50 years of AEC Electrical department Dr Satyajit Bhuyan The Assam Engineering College (AEC) came into being on September 5, 1955. It started its journey with the Civil Engineering department and that too with an intake capacity of only sixty students. Inaugurating the college the then Prime Minister Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru spoke, Well, you know, how important engineering in its various forms is today. This is more and more the world of the scientists and the engineers and I am glad that you have started the college.... I am happy to be associated today with this opening ceremony of this AEC. Engineers are above all builders. We have got to build India. we have got to build Assam and I hope the young men and women who got through this college will build well and truly.
Thus AEC came into existence with some kind of singularity, some type of specialty. Every educational institute has got its own characteristics. None can forget his alma mater be it a primary school or high school or college. With their own specialties they still draw our attention. In the minds of alumni, teachers, employees and well wishers, AEC is also unique. It is singular by itself. It was established to define an agenda of technical education for a remote area. AEC was born to show bright dreams to some enthusiastic youths of the region. Its mission was to contribute solely to the development of this forlorn region. At a time when the North-East appeared to be far off from the main land of India, when recent developments could not touch this area, AEC alone tried its best to carry the flame of technical education to all the corners of this region. Service of AEC still continues. Thus AEC started functioning with a mission, with a unique objective. It started the journey under the able leadership of late H P Baruah. He himself was like an institution. Under the British regime he was the first engineer from the NE to become the Chief Engineer of PWD. The man who was instrumental in establishing AEC was a man of multifaceted personality. In 1915 he topped the list of Civil Engineering discipline from Calcutta University. His contribution was not confined to technical fields only. He was a prolific writer and published a number of technical papers and Assamese books. In a sense, the founder principal of AEC, late H P Baruah was a legendary figure. The dream project of H P Baruah and many others started yielding fruit from 1960. The first batch of graduate engineers in Civil Engineering came out in that year. But in the mean time two new branches namely, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical engineering were also introduced in 1957 and the output of these departments started coming from 1962. Initially the intake capacity of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering were thirty each. Capacity enhancement was made effective from 1962 onwards. The Electrical Engineering department was started with a few faculty members and supporting staff. Some students of the first batch were Nilomoni Baruah, R N Chowdhury, Sisir Kakoti, Prasanna Dutta, Membor Gogoi, Pradip Phukan, Jugal Hazarika, Anil Baruah, Bani Baruah, Mon Mohan Deka, Pradip Guha, Haren Dutta etc. Most of them became renowned engineers of the State. At the early stage. The Electrical Engineering department got the service of some dedicated teachers likeD Chaliha. N N Sengupta. S P Bhattachadee, J R Chowdhury, B Talukdar, S K Dey Purkayastha. J N Sonowal, K N Khound, A N Sarma, P K Tamuli etc. In the education system the teacher student relation is of utmost importance. At that time the relation was so cordial that the engineers passed out in early batches still feel elated by those memories. It still persists and is ideal. In the initial years the laboratory facilities in the department were not up to the mark. Some batches were taken to Bengal Engineering (B E) College, Sibpur in West Bengal for laboratory works. The syllabi were prepared in consultation with those of B E College. The students were accustomed with T- square, set-square, slide rule etc. The transistors just came into the pages of text books. The calculators, digital computers, micro-processors etc came to rule the arena only after several decades. Job opportunity was good. Passed outs were absorbed quickly. The first lady student of the department was Reeta Dutta. During the last fifty years the Electrical Engineering department produced above 25,00 graduates and a few post graduates. Today aspiring students from the region on may even fulfil their dream of getting PhD from this department. Now it has become electrical and Instrumentation Engineering department with an intake capacity of sixty in Electrical Engineering and twenty in Instrumentation Engineering. On one side the Electrical and Instrumental Engineering department is flourishing even with limited resources - its alumni are serving far and wide. But now the scenario in technical education is going through a dynamic change. The education system itself is experiencing transition from guru-sishya systemto distance education system through the campus and classroom system of education. Actually each system has evolved to meet new requirements. Objectives of different systems are different. Due to revolution in information technology and rapid changes in various aspects of society, higher education is going to depend on life-long learning and technology. Some say that any time and any where education is emerging and it will play a vital role in the development of technical education. Some others opine that campus and classroom system is best suited for technical education. Under these circumstances, technical education is facing some challenges. To adapt to the changing demands of technology and industry, the technical ion system should respond promptly by changing curricula rapidly, by imparting sufficient field exposure to the upcoming engineers etc. The area of Electrical Engineering is also progressing gradually, embracing various new fields. Language of computers has become the language of engineers. As such a department like Eectrical Engineering has to face acute competition from the front with proper attitude and preparation. Another aspect is to be seen in this regard. Over and above the IIT s, NIT s and three hundred government-engineering colleges, there are more than thousand private engineering colleges in India. More than 25,0000 engineers passed out last year from these institutes. The requirement is still on the increase. Software-explosion is creating more number of jobs. The scenario is creating brain drain and money-drain from our area. Under such situation the engineering colleges in the NE region need more amount of attention to give more output. What is true of an engineering college is also true for a particular department like Eectrical Engineering. (Published on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of AEC Electrical Engineering department) (The Assam Tribune,19.01.2008)
