SSTM awarded the highest rating of 'A' Grade
National Assessment and Accreditation Council
(NAAC), an autonomous body under UGC for the
purpose of upholding the quality of higher education
in India, has accredited SSTM awarding the highest
rating of 'A' Grade with 3.19 points overall. The NAAC
accreditation with 'A' Grade reaffirms the quality of
teaching and learning in our School and provides
reassurance to all stakeholders on our emphasis and
relentless pursuit of excellence.
Commerce fest
On March 2, the BCom students organised their Commerce Fest
which was inaugurated by Mr.K.L. Mohana Varma, popular
novelist and short story writer. Dr.Radha P. Thevannoor, Group
Director and Prof. N.Narayanan, HoD-Commerce also addressed
the students. The students held cultural and literary competitions
as part of the celebrations.
Best paper award
Ms.Sree Lakshmi K.R., Asst. Professor participated in the
International Conference on 'Human Computer Interaction -Redefining Corporate Paradigms' organised by Women's
Christian College, Chennai as part of its centenary celebrations
on February 16 and 17. She presented a paper 'From Malls to
Mobiles - Human Computer Interaction and the Transition from
Market Places to Market Spaces' and won the Best Paper Award
for the same.
Book publication
Dr. Sunil Jacob, Associate Professor-ECE,
published a book titled 'Wireless
Technology First Edition,' brought out by
Lambert Academic Publishing (German
Publisher) during March 2015.
Staff achievements
Ms. Anitha G. Pillai, Associate Professor-CE,
has been awarded PhD in Civil Engineering
by CUSAT.
Mr. Sunil Jacob, Associate Professor-ECE, Anitha G. Pillai
Sunil Jacob
has been awarded PhD in Electronics Engineering by Bharatiar
University, Coimbatore.
Paper publications
Dr. Sheeja Janardhanan, Associate Professor-ME, published a
paper titled 'Environmental Effects on the Maneuverability of a
Tanker' in the International Conference on Numerical and
Experimental Marine Hydrodynamics 2014 at IIT Madras during
December 10 and 11.
Dr. Sheeja along with Praphul T., presented another paper titled
'Numerical Investigations on Aerodynamic Stall' in the
International Conference on Emerging Research in Engineering
and Technology 2015 at Kalavani Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore during March 12 and 13 and the paper has been
SSET
Digest
upgraded for publication in International Journal on Emerging
Research in Engineering and Technology.
Ms. Saira Joseph, Assistant Professor-ECE, published a paper titled
'CPW-fed UWB compact antenna for multiband applications' in
the SCI-indexed international journal, Pr ogr ess in
Electromagnetic Research C.
Paper presentations
Dr. Vinod P., Associate Professor-CSE, presented a paper titled
'Opcode Position Aware Metamorphic Malware Detection:
th
Signature vs Histogram Approach,' in the 9 IEEE India Com held
at Bharati Vidyapeeth, New Delhi from March 11 to 13.
Ms. Divya Nath K., Assistant Professor-EE, presented a paper on
'A Review on Non-destructive Methods for the Measurement of
Moisture Contents in Food Items' in the IEEE International
Conference on Circuit, Power and Computing Technologies-2015'
organised by the Department of Electrical Electronics Engineering
of Noorul Islam University, Kanyakumari during March 19
and 20.
Seminars and workshops
Mr. Niju P. Joseph, Assistant Professor-MCA and Mr. Varun G.
Menon, Assistant Professor-CSE, participated in Faculty
Enablement Programme on Foundation Programme 4.0
conducted by Infosys at Nehru College of Engineering and
Research Centre from March 16 to 18 and both were awarded with
A Grade.
Dr. Vinod P., Associate Professor-CSE, delivered a talk on 'Crypto
Watermarking and Image Security' during the Workshop on
'Image Sensing, Medical Imaging and Satellite Image Processing,'
sponsored by ACM as part of Faculty Development Programme at
IIITM-K, Technopark, Trivandrum during March 20 and 21.
Mahindra AQ workshop
In association with Mahindra & Mahindra, SSET conducted a fiveday workshop on 'Sustainability with automobile' during the
period February 12 to 17. 'One tree-one vehicle', social network
campaign, 'me and my vehicle', vehicles and ladies, driving habits
on road, technology and vehicles and eco-friendly vehicles were
some of the themes discussed in various sessions. Prof. P.C. Pillai,
Senior Group Director, SCMS Group, inaugurated the awareness
programme. Prof. M. Madhavan, Director-SSET, presided over the
function. Prof. E.D. Mukundan, HoD-AE presented the theme
address. Mr. Manoj Kumar B., and Mr. Sujay K., Assistant
Professors also spoke.
Vol : 11
No : 1
April 2015
A Monthly Newsletter of SCMS Group of Educational Institutions, Cochin
A life of harmony
had made. Within a short time the neighbours
became good friends leading a peaceful and
happy life.
