Media Release
Udupi, Mar 2: The students of the department of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering of Dr T M A Pai Polytechnic, Manipal, visited the DC office at Rajatadri, Manipal on February 27. The visit was organized as a curriculum connection programme on the course ‘Professional Ethics and Indian Constitution’.
The programme commenced at 3.15 pm with the national anthem. Priyanka Mary Francis, the deputy commissioner was given a floral welcome by the principal.
Addressing the students on the topic, Ethics and Indian Constitution, the deputy commissioner said, “Ethics play an important role in the life of every professional. Today in every profession, we have certain professional ethics to follow. So the knowledge of ethics is essential to everyone. We cannot learn ethics only by reading a text book which is limited to the syllabus. Ethics is the custom and values that we inherit by reading the books of philosophers, Biographies and Auto-biographies of great leaders and moreover in the course of time, life itself will teach us.”
Quoting an example from the medical field the DC asked the students, “If someone is building a super-specialty hospital and says, we will give treatment only to the poor people, is it ethically right?” Continuing she said “A patient cannot be treated by considering his caste, religion, gender or economic status. It becomes the duty of every doctor to treat all patients equally.” She also briefed how important the role of ethics is, in the life of a civil servant. She said “Being in a responsible position we have to plan for public welfare. The financial resource for this is the money of the tax payers, which is the general public. So it becomes our duty to see that the money is used in a right way, from planning till execution of a scheme.”
Speaking on the topic, the Indian Constitution, the DC said, “We are having a unique and longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world. The constitution has given us the fundamental rights. But along with that, Article 51(A) of the constitution speaks about the fundamental duties that every citizen should perform.”
Addressing the youngsters she said, “I always quote a fundamental duty that is mentioned in the constitution, especially for youngsters, which says, ‘To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform’. As youngsters and educated persons you must always try to seek the truth rather than believing in the false statements, superstitious beliefs, etc.”
Giving an example of the EVMs she said, “As educated persons you must know how the EVMs work. For this, the Election Commission of India has already published a status paper which is also available in the website of Election Commission of India.” She encouraged the youngsters to practice the ‘right to vote’ as many of the students are new voters. She also discussed with the students the topic of ‘Ethical Voting’.”
The second part of the session was handled by the CPO of Udupi zilla panchayat, Srinivas Rao. He explained the evolution of Panchayat Raj system in Karnataka and in the country. In his message he said, “The present Panchayat Raj system is a three tier system with grama panchayat, taluk panchayat and zilla panchayat. This system is also a participatory system where people come together in their gram (village) and discuss about the needs of their locality. Then an action plan (kriya yojane) is prepared and through the various departments and schemes these projects are executed. The main role of zilla panchayat is to plan and execute developmental projects in the rural area. Presently there are 24 departments such as education, health, agriculture, horticulture, co-operation, etc and more than 220 schemes available for developments.” He also explained how the district administration functions and encouraged the youngsters to join Government services like PDO where they can contribute to the society.
Speaking on the initiatives of the district administration on waste management he said, “We, the people of Udupi stand first in the SSLC and PUC results, in health index and many more. But we are very poor in waste management. Now the administration has taken steps to convert waste into resources and already at 8 gram panchayats, it has been successfully implemented and also they are earning from it.” Adding he said, “As I said it is participatory system, the people should also contribute by segregating waste at the source level itself and then should give it to the civic workers who come to collect the waste.” He explained in detail about the procedure that is followed in the waste management and the success that the administration has achieved so far.”
The session ended at 4.15 pm. The principal of the college presented a memento to the deputy commissioner. Vice-principal and the HOD of Mechanical & Mechatronics department Prashanth Shetty, lecturers of the department Sandeep Kini, Lolaksha, Prathwinraj and Gururaja were present. As many as 112 students participated in the programme. Course coordinator Derick Mascarenhas compered the programme.