Dear Members,

Greetings to you all. I hope, in the face of the heat wave and other extremities of the weather affecting large parts of the country, you have managed to stay well and protected. Indeed, each passing day, Climate Change is emerging as one of the foremost global emergencies, blurring the national boundaries. Global Warming and Climate Change are steadily disrupting the balance of nature and posing multiple threats to the very human existence.

Over the last decade or so, amidst the ongoing debates and deliberations, we have become familiar with the concept of ‘climate justice’ and the pressing need for searching feasible solutions to the burning question of Climate Change. While it is the collective responsibility of the mankind to address this issue and take decisive steps to hold back the damages from worsening further, the Chemical Engineers have a greater stake and greater responsibility in initiating the process of Climate Justice. They have long been playing a key role in addressing the pivotal issues, such as, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Energy Storage, Carbon Capture and Reuse, Sustainable Bio-energy, Sustainable Agriculture, Mitigation of Air and Water Pollution, etc.

In recent years, the industries have been unveiling their endeavours for sustainability through gradual and often active practice of ‘Green and clean’ philosophy. Of late, a number of incidents and mishaps have sprung up worrisome safety issues for the industry. Apart from statutory non-compliance and other techno commercial reasons, one more important faltering point has been lack of adequate awareness about industrial hazards and possible results. I appeal to all my colleagues to take an extra effort to increase safety awareness at all levels starting from the point of labours, drivers, plant operators, supervisors and up to the top management. As a matter of fact, the safety awareness is not limited to industries alone but also to households and the public utility sector. This is a societal responsibility where individuals also need to contribute responsibly.

IIChE has all along been a staunch advocate of development through sustainability while at the same time fostering education and skill enhancement in the field of Chemical Engineering and promoting interest of the profession in general. As detailed in the previous issue of the Newsletter (April 2024), our Training Institute, IIChE-TI, is going to be an important agent for effective skill enhancement of Chemical Engineering students as well as professionals. While keeping in perspective the present milieu, it is gearing up for effective and meaningful takeaways by industries as well as academia. Already, the new batch of the IIChE Online Internship Program (OIP-2024) has started from 2nd June. OIP has been designed so as to address the much discussed gap between the industry demands and the lacunas in the academic curricula to improve the students’ employability. The USP of the Internship Program is that while exposing the students to critical knowledge about the new-age subjects (like Matlab and AI-ML), which represent some of the latest trends and advancements in the domain of Chemical Engineering, it helps develops the students’ soft skills simultaneously.

In absence of the popular AMIIChE certification course (due to AICTE rules), IIChE is exploring other avenues, like collaboration with reputed institutes for Diploma Courses and Training Programmes at the IIChE-TI, and. thereby, aiming to benefit dual targets, both industry and academia. Also, during the recent years, IIChE has been actively promoting fundamental research activities with stress on sustainability, bio-energy, recycling, pollution reduction, etc., in collaboration with renowned academic institutions.

We have already held the first Industry-Institute conclave in Chennai on 28th April 2024 successfully, wherein positive results have started showing. The second such meeting will be held at chemical industries hub, Bharuch district, Gujarat on 7th July 2024. For the Chemical Engineering community, IIChE has recently introduced a dedicated portal in its website where job opportunities in the field of Chemical Engineering and allied areas are being highlighted regularly. It is a step forward to help freshly passed out students as well as young professionals. Looking at the competitive needs of today, we have selected Industrial growth through AI IOT, ML and other tools to be the topic for the annual Pankaj P Patel Trust Essay Competition, 2024.

In a nut shell, the constant endeavour at our end is to fine-tune a wholesome approach with a view to contributing to the sustainable growth and advancement of the profession.

Meanwhile, we have reached the half way mark in the present year and the second half has been planned with lots of activities. The next Council Election, submission of papers for CHEMCON and SCHEMCON, submission of nominations for a big basket of IIChE awards and so on are the major events in the IIChE calendar. SCHEMCON is round the corner, to be held at RGIPT at Jais near Amethi, Uttar Pradesh on 21st September 2024. The theme for SCHEMCON ‘24 is ‘New Paradigms of Chemical Engineering’. It is also time for our Regional Centres (RCs) and Student Chapters (SCs) to review their activity level and run the last lap in order to win the best chapter award/s. We appeal to all members for their zealous and active participation in the activities of their respective RCs and SCs, which will not only enrich the members but will also encourage the RCs and SCs to function even better.

I request your supportive participation for the progress and growth of the Chemical Engineering community and effective fulfilment of the societal responsibilities, which would fast forward our Nation as one of the most sought after global industrial and business hubs.

Thank you.

 S.I. Thakar

✉️:sunilthakar59@gmail.com