presentations. Recently, faculty/guest presentations were made compulsory at the beginning of the weekly seminar (before the Ph. D students) for closer/enhanced interaction between faculty-faculty and faculty-students.
 
Priority 3: Faculty
Encourage more inter-disciplinary activities with possibility of forming strong big groups.
Initiatives
1. Initiated visit to all labs. by the head: Done in Sept. 2015 (Later, in 2016 and 2017).
2. Based on the above visits, “Guide to labs.” was prepared in 2016 and later. It is a document listing courses conducted, equipment available, etc. The            document is available in the following link:
(A new folder http://privateweb.iitd.ac.in/~headmech was created to save informative files of the dept.)
3. During the above visit, an old lab. (III-369) was found to be without much activities. Initially, it was used as a temporary Committee Room as the             renovation was going on in the existing Committee Room. Later, it was reallocated to new activities of the department (Some of them were initiated by newly joined faculty) through a Departmental Space Allocation policy approved by the DFB and the corresponding committee.
4. Distribution of First-aid box to all labs by Sept. 09, 2015.
5. Lab.-in-charges and Technical-staff were re-allocated labs. after many years based on their three choices provided by each of them. The allotment decision was taken by a committee consisting of the Head and three group-in-charges. Attempt was made to allocate their first choice to get their best services/outputs. Also, young faculty was given priority.
6. Regular meetings in the presence of the head:
a. Weekly ME office meeting with the Secretary to the head and other office staff members (Later, monthly) to manage the ME office activities effectively. For example, ACs will be switched on after 10 or 10:30 am; Attendance register will be inside Head’s office after 9:15am; Write time in the attendance register if somebody comes late. 
b. Monthly meetings were conducted for Contractual Staff (by Bedi & Bedi) to boost their self-esteem and confidence as many of them are graduates but doing the not-respected jobs. They were asked to write their daily activities in a separate diary, type materials, translating non-technical articles, etc.
c. Monthly meetings with the store keeper and the faculty store-in-charge to take stock of the situation. Put track no. against all PLN03 and NPN05 requirements. Mention in the PFC formation too.
d. Staff volunteers’ meeting(Monthly): To discuss well-being of the non-teaching staff members. No gift for Viswakarma Puja in 2017 (Not permissible by accounts!). 
e. Monthly web committee meetings with a faculty and a staff to improve and monitor the departmental website (http://mech.iitd.ac.in/).
f. Monthly meetings with newly joined faculty of the department to listen to their problems, and advice/guide them.
7. Bought Dictionaries (English to English and English to Hindi)and an English grammar book for the staff of ME office.
8. “Leave Board” in the ME Office to write the names of the faculty and staff on leave. This was quite convenient for those who want to know if somebody is on leave or not.
9. Faculty and staff board with the photos of all faculty and staff was introduced by Feb. 25, 2016 at the entry of the ME office under the banner “ME Family”.
10. CCTV installed in ME Seminar Room, ME Library, and corridor near them.
11. A concept of “Cluster” was introduced under which all labs., lab-in-charges, other faculty members, laboratory staff, and students working in those labs. were mapped under various clusters thematically. The idea was to have closer interactions and resource sharing. 
12. Cluster meetings (Monthly) was introduced by Feb. 2016.Each cluster meeting is to be coordinated by a lab. staff.
13. Conducted visits to different industry mainly for the non-teaching staff for their exposures: 
2016: 1. AKG Skill, Ghaziabad; 2.Auto Expo, Greater Noida; 
            3. Minda, 4.BHEL, Haridwar.
2017: 1. Jet Engine Overhaul Complex, Delhi; 2. JCB, Ballabgarh; 
            3. A training at IITD by a JCB manager
2018: 1. Motherson, Noida; 2. Carrier, Gurgaon
Visit to above reports were prepared. For example, the reports for 2016 are available in the following link:
14. Lunch on April 02, 2016 for all faculty and staff with their families (Later, in 2017 and 2018 also). This was to bring staff and faculty closer for better cooperation between each other.
15. Renovation of the ME Office Complex started by May 2016 (Completed by May 2017).
16. Creating a discussion area for 8-10 people and a pantry in ME Seminar Rook (II-422).
17. LCD Screen was introduced in the front of ME office to display events/meetings of the dept.
18. Non-faculty staff were invited during UG/PG orientations in July 2016.
19. Training for Teaching Assistants of the dept. in 2016, 2017, 2018. The slides based on the latest one is kept in the following link:
20. With the help of two new faculty, a concept of “Chai PeCharcha” on every Friday (4-5 PM) was introduced since 2017. In this, faculty and staff interact over tea and samosa.
21. A “Happy to Share” (Congratulatory) notice board was installed to share good news like awards received by staff/faculty/students and a faculty/staff joined the dept., etc.
22. Sanstahan awards were received by one staff in 2016, two in 2017, and one in 2018.The nominations were done with transparency, i.e., anybody interested could be nominated through lab-in-charges or by any faculty. The final nominations were done based on the committee comprising of the Head and three Group-in-charges who saw their annual appraisals from the office of the Registrar before nominating them. 
23. For those who could not receive the Sansthan award even after nomination by the department were handed over an appreciation letter with their photo on it by the head in front of all faculty and staff.
24. Weekly GPS (Group of Post-graduate Students) seminars are held on every Wednesday. In order to discuss the issues, monthly meetings are held with the GPS faculty coordinator and student volunteers. From July 2018, faculty presentations were also introduced.
25. Introduce Research Scholars-Seating Arrangement Committee (RS-SAC) to look after the seating space of Ph.D students. This meeting is held once in a month to discuss the issues related to RS-SAC.
26. The RS-SAC (earlier GPS did it twice) will arrange annual lab. visits cluster-wise for all Ph. D. students for their knowledge about the facilities available in the department.
27. Mechanical Engineering Society (MES) was re-activated under a young faculty.
28. Ph. D students of GPS,and other UG/PG of MES together bring out Semester Newsletters ME News (earlier The RS News).
29. Pens/pencils were kept on the table of ME Committee Room for anybody to quickly write notes using them.
30. Share positive articles, say, from Speaking Tree, etc., in front of Head’s office
 
