National Institute of Technology Meghalaya is celebrating the AMRIT KAAL VIMARSH towards Viksit-Bharat@2047 and organizing lecture series during the entire academic year. In this regard, Student Activity Centre, NIT Meghalaya, organised one Institutional lecture by Dr. Kiran Seth (Ex. Prof. Emeritus, IIT Delhi; Padma shri Awardee) on the topic, “Indian Knowledge System” on 1st March, 2024.
Dr. Kiran Seth (born in 1949) is an Indian academician and former Professor Emeritus in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He is most known as the founder of SPIC MACAY (1977), a non-profit organisation which promotes Indian heritage and the spirit of volunteerism. Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth is a 45-year old nationwide, non-political, people’s movement and a registered society that has been organising programmes of classical music & dance, folk music & dance, meditation, yoga, cinema classic screenings, talks by eminent persons, heritage walks, craft workshops inside school and college campuses to inspire students to take an active interest in Indian heritage.
At the age of 75 years, Dr Kiran Seth has been on the cycle yatra to spread the SPIC MACAY message and to elicit support for it. He has covered about 20 states and union territories. On 15th August 2022, he started from Srinagar reaching Kanyakumari on the 19th of February 2023. He then cycled from Kanyakumari to Guwahati via Kerala, Goa, coastal Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal. Along the way, he has also met CMs and other top officials to request their help in taking this Movement to every child in the country. SPIC MACAY Cycle Yatra reached IIT Guwahati on 2nd Jan 2024 and now they are extending the yatra to the North Eastern States via Flight/Train/Road. Hence, National Institute of Technology Meghalaya could get a chance to organise a lecture/interactive session with Dr. Kiran Seth while he is in Meghalaya.
Prof. Pinakeswar Mahanta, Director, NIT Meghalaya, addressed the gathering and welcomed Dr. Kiran Seth to the institute. The Deans, President of Student Activity Centre, faculties, staff, students and also few eminent persons from Meghalaya attended the session with Dr. Seth. Dr. Seth during his talk mostly focused on the importance of Indian classical music and culture in the growth and development of today’s youngsters and their contribution in building a developed nation. He spoke about training the young generation about how to learn and how to have complete control on their mind through practicing Yoga and meditation. Dr. Seth also talked about the various financial schemes extended by various ministries to the educational Institutions to promote Indian classical music and culture and also to incorporate them into the curriculum. Dr. Seth encouraged NIT Meghalaya to initiate a SPIC MACAY heritage club at Institute level and to conduct various activities under it.