ASTHA - History ( Click here for ASTHA Architecture)
The Sanskrit / Hindi word “Astha” has the following meanings:
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To ascend , To stay near , Go towards ,
To act according to , Follow, To undertake ,
Perform , Do , Carry out , Practice ,
To take part , Affirm, To acknowledge ,
To take care for , Have regard for,
To strengthen , Faith , To introduce … |
These many meanings of the word “Astha” describe in spirit what we strive to adhere to in thought and action in all our endeavors rooted in the sprit to Inform, Inspire, Innovate and Reach out!
Background:
Over the last 2 years, we have been successfully conducting the Nobel Prize Week – a week to facilitate the Nobel Prize winners. This was conceived and initiated by Dr.P Achuthan and was then named “C6H6-Creating History”. The Nobel Prize week was primarily meant to bring out the significance of the path breaking work done by the scientists across the world that eventually lead to their winning the coveted Nobel Prize and inspire the student fraternity of Amrita to set themselves on the path towards excellence, understanding the vital importance of the fact that every accomplishment assumes a deeper meaning if it adds more to the collective well being of humanity. The Nobel Prize week was well received by the Student and faculty fraternity and it was heartening to see engineering students researching on the work done by the Nobel laureates, simplifying it through presentations and lucid explanations. This was the first step taken by Amrita fraternity towards science popularization. The keen interest shown by engineering students towards Science popularization set us thinking towards expanding the scope beyond mere science popularization, bringing Technology awareness activities and their social impact into the domain of activities spreading across an entire academic year instead of confining to a week long activity of Nobel Prize celebration alone.
Another impetus towards expanding to “Science and Technology Action” arena is the enthusiasm and excitement we saw in Engineering students all through the screening ( we have screened over 20 documentaries so far) of Engineering/ Nature/ Science / Management documentaries organized by “Mindscape” – The Media based learning group of Amrita. Inspired by our initiative Amritapuri campus has also started their wing of Mindscape and The School of Business has adopted it as “MPower”. The recent week long screening of documentaries exclusively for the 1st years revealed the great potential of expansion through united and organized activities. “ASTHA” came into being, bridging two powerful facets of growth – Science and Technology, held together by the spirit of team work and brotherhood within Amrita fraternity and the society at large.
A consortium of interested faculty members and students from all departments will take part in all the activities of Astha. Team ASTHA >>