--- Thank you for reading! ---

Awards/Prizes at different Institutes/Schools/Functions (5)

  • Vidyasagar Vidyapith Higher Secondary School, Midnapore, West Bangal
    - Hiramoti Saha Memorial Award to an intelligent but poor student of class (since 2000)
    - Nitya Gopal Saha Memorial Award to an intelligent but a poor student appearing in the Higher Secondary Examination (since 2002) 
  • NIT Durgapur (formally REC Durgapur)
    - Nitya Gopal Saha and Hiramoti Saha Memorial prize for securing marks in Design sessional of 5th Semester (since 2003) 
  • Doordarshan Robocon Competition
    - For best team appearing first time in  the National Robotic Competition organized by the  National Television Braodcaster of India, Doordarshan (since 2009)
  • IIT Delhi Robotic Club
    - For best technical report by the 1st Year students of the club taking part in various college competitions (since 2015)

For home (3)

  • Foldable Table (2004)
    A space saving foldable table can be used as a study table while seating on the floor. Besides, it can serve as a tea table while seating on sofas. The most important feature of this table is that its legs can be folded and kept against any wall of a room or under a cot. The present user of this table is a professor from IIT Delhi.

Figure 1a: As a study table

Figure 1b: How to fold

Figure 1c: Stored table
  • Cloth Drying Hanger (2002)
    This item is very useful to dry clothes, particularly, in the high-rise buildings where there is limited space in the verandah. It is a flexible mechanism through which you can load the clothes on rods/ropes close to you and can extend the mechanism so that the clothes are far from you to get the maximum sunlight and air. The easy loading is not possible in the fixed-type arrangements where ropes are hanged from rods that welded to the balcony grills or fixed to the verandah-wall.

Figure 2: Cloth-Drying-Hanger

  • Book Stand (2001)
    A pair of powder-coated inverted T-type metallic stands that help to manage books/notebooks/files, etc. You can shift one of the stands to accommodate more or less books in order to look them compact.

Figure 3: Book Stand