National Science Day observed at SNSCE

February 28 is celebrated as National Science Day in India to commemorate the Nobel Prize awarded to Sir.C.V.Raman. SNS College of Engineering embarked to observe National Science Day through a debate.

“Science without Humanity” is one of the seven social sins proclaimed by Mahatma Gandhiji. However the rapid development of science forces the society to strike a compromise with the values of humanity. In this juncture, the National Science Day 2008 proved an ideal platform for the SNSCE students to debate on the topic “Does Science destroys Moral Values?” Prof.R.Natarajan, HoD, Department of Science and Humanities moderated the lively debate. The team of D.Krishnanand, Jyothish.M.Peter, Annie Ratna Priya and Buma Dharsiny were of the view that Science does not kill human values. Their nemesis was the team of P.Nirmala, T.Vanathi, N.Muthu Ezhilarasan and K.Rajbharath. An august gathering of about 60 students from all departments of SNSCE eagerly followed the debate. The organizing committee comprised of Mr.Pon.Rathnavel , Lecturer – Mechanical Engineering and students Ms.K.Alamelu and Mr.S.M.Ramesh(both ECE).

Prof.R.Natarajan welcomed the gathering and participants for the debate and elucidated on the importance and legend of the National Science Day. He also briefly explained the baseline of the topic and invited views from the participants. D.Krishnanand (I EEE) opened up the debate. He mentioned that he was unable to configure how people can imagine of science destroying moral values. He followed it up with examples of how science can enhance the moral values in day to day lives. However his class mate P.Nirmala (I EEE) ran through the same list of examples on how science could destroy moral values. This had the audience in splits. She ended up quoting Einstein “Lets make things simple. Not Simpler” and said that since Science was so simple, morality became an easy target. Jyothish M. Peter (I CSE) with his valiant voice and deft diction made strong points for the cause of science not destroying human values. He was equally combated by the enthusiastic T. Vanathi (I ECE) who was firm that the current generation is suffering from too much of science. Annie Ratna Priya (I CSE) drew parallels from India in the 1960s and India in the 2010s and explained how science made things easier for human beings in the gap of 50 years. N. Muthu Ezhilarasan (I IT) then brought in the issue of development Vs environment and quoted a series of environmental issues to argue and augur his case. The final speakers for both sides V.Bumadharsiny (I IT) and K. Rajbharath (I ECE) hottened up the debate. They both threw pointers at each other and reiterated in such force that enthused the audience who kept cheering for both of them. Their arguments took rapid strides and the moderator Prof.R.Natarajan had to bring the house down to order a couple of times.

Prof.R.Natarajan resumed his speech after all the participants and firstly applauded the participants. He explained that he kept science out of the discussion by arranging it in a simple hall devoid of any sound systems and LCDs. He mentioned that science was inevitable to the humanity. However when kept in a scale with morality, science should take a back seat. He emphasized the audience to always keep morality high and never let it down in the sake of promoting science. He quoted points from all the speakers and concluded that science and morality should be in complete harmony and there should be no case of each destroying the others. The verdict was well received by the audience and they were very happy to be a part of such an intriguing and informative debate on the lovely occasion.

Interview with Dr.SNS

Our Director cum Secretary, Dr.S.N.Subramaniam was interviewed by Dr.P.V.Manoharan of Doordarshan on the current education scenario and the interview was aired on DD on the Sundays 13 January 2008 and 20 January 2008. Excerpts from the interview

ECE pips EEE for Cricket Championship

It was literally a nail biting match as Vigneshnathan(EEE) and Ramesh(ECE) were biting them for most of the time. EEE under the captainship of Vigneshnathan got most things correct but his opposite number Jeyamohan got things correct just when needed and crusied ahead in this great cricket match.

EEE won the toss and preferred to chase the target. The openers Jeyamohan and Ramesh fell cheaply, the former to a run out and the latter to an over ambitious pull shot. Murugesan also did not last long. However Senthamil Sakthivel and Manoj played steadily. The scoreboard got ticking thanks to the duo and some insipid bowling by Vignesh and Elavarshan, who together contributed more than 20 extras. Subash brought in his leg spinners and after being hit for a couple of fours got Manoj and Doora in the next two balls. Thirupathy succumbed in the next over (caught beautifully by Anandraj) and so did Senthamil. EEE gathered the much needed momentum and soon sent Naveen and Anandakumar thanks to the medium pace of the short duo of Anand and Vignesh. Suddenly 81/3 became 88/9. Velmurugan and Prashanth batted patiently and helped the team reach 100. But it was all over in 18.4 overs and ECE was bowled out for 107.

