During PanIIT 2006 conference, the program was publically announced with a panel discussion on the program. The panelists were apex level representatives of central government, CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and PanIIT.

The discussion was moderated by Dr. Hiten Ghosh who is the co-president of PanIIT USA Corp, and a key sponsor of the program.

Here is the report from session director, Atul Nigam (IIT/K '88 BTech MME):

"We had almost packed hall (about 350+ members in the audience) and received more than 75 queries from the audience. Top government officials have encouraged the program launch team to join and start planning for the next steps. They were extremely  happy with the initiative and promised that they will give their full support. CII has also asked the program launch team to tell them what we require from them to achieve program objectives."

For the "IITians for ITI" program launch team, Harsh Arora presented the salient features of the program using this presentation.[400K PDF] 

Here is the link to the opening video for the session.

From among the audience, more than 50 IITian signed up to join the program team.

Thanks are due to the moderator, all the panelists and session director for making the session a success. Special thanks are due to Prakash Kumar (IIT/K '84 BTech EE, IAS) for helping invite the right people from the central government.


Panelists

Krishan Khanna

· Expert panelist with a holistic view from industry, government and NGOs · IIT/Kharagpur '61 B.Tech. (Mechanical) · Over 40 years of Industry experience in manufacturing, during which he founded and ran several companies as CEO · Recipient National Citizen Award 1995-96, as Technocrat of the year, presented by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India · Among some of the relevant positions: o Member – CII National Council on Higher & Technical Education o Founder of iWatch - NGO o Member, Planning commission task force on skills development · Advisor - rogram launch team - IITians for ITI program

Mr. Sharada Prasad

· Representing the ITIs and central government · Director General/Joint secretary · Directorate General of Employment and Training · Ministry of Labour and Employment (Central govt. Ministry responsible for ITIs) · IAS Officer of UP - cadre – who will be with the central government for several years

Lt. Gen (Retd) SS Mehta

· Representing the industry as Director General, CII · PVSM, AVSM and Bar, VSM · Numerous command and staff assignments in over 40 years of Army  service · Principal Adviser, CII, Skills Development Initiatives · Associated with Knowledge Commission work on Vocational Education

Suresh Shenoy

· Representing the PanIIT executive board · IIT/Bombay, '72 (B.Tech) · Executive Vice President, Information Management Consultants, Inc · Co-President PanIIT USA Corp

Harsh Arora

· Representing the "IITians for ITI" Program launch team · IIT/Delhi '74 (B.Tech, Chemical, MBA, UC Berkeley) · Finance industry for 25 years, including GE Finance and HSBC. · Specialized Consulting to large finance companies.· Active member of PanIIT Pacific Northwest chapter


Key participants

· Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt. of India

o Mr. K.M.Sahni, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment

o Mr. Y.P. Sharma, Director, Directorate of Training

o Mr. B.R. Shimple, Principal, I.T.I. Aundh, PUNE (which is a showcase ITI)