REPORT ON 2005-06 ACTIVITIES

Introduction

TAGA (TKMCE Alumni Global Association) is the outcome of the internet based discussions among the TKMCE Alumni members spread across the Globe. Though it was rooted on August 31st 2002, officially registered under the Travancore Cochin Literary Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act-XII of 1955 with registration number ER 646/04 on 8th September 2004 with the Registered Office at Geethika, HMT Colony.P.O, Kalamassery, Ernakulam-683503, Kochi. Through the inaugural function held on 19th March 2005 at the TKMCE Auditorium, TAGA became an integral part of the TKMCE Alumni Association originally formed in 1963.

TAGA pledged to serve for the community in association with its Alma Matter, TKMCE through a strong based Constitution. It was successful in adopting a realistic logo through one of its members. The bank accounts became operative across the global-campus purview. These foundations landed over the year 2004-05 were giving the confidence to move ahead, with the real fruits.

Steering Committee

 From the steering committee the office bearers elected for the year 2005-06 were Chair Person:- Jacob Thomas (78E), General Secretary:- Jameskutty Thomas (87E), Treasurer:- Dr.Abdul Rasheed K.K (85M), Moderator 1:- Kiran.S (98EC), Moderator 2:- Firoz M.Musthafa (97EE) and they have assumed office during the Online Annual General Body Meeting-05. The nominated steering committee members Mr.Imthias Ahammed.T.P, from faculty and Mr.Eric Mathew, from students took charge during August-05. The committee functioned through the yahoo based e-group and the domain www.tkmcealumni.org based mailman mailing list. The electronic ballots were operated through the poll facility available in the yahoo e-group.

For the year 2006-07 Mr.Manilal.N (1968 Civil), Mr.Ratnakumar.S (1978 Electrical), Mr.E.S.Suresh(1982 Mechanical), Mr.Saji Mathews (1987 Mechanical), Mr.Shyam Sasidharan(1993 Civil), Mr.Anish Abdul Samad(1994 Production), Dr.Abdul Jaleel.J (1994 Electrical) & Mr.Firoze M Musthafa(1997 Electrical & Electronics) are elected towards the Steering Committee. Including the current 3 office bearers who are ex-officio members of the next committee, the 11 member team reached consensus in electing the new office bearers as Chair Person:- Mr.Manilal, General Secretary:-Mr.E.S.Suresh, Treasurer:-Dr.Abdul Jaleel.J, Moderator-1:-Mr.Firoze M Musthafa & Moderator-2:-Mr.Shyam Sasidharan. Mr.Satheesh.A.R(1985 Electrical), the founder chair person was kind enough to handle the procedure as Returning Officer for this process.

Website

The official website with domain www.tkmcealumni.org, launched during the inaugural function was the main window of TAGA for the year. M/s.Slashome Technologies (P) Ltd, Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram sponsored 200MB web space and hosted the domain. It is decided to transfer the ownership of the domain to the name of Mr.Firoze M Musthafa, the Moderator from the present owner Mr.Thomas George(1987Electrical), who voluntarily registered it. Mr. Thomas George has since informed TAGA that he would rather keep the ownership and pay the cost indefinitely, but has assigned TAGA moderators as the website administrators. TAGA would like to place on record our appreciation to Mr.Thomas George for this kind gesture.

The website designing is being very much delayed, it is decided to entrust a private agency for the same. The works related with its member registration page, edit page, login page, change password page, etc. was handed over to M/s ProjectFx Development Solutions, Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram. After finish the work, they asked for an advance amount and we paid Rs 3000/-. But, we noted some deviations from what we required to do,  and hence they are now attending them.

Membership Fee

As approved through the Annual General Body-05, even the non-alumni faculty members are permitted for Life Membership, but they will not come under the purview of voting membership, being non-alumni. The general body permitted for a special fee to the alumni couples, that with 1.5 times of the life membership fee both of them  can secure their Life Memberships. Now, we have 6 alumni couples utilised this facility. Also, the general body approved the suggestion from the steering committee that  life membership fee can be paid, over 2 years, provided the first payment is Rs 500/-

Reverence to the members who left to almighty

It is decided to keep the enrollment number of the members who left to Almighty as such. We have Mr.Abdul Vahab.M (1982 Electrical) [Enrollment No.0330] and Mr.Sanil Mohd. Subair(1987 Civil) [Enrollment No.0029], who entered into their eternal life. The last general body passed the condolence resolutions in their name and handed over the hard copies of the resolutions to their family.

