48 Professional Society Activities
Professional societies are
very helpful for those who are working in fields like engineering, medicine, law, architecture etc.
These organizations are very much
helpful for students and young
professionals to interact with their
seniors and learn from them. Some of these are Institution of Engineers India
(IEI), Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE),
Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA) and Systems Society
of India (SSI) . Indian Medical Association (IMA) has been doing significant work for medical professionals in India. To become
members of these organizations, interested
professionals should have certain minimum qualifications in their
area and have to enrol themselves with recommendations from senior
professional members and pay annual subscription or life membership fee as required. Student membership is available for
full time students at a reduced membership fee. In a particular institution, if
the number of student members enrolled is above a certain
minimum and if a faculty member is available
to be the adviser, students can form a local chapter of the professional society to have
more activities in the institution itself. The parent association
will return a part of the membership fee collected to the local chapter to
promote activities. These chapters or
student branches, if active, can organize several activities which will update
their knowledge in specific fields, improve their communication skills,
organizing capability and leadership qualities. Being a member in such organizations itself will be enough to approach senior
professional for guidance on your
career. Members are eligible to get some journals published by the professional society free of cost.
Some of these professional societies
conduct examinations for continuing
education. Institution of Engineers India
conducts examination for Associate membership (AMIE) Parts A and B for those who have completed Diploma courses in Engineering. Those who are successful at these
examinations are given Associate Membership of IEI, which is considered as
equivalent to degree in engineering for
employment purposes by Government of
India. This gives an opportunity for working professional to improve their qualifications by self-study
and passing these examinations. Similarly medical professionals write
examinations of Royal College of United Kingdom to get MRCP (Member of Royal College of Physicians)
or FRCS(Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons) which are considered as
equivalent to post graduate courses in medicine or surgery. DNB (Diplomate
of National Board) is an examination conducted my National Board of
Examinations of India which is globally accepted as post graduate course in medicine like MD or MS.
I had started my professional society activities while
doing my PhD in I I T. Delhi with the formation of Systems Society of India
under the guidance of Prof.P.S.Satsangi. I have briefly mentioned how we formed
the first chapter of SSI in REC Calicut. IEEE
with its headquarters in New Jersey , USA is the largest professional
society of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineers globally. I
joined IEEE in 1981 and is
a member even now and continues to be an active
volunteer of IEEE. The membership fee at that time was 30-40
US dollars, but I did not mind
paying that much money to become a member of such an elite professional
society. Later, college started
reimbursing part of the annual membership fee and after implementation
of the sixth pay commission report for central government employees full amount was
being reimbursed. By virtue of
being an active member of IEEE for the
last 38 years, I have been
conferred Life Senior Membership in
IEEE. Life membership is conferred only
if the sum of the period of continuous active membership and
age of the member together adds up to 100. Once you become Life member, annual
membership fee is waived till
the end of life.
A student branch of IEEE was formed as early as 1981 in REC Calicut
with Dr.S.Thiruvengadam as Branch Counsellor.
It was the first student branch to start functioning in Kerala. Student branch
activities are organised by the students themselves with guidance of the
counsellor. When a Computer Society chapter started functioning under the
student branch, I was nominated as the advisor. Later I became the counsellor
of the student branch. The office bearers of the branch such as Chairperson,
Secretary and Committee members are elected and they organize several activities
like seminars, paper presentation contests, technical quizzes etc. Members are encouraged to participate in conferences
conducted by other student branches or IEEE sections. If the office bearers are
active, Counsellor has little role to play except giving them proper guidance.
When I was the counsellor, the Chairpersons and Secretaries like Anil M ( KSEB
Exec Engineer now) Rahul Potera ( working in USA after doing PhD) Deepak Malani ( I.I.Sc. ,
PhD) etc were very active and the
student branch was very vibrant. Under them the student branch has conducted
several conferences and seminars and student paper contests. IEEE Student Branch was bringing out a small magazine called ‘Technocrat’
with me as adviser. The enthusiasm of
these office bearer were infectious and large number of students participated
actively in the events.
IEEE has its head quarters in
New Jersey, USA and is spread over 10
regions all over the world. India
Council belongs to Region 10, Asia
Pacific and there are several sections in each council. Kerala Section
is one of the largest sections globally with more than 10,000 members including
students. Headquarters of Kerala section is at Thiruvananthapuram.
As many of the members in the Northern districts could not attend the activities of Kerala
section by travelling to Thiruvananthapuram, a few members of IEEE along with me decided to file a
petition for formation of a subsection
in Malabar. So the Malabar Subsection of IEEE was formed with geographical
regions including the districts of Palakkad, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kozhikode,
Kannur and Kasarcode. I was the founder Chair of the subsection and
Dr.S.M.Sameer the Secretary. We could conduct several activities ever since
including a few programmes to help the
youngsters aspiring to join engineering as a course of study. Our
student volunteers used to visit schools and address 11th and 12th
class to tell them what is engineering
and what are engineers capable of doing. For those who are writing the engineering
entrance examinations, a programme called “Roadmap to Success in Engineering
Studies” are being conducted every year in May to help the participants in
choosing the right branches of study based on their inherent talents. This has
been a very popular programme and is being conducted in Calicut and other
cities for the last several years. Our student volunteers have also helped
housewives to assemble LED lamps, training technicians on repair of biomedical
equipment etc. I am very happy to report
that my association with IEEE and its volunteers had been very rewarding and
many of my associates have taken up the
leadership of Kerala section and India Council. Dr. S.M.Sameer, professor ECE
is one example who is currently the Chair of Kerala Section and Treasurer of
India Council. Sri. R Nandakumar of NIELIT,
is another active volunteer who
is now the Secretary of
Conference Activities Board(CAB). Nandan S of LBS College of Engg was also associated with me in Educational activities have done
commendable work in helping school students
in the South of Kerala. I could
also contribute something to IEEE Kerala section as Chair of Educational
Activities, Industrial Electronics
Applications Society, and now Conference Activities Board.
The strength of IEEE lies in
the abundant energy and enthusiasm of its student members. We, the professional members in IEEE guide the student members to become responsible
engineers with social commitment and
service mentality. Each member of IEEE is committed to the following
code of ethics.(Ref: https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html)
“We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our
technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting
a personal obligation to our profession, its members, and the communities we
serve, do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional
conduct and agree:
- to hold paramount the
safety, health, and welfare of the public, to strive to comply with
ethical design and sustainable development practices, and to disclose
promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;
- to avoid real or
perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to
affected parties when they do exist;
- to be honest and
realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data;
- to reject bribery in all
its forms;
- to improve the
understanding by individuals and society of the capabilities and societal
implications of conventional and emerging technologies, including
intelligent systems;
- to maintain and improve
our technical competence and to undertake technological tasks for others
only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of
pertinent limitations;
- to seek, accept, and
offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and correct
errors, and to credit properly the contributions of others;
- to treat fairly all
persons and to not engage in acts of discrimination based on race,
religion, gender, disability, age, national origin, sexual orientation,
gender identity, or gender expression;
- to avoid injuring others,
their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious action;
- to assist colleagues and
co-workers in their professional development and to support them in
following this code of ethics.”
I could also contribute something
to practicing engineers as Chairman of the Institution of Engineers Kozhikode
Local Centre for 2 years, even though it was not as exciting as my interaction
with our younger student volunteers of IEEE.
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