In ancient China there was a farmer with a neighbour
The ultimate purpose of all our endeavours should
who was a hunter. The neighbour had a pair of
definitely be to improve the quality of our life.
ruthless and poorly trained hunting dogs. The dogs
Then, what precisely can be the crucial engine that
used to jump over the fence frequently and chase the
ensures quality of our life? Money? Power? Fame?
farmer's lambs.
With all the enormous money, power and fame
The farmer had complained to the neighbour time
enjoyed
by Saddam Hussain, his life ended up in
Dr.G.P.C.Nayar
and again with a plea to keep the dogs chained; but,
utter
disaster.
What was it that led to his tragedy?
Founder
&
Chairman
failed to get any positive response. It made the
His
inept
relationships.
SCMS Group of
farmer's life miserable. One day when the dogs again
Educational Institutions
Even after more than six decades of our
crossed the fence and attacked the lambs severely
independence why our country has not been able
injuring a good number of them, he got fed up.
He went to town and consulted a judge. The judge after to achieve the progress we should have made to ensure better
listening carefully to his story replied: “If you want I can now quality of life to our people? One critical impediment to our
punish the hunter and instruct him to keep his dogs locked up. peace and progress is our poor neighbourly relations.
But, in the process you will lose a friend and gain an enemy. Dhirubhai Ambani was once asked by a journalist to spell out
Which one will you rather prefer, a friend or a foe as your the secret of his monumental success in transforming his
company from a small unit to a Fortune 500 company. He was
neighbour?”
categorical
in his response that it was so simple; the success and
The farmer was under confusion. He thought for a moment. His
wisdom prevailed and he sagaciously answered, “I shall prefer a growth could be attributed to the trust and good relations the
company enjoyed with its stakeholders.
friend as my neighbour.”
The
whole concept of progress and quality of life boils down to
“Okay, then I shall tell you a solution that will help to keep your
lambs safe, and at the same time retain your neighbour a one integral constituent, that is, good relations based on trust.
In business, we understand the need for giving emphasis to
friend.”
customer relations, employee relations, investor relations,
Having heard the judge's solution, the farmer agreed.
supplier relations, community relations, government relations,
After returning home, the farmer put the judge's suggestions and so on. If our relationships are good everything else, money,
into action without any delay. He took two of his best lambs and power, peace, progress and all, will fall in line. But, albeit all our
presented them to his neighbour's two small sons. The children hard work, we are bound to fail, if our relationships are awful.
were immensely happy and began to enjoy playing with the
lambs. Seeing his sons' delight, the hunter had the need to Whether it is in our personal life, family, business or social life
safeguard their newly earned playmates. So he built a new the absolute quality depends on one thing - the harmony in our
doghouse for his dogs. Since then, the dogs never had the relationships.
opportunity to jump over the fence and attack the farmer's
lambs.
In response to the farmer's generosity toward his sons, the
hunter began sharing his game meat with the farmer. The farmer
reciprocated by sending the hunter lamb meat and cheese he
The highest form of education is not that is confined to
imparting knowledge, but that brings life in harmony with all
that exist in the world -- Rabindranath Tagore
Dr.G.P.C.Nayar
NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON WATER MANAGEMENT & AUDIT
‘Enabling efficient use of water, a great social service’ – Mayor Tony Chammany
From L-R: Mr.B. Manojkumar, Prof. P. C. Pillai, Prof. M. Madhavan, and Prof. E.D.
Mukundan
SCMS School of Architecture
Fresh water is the life blood of the planet. No one can survive
without it. Water is a great medicine. It does away with the
diseases and is the giver of health, strength, long-life, wealth
and immortality. In the contemporary world, clean and safe
drinking water is scarce. Nearly one billion people in the
developing world don't have access to it. Yet, we take it for
granted, we waste it.
Today, water crisis is a matter of serious discussion and concern
Contd. on page 2
Co-ordinating Editor - Mr. Sanal Potty
Editorial Advisory Council: Dr. D. Radhakrishnan Nair, Prof. R. Sahadevan
Edited and published by Prof. B. Unnikrishnan for and on behalf of SCMS Group of Educational Institutions, Prathap Nagar,
Muttom, Cochin - 683 106 and printed at Maptho Printings, Cochin - 683 104.
www.scmsgroup.org Email: [email protected]
Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany inaugurating the valedictory session of the
Workshop on Water Management and Audit. Sitting beside: L-R: Dr.Rathish
Menon, SCMS Water Institute, Prof.M.Madhavan, Director, SSET, and
Dr.C.Sengottuvelu, Professor & Head-Consultancy.
Contd. from page 1
amongst all sections of the society. How judiciously we can
utilise the water available without depletion is a major
concern.
