INDIA. Mumbai: The Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), a Deemed to be University located in Pune in Maharashtra, has been contributing towards nation building by conducting advanced courses in science and technology related to defence and national security. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stated on Friday.
Addressing the 6 th General Body Meeting of DIAT, in his capacity as the Chairman and Chancellor of the Institute, Singh expressed happiness that the institute has taken a proactive role in this direction by opening new schools in the areas of Quantum Technology, Robotics and Automation, and Defence Technology.
Such augmentation with eminent professors of Indian origin and collaboration with recognized foreign institutes will transform the institute into a frontier technology centre. He mentioned that DIAT has started interdisciplinary research and teaching program in the area of Quantum Technologies and Robotics, Singh said. He also witnessed some demonstrations of these technologies.
Singh said, “The vision of our honourable PM is to make our nation self-reliant –‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’(self-reliant India). Towards this, we have initiated several steps for the indigenization of defence technologies and manufacturing in the country. These initiatives require a large pool of technologists armed with skills of future warfare.”
He expressed satisfaction that DIAT has been conducting online certificate courses for the benefit of the young engineering professionals in Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security which are the preliminaries for future information security and war gaming. It is heartening to note that 1,500 young professionals have already been trained by DIAT. These steps would lead the country towards self-reliance in critical defense technologies. In recent years, the intake of students in M Tech, MSc, and Ph.D. are continuously increasing with better quality of students. Books, patents, and paper publications are increasing, exhibiting the academic growth of the institute, he added.
After addressing the General Body Meeting, Singh also addressed DIAT faculty, students, and staff. He said that DIAT is in process of collaborating with eminent professors of Indian origin from recognized foreign institutes which will take the institute closer towards making it into a frontier technology institute in these areas.
Speaking about the uniqueness of the DIAT, which also conducts various short-term specialized courses like Missile technology, cyber security, cryptology for the country’s defence services, Singh said, “DIAT has conducted several international workshops. Armed Forces and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists are continuously updated through such workshops and getting regular doctoral and post-graduate degrees from this University.
About the academic excellence of the DIAT, he said, “DIAT faculty members are pioneers in their domain and I am informed that 03 professors of DIAT are ranked in the top two percent bracket in the world. I congratulate them and wish many more to achieve this distinction.
During his visit, Singh inaugurated newly constructed married accommodation for Ph.D. scholars/international students/visiting faculty on the campus. Besides, he also inaugurated infra projects. After the inauguration of the hostel, he witnessed a demonstration of the free space optical communication project of DIAT.
He praised DIAT and DRDO for coming forward during the COVID-19 pandemic. He mentioned that in this time of crisis, DIAT acquired nine patents to combat the COVID-19 and productionized these technologies through industry partners.
Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman, DRDO G Satheesh Reddy, DIAT Vice-Chancellor Dr. C P Ramanarayanan, senior faculty members, senior civil and military officials, and scholars were present on the occasion.