In the half time, Vigneshnathan sounded optimistic and was sure that his batsmen would deliver the goods. Jeyamohan said that he was prepared for the EEE batsman and gave his team a chance with his bowling strength. Vigneshnathan and Anandraj opened the batting for EEE as Ramesh and Jeyamohan opened the bowling also for ECE. Things were going pretty smooth for EEE till the last ball of the 6th over. Ramesh who tried hard was finally rewarded when Vigneshnathan hooked a full toss to fine leg, where Prashanth held a stunner in his left hand. Velmurugan's next over turned to be more than productive as he had Anandraj and Elavarashan in successive deliveries. While Murugesan held the catch of the tournament covering more than 20 metres on the wrong side and grasping it with a dive, Thirupathy showed great reflexes to take a quickie. The fourth wicket partnership worked for the EEE department as well. Dhanush and Mithun with their contrasting styles plundered the ECE bowling attack. Mithun in particular was merciless and hit five successive boundaries in a span of two overs. The battle seemed over, but ECE guys were catching beautifully. Manoj who came up with slow medium forced Dhanush to edge a delivery which was snapped by Doora in a sniff. Manoj then took a stunner at cover to get rid of Mithun. Saravana Kumar was mankaded a couple of balls later and suddenly the match seemed wide open. However with 12 runs needed from 36 balls and 4 wickets in hand, not many gave ECE a chance. But Ananda Kumar who was bowling a wide per two balls produced a beautiful over where he docked the stumps of T.K.Viknesh and Ashok in a space of two deliveries. Suddenly there was a momentum shift and in the next over Velmurugan castled Karthik. There were nervous moments for the last wicket pair of Subash and Vignesh, but Manoj produced a beauty of a delivery to breach Subash's defence.

If you expected delirium, it wasnt to happen. Though the ECE were in delight and EEE in despair, they controlled the emotions and shook hands in true sportsmanship. D.Saravanamoorthy, our PD expressed that this spirit of sportsmanship was the high point of the game. He also commended the catching of ECE, the fielding of Dhanush and the all round abilities of Manoj and Mithun.

One of the enjoyable aspects of the game was the commentary of our Lecturer Pon. Rathnavel, a freelance commentator and columnist. He had the audience in splits with his humorous digs on the proceedings and there was times when even the players bursted out.

Nonetheless it was a fitting finale to the games segment of our inaugural Sports Day. With this win, ECE also emerged the top team pipping CSE by five points.

ECE 107 all out in 18.4 overs (Manoj 19, Senthamil 17, Vignesh 3/37) beat EEE 101 all out in 16.4 overs (Mithun 37, Dhanush 14, Velmurugan 3/18)

SNSCE @ Kovai Marathon 2008

Kovai Marathon is slowly becoming a regular annual event in the Coimbatore calendar and Kovai Marathon 2008 was more dazzling and receptive than ever. Kovai Marathon 2008 organised by Tamil Nadu Atheletic Association jointly with Aircel and Environmental Cell Division, PWD recorded 945 participants and thereby made a new record. The event was a grand spectacle on Sunday, February 03 2008 and SNSCE is proud that it made a small contribution towards the success of the event.

SNSCE played two roles with respect to Kovai Marathon 2008. Exactly 32 students of SNSCE were a part of this race and a half a dozen volunteer team performed with elan the most critical of the jobs.

A six member volunteer team comprising of Pon.Rathnavel - Lecturer, D.Saravanamoorthy - Physical Director, P.Gopalakrishnan - Office Assistant and students Sajjad Khan, S.Vignesh, V.Lawrence (all EEE) was bestowed with the responsibility of providing the marathon runners with bun, egg and water at the end of the race and collect their numbers. The team planned well, organised better and executed to their best and had no single participant waiting. They responded to the participants even before they could send an eye signal. Even when there was a thronging crowd, the team was fitting to the task and avoided any hiccupps or contrevorsies. The organisers had a special praise for the volunteers team during the valedictory ceremony.

SNSCE was perhaps the only engineering institute with more than 10 participants. There were 32 students interested to go the distance(15 kilometres) and all of them were first time runners. P.Raja of ECE was very unlucky as he finished the race in 15th place, five below the prize margin. He was followed by S.Ramachandran(ECE), N.Gopinath (EEE), G.Vivek (EEE), K.Prakash (EEE), M.Vignesh (CSE), L.Maikannan (CSE), S.M.Ramesh (ECE), J.Arun Kumar (ECE) and A.P.Sathish (IT) all of whom finished within the top 50.

Predictably, Pudhukottai Sports Clubs made a clean sweep in the competetion. The chief coach of the Kavinadu Atheletic Association Mr.Loganathan whose club won a record 24 prizes happened to be a coach of our Physical Director Mr.D.Saravanamoorthy. A renowned person in the field of atheletics coaching, Mr.Loganathan spent some ten minutes with the boys and gave them valuable tips on preparing for track events.

Later the participants and volunteers worked in tandem with the authorities to disperse the flagpoles and flags and earned special appreciation from one and all. It was hard work for the students and volunteers from 05.00 hrs to 11.00 hrs and when you taught these people were off to a well deserved rest - they were getting ready to trail a blaze for the intramural cricket finals, which was to start at 14.00 hrs.