Alarming situation for India
India has 18 percent of the world's population, but has only 4
percent of total usable water resources. Half of India's water
supply in rural areas, where 70 percent of the country's
population lives, is routinely contaminated with toxic
bacteria.
As per a UN report, India will face the consequences if it will
not plan for water conservation. The report had predicted that
the situation would become grim in the next 25 years.
SCMS Group's social commitment
Social responsibility is one of the mainstays that support the
academic and research work undertaken in SCMS Group, and
it is also one of our strategic priorities, because we believe
that our role in the field of education involves something
more than simply imparting of knowledge and skills to our
students. As active agents of social change, we aim to address
and find solutions to social problems.
While water crisis is looming large as the most important
resource limitation of the century, the Consultancy
Development Unit of SCMS and SCMS Water Institute jointly
organised a two-day national workshop on Water
Management and Audit on February 25 and 26. Experts from
diverse sectors discussed on topics like research on water
purification, availability of water, consumption pattern,
innovative techniques for water conservation, green audit and
water atlas.
No substitute for water
Inaugurating the workshop, Mr.T.P.Srinivasan, Vice Chairman
and Executive Head of Kerala State Higher Education Council
said that “in future the threat to international peace and
security is not going to be land, but water.” We always think of
oil as the most important resource constraint, but it is not so,
he affirmed. “The big difference is that oil can be substituted”
by other means, he argued, whereas “there is no substitute for
water.” When per capita income rises, he revealed, you need
more water. Whatever development that takes place in the
society it speaks of the need for more water, he informed. In
this context, all that we can do is to conserve whatever is
available. Our efforts to manage with what we have should
start with the water audit. We cannot do without it, he
concluded.
Prof.P.C.Pillai, Senior Group Director presided over the
inaugural session. Dr.V.Raman Nair, Group Director and
Dr.Sunny George, Director-SCMS Water Institute also spoke.
No fragmented approach
In his keynote address, Dr.E.J.James, former Executive
Director, Centre for Water Resource Development and
Management, Government of Kerala, described the
eventuality and emphasised that his major concern was on the
existing fragmented approach without proper integration or
coordination between the various departments. He clarified
that all the three securities like energy security; food security
and health security “are directly depended on water security”
and that is why “water security has to be tackled with top
priority.”
The afternoon was earmarked for group exercise on water
audit which was led by Dr.Sunny George and Dr. Rathish
Menon of SCMS Water Institute. The presentations by the
various teams were made on the second day.
Prepare yourselves to take risk
– Dr.Subramanian Swamy
Mr.T.P.Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Executive Head of Kerala State Higher
Education Council inaugurating the workshop. Others on the dais L-R: Dr.Sunny
George, Director, SCMS Water Institute, Prof.P.C.Pillai, Senior Group Director,
and Dr.V.Raman Nair, Group Director.
Advanced technologies
Dr.Kurian Baby, Country Director, IRC
presented the topic, Water Security and
Sanitation Nexus. Prof.(Dr.) Johannes
Fritsch, University of RavensburgWeingarten, Germany and Scientific
Advisor to SCMS Water Institute, shared
his experiences in water management. He Prof.(Dr.) Johannes Fritsch
explained the need for regulating and controlling ground water.
They had lot of problems in Germany during the last four
decades, he informed, in usage of river and lake water. But they
were able to sort it out by treatment of water employing
advanced technologies.
Role model for India
While inaugurating the valedictory session, Mr.Tony Chammany,
Kochi Mayor announced that “the water policy of Kochi
Corporation will be officially declared in May” next and it is
going to be the first water policy of a local body in India. SCMS
Water Institute is actively involved in developing the policy, he
revealed. Kerala should become a role model for India in water
conservation and in the journey towards achieving that
objective, he urged, “let us march together.” It would be the
greatest service we could do for the society, the Mayor
concluded.
Prof.M.Madhavan, Director, SSET presided. Dr.Rathish Menon,
SCMS Water Institute and Dr.C.Sengottuvelu, Professor & HeadConsultancy, SCMS COCHIN School of Business, also spoke at
the valedictory session.
Infrastructure Financing:
The Key to Sustainable Growth
Finesse, the Finance Forum at SCMS COCHIN School of Business
organised a national conference on 'Infrastructure Financing:
The Key to Sustainable Growth,' on March 13.
Inaugurating the conference Mr. Elias George IAS, MD, KMRL,
elaborated on the Kochi Metro Rail project, one of the largest
social infrastructure initiatives launched in the State in recent
times, indicating how the project on completion would transform
the city greener and pollution-free. While explaining the
difficulties faced in financing the project, he remarked that the
eco-friendly nature was the major attraction for the European
funding agencies to come forward to support. He also
highlighted the women-friendly character of the project
reserving 50 percent of the jobs to women.
