CHENNAI: ‘Shaastra 2017,’ an annual techno-entertainment festival of the IIT Madras will take place from December 31 to January 3. The theme of the techno-fest this year is accessibility for the physically-challenged.
Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director of IIT Madras, said every year this fest was becoming bigger and better. “This is the 18th edition of Shaastra. This year great focus is given on accessibility. The students have great thoughts over what can be done with someone disabled. The fest also focuses on drones,” he said.
The fest is held in association with Accessible India Campaign-Empowered India under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The theme being ‘accessibility’, Professor Shivakumar Srinivasan, Dean of Students, said, “One of the things we make sure is accessibility. For visually challenged people one section will have narrow vision. We provide them with laptops and other equipment.
For motion we provide wheelchairs and now standing chairs are also existing. Some three to four startups will be involved with this,” he said. This fest will also focus on waste management.
“We have collected nearly 10,000 PET bottles from nearby restaurants and hotels and we created vaccum cleaner, thermos besides building a bench inside the campus. The process to build toilets using PET bottles can be found in the Shaastra website. Sand filled PET bottles can replace bricks,” said W Kirthana coordinator from public relations team, Shaastra.
Animesh Bagora, co-curricular affairs secretary of Shaastra, said the techno fest will consist of discussion on critical politics, robo-war competition, coding competition, business competition, start-up wars and so on. “Students from around 200 to 300 colleges will attend. More than 4,000 plus students across India are expected to attend the fest.
Last year, the footfall was close to 10,000. The fest will consist of 43 competitions, 11 lectures and 20 plus exhibitions. Registration fees is `250 per day,” he said. Besides this ‘Envisage’ a techincal and cultural fest will be witnessed in Shaastra, drone show, aeroflyers competition, a show on Drones with LED lights will also be displayed, he added.