Approval from Income Tax Department

We got income tax registration under section 12AA of Indian Income Tax Act 1961 through which TAGA is recognised as a charitable organisation, through which we could enjoy the income tax exemptions. Now, we have to apply for section 80G exemption, through which the donations to certain funds, charitable institutions, etc. could be deducted from the total income assessed. We have directed our auditor to take necessary steps in this regard.

Bank Accounts

We have the internet based operable accounts in ICICI and SBT. The campus counter of SBT is helpful for our campus based activities.

As directed from the Income Tax Department to obey with section 11(5) of Indian Income Tax Act-1961, the funds of the Association not required for current expenditures are to be invested in the nationalised banks. Hence an amount of INR 2,00,000 from ICICI bank account is deposited in the SBT account as Fixed Deposit in slots of INR 50,000.

It is decided to change the authorized signatories for the operation of the bank accounts, being the new office bearers elected.

Scholarships & Sponsorship

Last year(2004-05), we started eight scholarships and sponsored another student. For the current year(2005-06), in name of our alumnus Mr.Abraham Tharakan (62M), we started two Abraham Tharakan Memorial Scholarships and sponsored another student under the Abraham Tharakan Memorial Sponsorship. The scholarship recipients were selected as per guidance from the TKMCE Principal. The Abraham Tharakan Memorial Scholarships/Sponosrship was financed by the family of the Late Abraham Tharakan.

The TAGA Scholarships and sponsorships are  arranged to be disbursed through the TAGA treasurer. It is instructed the mode of payment as strictly through cheques, for which our campus bank account could be helpful. We keep a receipt book in the campus with the Treasurer to record the disbursements. The amounts of TAGA Scholarships and sponsorships are INR. 1000/- per month and INR. 2000/- per month, respectively.

Regional Representatives    

To establish a link between TAGA and the local alumni chapters, on 19th January 2005 we decided to nominate region-wise TAGA representatives. We have already Mr.E.S.Suresh(82M) as the TAGA Regional Representative from UAE Chapter and Mr.Sreekumar (87E) from Oman Chapter. This year Mr.E.K.Salim (77E) from Saudi Arabia & Mr.Johns J. Paly (88 Prodn.) from Qatar are nominated as the TAGA Regional Representatives of the respective chapters.

Essay Competition

In support of the IEEE TKMCE Chapter we conducted an essay competition among students based upon the topic “TKMCE today and its tomorrow in your Vision”. Mr.Noel Philip, Electronics & Communications, 5th semester placed for the first cash prize of INR 2000/- and Mr.Ajit Kumar N, Computer Science, 5th semester for the second cash prize of INR 1000/-. The prize distributions were done by Mr.M.J.Andrews (70E), Chief Engineer - Distributions (South), KSEB; in the function conducted on 6th August 2005 at the PTA Hall, TKMCE.

TAGA express gratitude to the college authorities, for providing us the facilities to conduct the essay competition. We are very much thankful to Mr.Muhammed Kasim S. (78E), Asst. Prof., Dept. of Electrical & Electronics, the staff coordinator of the IEEE chapter, who have taken the efforts to conduct the same. Also, we extend our sincere thanks to all the judges, especially to Mrs.Sheela M.Daniel (88E), Asst. Engineer, KSEB, Vyttila, Kochi-19.

Community Service

TAGA joined with TKMCE Alumni UAE Chapter for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Tsunami affected Areas. We donated INR 50,000/- for the  Purchase of Furniture, Lab facilities, Computers etc. for Govt.HSS & Govt.LPS, Cheriyazheekal and Govt.LPS, Pandarathuruthu as per Govt. Order D.O.No.D4.267/2005 Dtd 25.05.2005 issued by Kollam District Collector against TKMCE Alumni UAE Chapter letter No.TKMCEUAE/2005/17 Dtd 02.05.2005.