Mr.V.G.Mathew, MD and CEO, South Indian Bank, in his keynote
address, went into the main reasons for the failure of
infrastructure projects in India. He concluded with a positive
note that the recent measures taken by RBI would help to ease
Mr. Elias George IAS, MD, KMRL inaugurating the national conference on
Infrastructure Financing: The Key to Sustainable Growth. Others in the picture
L-R: Mr.Venugopal C. Govind, Managing Partner, Varma & Varma,
Mr.V.G.Mathew, MD & CEO, SIB and Dr.Filomina P. George, Director, SCMS
COCHIN School of Business.
the flow of funds to infrastructure projects leading to lesser delay
in completion.
Outstanding models
Mr.Venugopal C. Govind, Managing Partner, Varma & Varma, in
his presidential address emphasised that 50 percent of the
funding would have to come from private sector. He commented
that the RBI might not be the appropriate regulatory body to
oversee infrastructure funding and suggested that a new
regulator would be required.
Dr.Filomina P. George, Director, SCMS COCHIN School of
Business, welcomed the gathering.
In the panel discussion that followed Mr.Abraham Thariyan,
former Executive Director, SIB and Mr. Giby Mathew, MD,
Celebrus Capital discussed on the Role of Banks and Financial
Institutions in Infrastructure Funding. Mr Santhosh S., Associate
Professor, chaired the session. In the post-lunch session Mr.
Jyothi Kumar, Executive Director, KSIDC and Mr. Jaikrishnan G.,
Director-Management Consultancy, KPMG, discussed the Role of
Institutional Facilitators in Infrastructure Funding. The session
was chaired by Mr. A.V.Jose, Associate Professor.
In the valedictory session, Dr.V.Raman Nair, Group Director,
presided and Ms.C.A.Dipti Lunawat, Assistant Professor
proposed the vote of thanks.
Talk
Ms.Cuckoo Joy, Manager, Center of Excellence
(Risks and Contracts) of General Electrics,
Texas, the USA, gave a motivational talk and
interacted with the students on March 12.
News from
SSTM
‘Boost your self-confidence to
achieve goals’
Lack of self-confidence is keeping Indian
women away from achieving goals, said
Ernakulam Assistant Collector Mrunmayi Joshy IAS. She was
delivering the keynote address at the workshop on Women
Caricaturist Ibrahim Badusha inaugurating the workshop on women
empowerment and self-defence by sketching the caricature of Dr.Radha P.
Thevannoor.
Dr.Subramanian Swamy speaking on the Union Budget 2015-16 at SCMS
COCHIN School of Business.
Young people should learn to take risks, seek opportunities
for progress and be prepared to become entrepreneurs, said
Dr.Subramanian Swamy, former Union Minister and
Professor of Economics, while lecturing on the Union
Budget 2015-16 at SCMS COCHIN School of Business on
March 3. The prevailing typical mentality to seek a job is
disastrous, he cautioned.
Describing the budget as an extremely important document,
to lay the vision of the government for generating economic
growth of the country, Dr.Swamy said that the present
budget is a serious attempt to usher in a new policy
framework incorporating the objectives, priorities, strategies
and resource mobilisation measures for the projects. “In my
opinion India's main objective should be to achieve a growth
rate of 10-12 percent,” he explained, because a “12 percent
growth rate means doubling the GDP in every six years.”
Dr.Swamy emphasised that “the most important growth
factor is not capital or FDI,” but the main thing the budget
should focus is on “directing the policy to generate
innovation.” You will get a huge benefit by way of
technological progress, he added. For example, going for
cars with hydrogen fuel cells will create a bulky benefit, he
stated. Likewise, generating electricity with thorium will be a
much more efficient choice. The real focus of the budget
should be on employment promotion to youngsters,
Dr.Swamy suggested.
Prof.P.C.Pillai, Senior Group Director and Dr.Filomina
P.George. Director, SCMS COCHIN School of Business also
spoke.
Empowerment and Self-defence, organised by the NSS Unit at
SSTM in association with SCMS COCHIN School of Business and
Centre for Empowerment and Enrichment, on March 10.
Caricaturist Ibrahim Badusha inaugurated the workshop by
sketching the caricature of Dr.Radha P. Thevannoor, Group
Director. Dr. Filomina P. George, Director, SCMS COCHIN School
of Business, Ms. Jyoti Aswani, Managing Partner, Aswani
Lachmandas Group, and Dr. Mary Anitha P.A., Chairperson,
CFEE also spoke.
Faculty achievements
Ms.Anjana S. Chandran, Assistant Professor-MCA,
has been awarded PhD in Computer Science by MG
University, Kottayam.
Anjana S. Chandran
Mr. A. V. Jose, Associate Professor and
Mr. James Dominic, Assistant Professor
have been certified as Accredited
Management Teachers in Finance by the
All India Management Association.
A.V. Jose
James Dominic