IMechE Southern India Panel's Learned Society Meeting, Bangalore.

The Southern India Panel of the India Branch, which was established in 2017 and has over 300 active members, organised a learned society technical meeting on 24 March 2018 at Bengaluru. The event was sponsored by the India Centre of the Railway Division and the India Branch.

This is the tenth year since the India Branch was established and it was an honour that the India Chair, Shailendra Tripathi attended the event. 

Vijay Raman, Southern India Panel Chairman, introduced the speakers and chaired the seminar. The three eminent engineers who spoke were:

• Girish Muraleedharakurup CEng, MIMechE - “Bharat Stage VI Emission Standards”: Girish is a specialist on emissions and system integration. He leads the commercial vehicles and off-road vehicle technologies business at Bosch Limited, Bengaluru.
  
  In his lecture, Girish gave an overview of Indian automotive market trends and the forthcoming introduction of BS VI emission standards that will leapfrog Stage V standards. He focused primarily on passenger cars and commercial vehicle diesel engines. Technology approaches required to achieve BS VI norms were discussed including fuel injection systems, air systems and exhaust gas after-treatment systems along with the challenges associated with system integration.
• Venkateswaran Anand, FIE, Member All India Management Association - “The Making of a Metro Train”:
  Venkateswaran had an illustrious career in the Indian Railways and retired as General Manager Southern Railway. Post retirement he advised Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC). in his lecture, he presented the process of design, engineering, manufacture, inspection, testing and commissioning of the DMRC trains. These coaches introduced state-of-the art features not only in systems such as air conditioning and braking but also in passenger comfort and safety. Innovations in materials and manufacturing processes set a new benchmark resulting in a paradigm shift in passenger vehicles for other Indian Metro systems which followed Delhi’s.

• Dr S Manikutty, Fellow Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA - "Do Engineers need Humanities?”: 
  Dr Manikutty, is a distinguished management “guru”, working for 21 years with the Indian Railways and for 22 years at the IIMA, where he was a member of the Board of Governors.. He was a visiting scholar at Cornell and taught at ESSEC, France for four years. After retiring he continues to teach courses at IIMs Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kozhikode.
  
  He explained what humanities have to do with engineering, through aesthetics and beauty, internal logic, symmetry, internal structures and appealing designs that are required to sell products. Most engineers are also managers. Managing is a wholly different ball game that requires broader concepts than engineering alone, where understanding human relationships and seeing things in perspective are more important than just logic.
  
  The intricacies of human reactions are found in the humanities, produced by artists and writers who observe and interpret life and relationships. Engineers also have to view their actions in terms of ethics and values, taking recourse to the humanities and great classics to learn the answers. Humanities as a core input in management courses and engineering curricula provide the strengths to face challenges.

There were lively discussions after each lecture. The event concluded with Vijay Raman summing up the principal lessons and explaining why such learning events were useful to Members across sub-disciplines. Shailendra Tripathi complimented the speakers on the clarity and detail in their presentations. A vote of thanks was given by Magdhum Basha, Treasurer, Southern India Panel.