Development and Improvement of Quality of Education at TKMCE

In the inaugural year itself we were able to conduct seminars aiming the development and improvement of quality of education. Also we had colleted a basic idea about the Wide Band Networking in the campus. This year, we were able to proceed further in both of these topics.

i. Wide Band Networking 

On both 5th and 6th of August-05, in the leadership of our member Mr.Syam.S.Pillai, Global IT Chief Habib Bank AG Zurich many of our members eagerly involved with the Discussions to both with the TKM Management as well as the College officials. Janab.S.H.Musaliar, Chairman, TKM Trust and Dr.M.C.Philipose, Principal of TKMCE and Chairman of the Parent Chapter presided over the discussions from both ends. Mr.Syam.S.Pillai was brilliant in analysing all the possible means of the project. Apart from sharing the know-how for the good cause, he was offering to contribute in both Software and Hardware. TAGA was willing to co-ordinate among the alumni members, for the materials and the fund to be incurred for what he visioned. But, the earlier discussions among our members were concentrating the prime objective of such projects as for the benefit of the Student Community.

Keeping the above objective in mind, Mr.Syam released a report on 2/9/05. It was announced through all the TAGA forums and the website. The hard copy of the same was forwarded to the Principal, TKMCE for gathering enough data to proceed further. In order to decide on a more robust design of traffic, we needed all the departmental network details, their applications that access the outside world and their bandwidth requirements. He further suggested to form a technical committee including the staff and the students to divide the responsibilities to maintain and administer the network. But, we couldn't get any further response from the college to move forward.

ii. Training Programs

A two day workshop on ISO 9000/Quality Assurance was conducted on 5th & 6th August-05 separately for the Faculty and the Students of the college by our member Mr.Suresh.E.S, QA/QC Manager, Al Naboodah Contracting (L.L.)Company. For the first day 24 faculty members attended and for the second day, which was for students 26 numbers attended. For the faculty the course was designed around explaining the clauses of ISO 9001:2000 and involving discussions with the participants to compare the requirements against the NBA accreditation requirements. The course presenter, wanted the participants to perform a “gap analysis” on all ISO 9000 clauses, to identify where we were and what we need to do to fulfil ISO requirements to achieve certification to the 9001 standard. They were genuinely interested in the steps involved in the accreditation process, which was explained during the afternoon session.

The course to the students was different from the former. Originally, it was aimed to present an overview of the ISO 9000:2000 standard and provide illustrations and applications of quality in the industry. However, when Mr.E.S.Suresh reviewed the prescribed textbook, named “Statistical Quality Control” (which is a misnomer!), the section on ISO 9000 was found to be completely out of date! The text book, which was originally published in 1997 and the latest copy reprinted in 2003, contained the ISO 9000:1987 standard, which had been revised twice, in 1994 and 2000! The information on ISO 9000 in the above textbook was obsolete and no longer relevant. So, the course design was revised and Mr.E.S.Suresh presented the new and current standard on ISO 9000 in detail, with illustrations and examples from the industry on how procedures are developed and implemented. Other principles and techniques of Total Quality Management were also briefly presented. The students were very keen and their involvement and interaction were very high. In the afternoon, Mr. Nishad Abdul Rahim (94 Civil), a TAGA Life Member, working as QA/QC Manager of Edara, Dubai joined Mr.E.S.Suresh. Together, they presented details on career and higher education opportunities for students in the field of Quality Management.

Career Development and Placement for Students and Alumni

TAGA is having a globally based membership. We maintain good contacts with Alumni Chapters around the world. With this network, TAGA has already launched career placement assistance to our alumni. Vacancies notified through the Alumni Chapter networks are further circulated through TAGA, thus helping the alumni around the world in finding suitable placement and establishing useful contacts. Though TAGA intended to extend this further by providing career guidance counselling, promoting campus interviews, guidance on placement search etc. for the students, we couldn't achieve the target due to the poor feedback from the campus, in membership also.

Accounts

Shri.Sunil Chandy Eapen FCA, Tharian & Iype Chartered Accountants, Kochi as our auditor appointed again for the year 05-06, has conducted timely auditing of our accounts. Due to his continued follow ups with the Department of Income Tax, we got the 12AA certification under I.T.Act 1961, by which we could avail tax exemptions As the next step, we will be applying for 80G exemption.

12AA Certification from Income Tax Department

The certificate under section 12AA of Income tax Act, 1961 with number CIT/CHN/12A/Tech-13/2005-06 dtd 29/8/05 is in approval of the charitable nature of our association. Through this certificate we are enabled to enjoy income tax exemptions and filed the same with both of our Bank Accounts. Further, we will be moving to get section 80G exemption.

