Nirmaan is an organisation founded by students of BITS Pilani, with a passion to fulfil their responsibility towards the less privileged people of the society.
A social Initiative by BITS. What is Nirmaan?
Nirmaan was initiated by Pilani in Feb 2005 by a few BITSians. Nirmaan is a Non-Government and Nonprofit Organisation committed to work for poverty free, knowledge powered and an economically empowered nation by focusing on providing education and livelihood opportunities for underprivileged people. Nirmaan believes that it is the fundamental right of every child to get educated and it is the education alone that can bring about a social change. Nirmaan believes that education and livelihood opportunities are the basic necessities that any citizen must get, so that poverty which is a recurring problem doesn’t harass the society and therefore, Nirmaan works to provide such basic necessities to the society.
During this year, the key contribution to Nirmaan from BITS has been working on the UN Habitat fund for the NGO. The UN Habitat Youth Fund promotes the poverty reduction and aims of Millennium Development Goals for a better, more sustainable and equitable towns and cities throughout the developing world.
BITS.aid identified its partner organisation Nirmaan as the prospective avenue for collaboration from the UN Habitat Youth Fund and presented an application on its behalf. As an enabler, we drafted the complete proposal for Nirmaan’s "Vocational Training Project” at Warangal; drafting a plan of logistics, infrastructure and necessary faculty to meet budget requirements. Irrespective of our result, BITS.aid’s involvement from identifying an opportunity through to its successful execution was testament to the fact that BITS.aid stands by its partners, identifying and executing on opportunities that fit their individual profiles.
NSS BITS Pilani is composed of enthusiastic volunteers, under the guidance of respected teachers, who always keep in mind comprehensive and sustainable models for development. In addition to the main goals of community development, NSS also aims to inculcate service values in students, and ultimately make them serious and responsible citizens dedicated to improving the country and the world.
Pilani Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Society was initiated to bring ideas into action. The core agenda of the PIEDS initiative is to inspire, nurture, grow & then eventually bring the ideas to reality through the various services it offers.
We foster community development in and around Pilani, Rajasthan, by providing an ecosystem for
Skill Training, Job Creation, health, education, entrepreneurship, women's rights and more.
“PARC today has made a huge impact. You all should be extremely proud of it, what PARC has done for this neighbourhood, the beautiful ecosystem of supporting the society, the underprivileged and people in need of critical support. PARC has done something which is absolutely outstanding and remarkable like no other. keep doing it.”
– Dr Souvik Bhattacharyya, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani
(quoted from an interaction with him on BITS Day of 2020)
The Society for Student Mess Services (SSMS) is an official body, registered under the Rajasthan Societies Act (1958), which is empowered to manage the day-to-day affairs of the BITS Student Messes. It employs nearly 200 mess-workers and caters to the needs of over 3500 students in BITS-Pilani, Pilani Campus.
The Society directly handles all financial transactions and operational management of all the seven messes on campus and one all-night canteen. The Society has presently tied up with Sodexo, the international food service company, who have been hired as consultants to monitor, review and suggest changes in the system.
This is an attempt to streamline the entire food service chain on campus, and ensure the students can look forward to good food being supplied to them regularly at affordable rates, by a professionally run body.
Though all students registered in BITS Pilani are de facto members of this society, the day-to-day operational aspects and all other major decisions are overseen by the Governing Council (SSMS). The Governing Council comprises elected representatives from each of the messes, four nominated members in the form of the AMC (Advisory and Monitoring Committee), two nominees from BITS Pilani, and four others. The main post-holders in the Council include the President, Secretary and the Treasurer of the Society. Every student on campus is encouraged to voice his/her opinions and suggestions towards the improvement of the mess-system. To indulge in cliches, the Society is after all an initiative of the students, by the students, for the students of BITS Pilani.
- In campus total 949.12 KWp of on grid rooftop solar power plants installed and commissioned to use renewable energy in the campus & it is planned to commission about 45 KWp rooftop solar power plants by end of December month in this year.
- Total 26 Nos. standalone solar powered street lights are installed in the campus, which is estimated to save around 9, 90 kW of electricity annually.
- Around 80 Nos. of the street lights out of 495 in the campus are connected to off-grid solar power plants of 18.5 kW per day. These street lights work on solar power for about eight to ten hours every night, which is estimated to save around 6,753 kW of electricity annually. After exhausting the solar power, these street lights function on conventional power.
- Since 2014, hostels, residential quarters, academic and administrative blocks constructed as part of the infrastructure expansion by Project Parivartan, replace all CFL, Metal Halide, Fluorescent tube lights with LED fixtures to reduce consumption of energy.
- Similarly existing CFL, tube lights and other electrical fixtures are being replaced with energy saving LED fixtures in a phased manner.
- On campus 28 nos. (Each carries 2 nos. of four wheelers) of car parking stands having standalone solar powered lights, able to park 56 nos. of four wheelers.
- On campus all the newly renovated hostel’s toilet lights & exhaust fans are controlled with motion sensors to save electricity.
- On campus all street lights (Total No.495) fixtures are LED type.
- In campus all street lights (Total 495 Nos.) on/off with LDR, as per sun light intensity availability. No need to change time as seasons change.
- Six groundwater recharge points are created across the campus. In this, the surface runoff water during monsoon is directed to a designated area which then percolates in the ground resulting in groundwater recharge. Many such recharge points are being planned across the campus in the coming years.
- All overhead tanks and water coolers are fitted with floats, sensors and other mechanisms to shut the water supply and avoid overflow.
- Overhead tanks which are filled with pressurised supply of water through pumps are fitted with actuator valves for avoiding overflow.
- Insulation on water storage tank at Ram & Budh Bhawan to guard against extreme temperature.
- VFD based hydro pneumatic system.
- Pumps & equipment selected on ‘’best ‘energy efficiency point.
- Use of low flow fixtures.
- Use of treated water with BOD less than 10 ppm and COD less than 50 ppm from STP for HVAC cooling tower make up ,flushing and irrigation.
- Domestic waste generated in the campus at residences, hostels, messes, etc. is segregated at source into dry, wet waste.
- To maintain natural balance in the environment and make optimum utilisation of waste available, the biodegradable waste is being processed.
- The Solid waste management Facility is being developed in the campus with a 2 Ton per day capacity organic waste processing plant to treat wet/ organic waste generated by the residents of campus & kitchen facilities.
- The plant produces biogas which store & use to generate electric power using Biogas Generator.
- The by-product of the plant is organic manure that is used as a soil improviser.
- The two Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with the capacity of 1 MLD & 1.5 MLD each is working round the clock to treat sewage generated by residents of the campus.
- Flushing water sourced from in-house sewage Treatment plant. The Treated Effluent for flushing is obtained after tertiary treatment at STP. Treated effluent is odourless and shall be acceptable chemical /bacteriological parameters as per Rajasthan pollution control boards laws. Recently in some hostels, STP treated water is supplied to flush tanks of EWC through a dedicated supply network.
- The sludge generated at STP is transferred to a drying bed in the vicinity of STP which is used as manure after drying.