Lucknow: On the eve of the 67th convocation of Lucknow University, chief guest Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar, computer scientist, IT leader and educationalist, said on Sunday that youths might go to foreign countries to gain knowledge but they should return to their native land as the future was in India.
Bhatkar, known as the architect of India’s initiative of supercomputing and for leading the development of PARAM supercomputers from the forefront, was addressing the media at the Raj Bhawan.
Over 1 lakh degrees will be uploaded on Samarth portal as part of the convocation . Of these, 62111 degrees will be awarded to female candidates while male candidates will receive 44195 degrees.
“There is a lot of potential in our country and if instead of ‘brain drain’ in which youth go out in search of opportunities we focus on ‘brain gain’ in which they return after learning from the other countries, we can contribute to the development of the nation,” said Bhatkar.
He also said that New Education Policy had helped in focusing on research-oriented programmes and now there was a need for setting National Innovation Programme which would also support the youths.
He shared his journey of making the PARAM supercomputer and how the Rajiv Gandhi government tried getting the technology from the United States of America but was denied . “We were asked in how much time we could make the supercomputers. After doing some calculations and trusting my intuition I told him that we would complete the project in three years and we would also deliver technology in the price of a supercomputer. Ultimately, we succeeded in our goal and the rest is history,” Bhatkar added.
{{/usCountry}}He shared his journey of making the PARAM supercomputer and how the Rajiv Gandhi government tried getting the technology from the United States of America but was denied . “We were asked in how much time we could make the supercomputers. After doing some calculations and trusting my intuition I told him that we would complete the project in three years and we would also deliver technology in the price of a supercomputer. Ultimately, we succeeded in our goal and the rest is history,” Bhatkar added.
{{/usCountry}}He said that he was currently working on the QUANTUM computers which would have a capability of computing at a speed of 1000 times more than supercomputers. “We have created a prototype after working for three years and we are trying to make a QUANTUM computer in the next five years,” he said.
On being asked about the future of Artificial Intelligence and the problems caused by it he replied that there was a need to use and not misuse technology. “If used in the right direction, Artificial Intelligence can be very useful. These days there is also a debate about setting a code of conduct for the same,” he said.