TAGA Online News Letter

On 17th February 2005, we have taken the decision to have an online quarterly TAGA Newsletter. Later, it was named as VOTE-Voice of TKMCE Engineers as per suggestion from our member Dr.Abey Kuruvilla, College of Management , Lawrence Tech University, Southfield, Michigan. Adding to every records of TAGA in the history of TKMCE Alumni, VOTE became a record and reality on 12th of June 2006. We released its first edition for the quarter from April-06. It contains articles and news about the college, alumni chapters, members and their achievements in addition to literary articles from alumni. The editorial board behind this new venture is Mr.E.S.Suresh-Editor and Members:-(1) Manilal N. (2) Ratnakumar S.(3) Akbarshah  (4) Adarsh V.K with the TAGA Chair Person and General Secretary as ex-officio members.

Though the newsletter was originally designed for online viewing, due to the overwhelming acceptance by the Alumni, it was decided to distribute its hard copy to the forthcoming two-three meets in Kerala and hence even to the members not having net access could get the copies. We handed over officially the copies to Dr.M.C.Philipose, Principal and to the TKMCE Library. With the Thiruvananthapuram meet, in the dias Mr.Manilal, Editorial Board Member ceremonially given a copy to Mr.Vijaya Raghavan (1978E), the Chief Guest of the function.

Constitution Amendments

TAGA Constitution Amendments-05 was approved during the Annual General Body 2005. The points gathered through out the year from the Dept. of Income Tax, Registrar, Members, Auditor and the Banks were incorporated through this amendment. From the experience of another year for 2005-06, again we are suggesting amendments framed as TAGA Constitution Amendements-2006, subject to the approval from the Annual General Body-2006.

Membership

As per the latest status 694 members have enrolled with TAGA from 61 regional locations of India and abroad, and from 41 batches of TKMCE. Out of them 185 members are with confirmed Life Memberships. Confirmed in the sense of remittance of membership fee and thus qualified for voting in the administrative polls in accordance with TAGA Constitution. It is important to note that 6 Alumni Couples are in this confirmation list. Though 13 members from faculty are enrolled, only two are confirmed their memberships. 24 Student memberships are also registered.

For this year, there was a jump of membership strength from 415 to 694. The Internet media based operation of TAGA is the only catalyst behind collecting them from all over the Globe, though we have a less-than-desired response from the campus.

Global Alumni Meet

It was only through the spontaneous intuition by a member Mr.Abi Bahas (1983 Electrical), Penguin Engineering Limited, UAE happened to think about the idea of a Global Alumni Meet. Exploiting the vacation visit of the overseas members, we were able to co-ordinate the Global Alumni Meet-05  on 6th August 2005 at Jaladarsini Lake Resort, Kollam which was attended by more than 50 members from all over the world along with their families. Inspired by the success of this event and based on the feedback from our members, this year, TAGA has organized a bigger event - TAGA Global Alumni Meet 2006 on Saturday, 26th August 2006 at Lakshmi Resorts, Kumarakom. The highlight of this event is that, the entire expenses have been sponsored by Entrepreneurs amongst TKMCE alumni and HDFC Bank and entry is free for any alumnus and their families.

Interactive Meeting in Campus

It is being noted the cool response from the campus towards TAGA, an Interactive meeting was arranged in campus among Alumni, Faculty, Students & TAGA Delegates on 26th January 2006 at the TKMCE College Auditorium. About 19 members including 11 students attended the meeting. Discussed about bringing more students to TAGA activities. As the second session of the meeting in the absence of the students, analysed the measures to be taken by TAGA for the campus activities. Keeping good terms with the Parent Chapter is a must, as the general opinion. Though for the last academic year the campus selection was comparatively better, but decided to improve through the support of TAGA.

Online Annual General Body Meeting-05

As supported by clause 21 of TAGA Constitution, the first Annual General Body Meeting was successfully completed using the Internet facility, presided by TAGA Chair Person Mr.A.R.Satheesh. Though virtual meeting, it was very much effective than a real meeting. The duration of the meeting was from 1st September-05 to 15th October-05. From the batches of 1962 to 2005, totally 48 members attended the meeting. The General Body virtual platforms in yahoo and tkmcealumni.org mailman list are the major forums where the Annual General Body taken place. The PhpBB discussion forum associated with our website www.tkmcealumni.org was accommodated with the electronic ballots, where the entry of the confirmed members only were permitted. The suggestions from members over different forums were compiled and recorded as the minutes of the annual general body meeting.

Jameskutty Thomas

General Secretary