Youth should use tech to help elderly, contribute in fighting organised crime: Thai diplomat

Chennai, Oct 31 (PTI) Youth engaged in engineering and science streams must use technology to help the elderly and also contribute in fighting organised crime, a diplomat of Royal Thai Consulate-General, Chennai said on Friday.

The knowledge gained by students of engineering should go beyond what they have learnt and benefit the world, said Racha Aribarg, the Consul General at the Royal Thai Consulate-General, Chennai.

He was speaking at the 10th annual edition of "technoVIT'25" at the VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) Chennai.

"The world over, there is a serious issue of digital divide - a gap of knowledge between young and the elderly. Spend some time with elders as otherwise, they will be left behind unable to use technology in their daily lives," Aribarg was quoted as saying in a press release.

"Youth working in the sphere of engineering and science must use technology to help the elderly, the society and also contribute to fighting organised crime. The knowledge gained by the students of engineering should go beyond what they have learnt and benefit the world," he said.

He appealed to the young audience to communicate more frequently with the elderly in their families and others in society to make their lives better.

VIT Vice President G V Selvam said Indian students going for higher studies had decreased to 44 per cent, resulting in 'Study in India, Make in India.' This is also due to the recent developments in the ties between the United States of America and India.

He stated that there was a general perception that the Indian education system was mostly theoretical and the technoVIT'25 proved this notion wrong as it demonstrated the innovative capabilities of engineering students.

HCLTech Executive Vice President D Prince Jayakumar said, "If India had become the IT services capital of the world in the past 3 decades, in the next decade, India would emerge as the innovation capital and for that the youth's contribution would be huge." VIT Chennai Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr T Thyagarajan, VIT Chennai Director K Sathiyanarayanan, were present on the occasion.

Over 10,000 students from all over India and 10 foreign countries, including Thailand, Poland, Australia, are taking part in the three day event.

Nearly 150 technical sessions would be conducted during the next three days and the prize money would be over Rs 10 lakh with several competitions lined up for students, the release added. PTI VIJ KH