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A new campaign promoting South Australia to Indian tourists is launched by former cricketer Ajay Jadeja

s ports commentator Ajay J adeja and his son on their recent vis it to the State. It features key attractions including the Barossa Valley, Kangaroo Is land and the Adelaide Hills

In a major effort co encourage visitors to Adelaide, South Australia during the Cricket World Cup, tbe South Australian Tourism Commission recently premiered a film in India's capital ew Delhi, the first of the three new films by tbe Tourism Commission.

The films are desig ned to encourage Indians to visit Soutb Australia next year when the Adelaide O val will host the opening game of the IC C Cricket World Cup - a b lockbuster, limited overs cricket match between arch - rivals India and Pakistan on February 15

The film s hows South Australia through the eyes of former Indian cricketer turned telev ision

Ajay Jadeja first visited Ade la ide and South Australia in l 992 when he toured d1e countr y with the then Ind ian World Cup ream under captain Kapil Dev.

" He is one of the players we all aspire to be and it was like a dream come true wben I wa lked our w i th him at tl1e World Cup," Jadeja said.

Sha ring his experience working on the film, Jadeja said the shoot was a walk down memory lane

"This week-long trip bas shown me tbe ocher side of d1e city," Jadeja explained, saying he had s hared some great moments with his 1 2 -year-old son Aipen.

"The .Adelaide Oval might have changed , but tbey have still retained the old score board and tbe Sir Donald Brndman stand, yo u still see d1 e Cathedral at the back, and people who come co and produced b y Daydreamer Pictmes. watc h a match bere will rnorough ly enjoy it - the se r v ice provided i s the best in che world "

John Rau on hi s r ecent visit to India for a trade missio n.

"The India versus Pakistan game is a real draw card for Adelaide and will reach an anticipated g lobal television audience of over one b illion people," Rau said.

Accompanied by a soulful , earthy track composed by renowned Boll ywood musicians Siddhartb and Sangeec Haldipttr, the film aims to show content Indian visitors can identify with.

For tbe bus y star, being in the picniresque wine capital of Australia was relaxing and fun. He could spend time w ith bis son, away from d1e chaos of big cities. "The uniqueness is t he pace at which everything in A delaide moves," Jadeja said. On d1e best p lace in South A ustralia Jadeja said, " lt's a tough one, it's like asking Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar or Garry Sobers? Every place that I went was fabul ous, but i f I had to p ick, I l oved sandboardi ng the massive dunes of 'Little Sahara' with Aipen at Kangaroo Island."

The film was launc hed b y South Australian Deputy Premier

"The Cricket \i1ocld Cup provides a great touri sm opportunity in the key market of India and the subcontinent. The film aims to uncover me real South Australia. We wanted to caprnre the experiences of real people in a creative way."

Conceptualised and commiss ioned by the South Australian Tourism Commission as pare of its India Strategy 2020, the trilogy is directed by Indian film mal<er, Deepti Chawla

"There is huge p otential to showcase ou r state through d1e o n line medium and d1ese films are designed to tap into that potential," Rau sai d.

The fi l ms wil l also be supported by a domestic media and communications strategy aimed at the VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) segment and Indians in other A u stralian stares as well as the Middle East, Singapore, Malays ia, New Zealand and the US.

/IT alumni help forge links between their alma mater and universities here

''"The education initiative is our first large-scale endeavour and we hope to continue with it in the next few years. We also have plans for an industry- related conference in the near future"

Samit Chandra Vice President, 1/TAA

IIT H yderabad) and four d eans (Prof. Amar Samanta of llT Kharagpu1 , Prof. Sandeep Singh of IIT Roorkee, Prof. Dhe eraj Sanghi of IIT Kanpur and Prof.

I::,NI ANAND •4, LUTHRA

Did you know that 24 per cent of the scientists at NASA regard the Indian I.nstimtes of Technology (IITs) as their alma mater?

Th.is Statistic was mentioned by the Consul General of India (Sydney) Sunjay Sudbir, a former IITian himself, at a recent conference organised b y the ITT Alumni Asso ciati on of Australia (IITAA).

The conference, held in association with the education chapter of the Australia India Business Cou ncil, was aimed at forging pathways for IITs to connect with universities here. Ir saw a number of visiting UT top brass interact with their counterparts at Australian universities in a bid to exp lore increased research partnerships.

The IIT visirors included one di recto r (Prof. U.B Desai of

J\loke Ghosal o f IIT G uwah ati)

Over the course of the conference at the MLC Centre, they made presentations about their own instimtes, t heir particular research strengths and their visions for the future.

They also heard from representatives of Australian universities such as Ptof. Judy Raper (Deputy Vice CbanceUor of the U niversity of Wollongong),

Prof. Barne y Glover (Vice Chancellor of UWS), Prof. Jim Lee (Deputy Vice Chancellor of Macquarie U nive rsity) , Prof. Veena Sebjawala (Scientia professor a t UNSW and an IITian herself),

Prof. Joseph Davis (from the University of Sydney 's School of Information Technologies), James Keenan (Head of Partnerships at Macqua rie U nivers ity) and Prof. Mar y O'Kane (Chief Scientist of l SW)

Two panel discussions held ar rhe event also threshed out the role of IITs in cutting edge research and bow Australian universities could harness them in partnership; Australian case studies and best practices on r esearch partners hips, and d1e possibili ty o f exchange of faculty and smclems b etween IITs and universities here. The discussions were organised by Muralidharao, chairman of AIBC education chapter.

Over rhe next three days, the visitors from India traveUed [0 universities here in SW as weU as in V ictoria and in Canberra.

The research relationship between India and Australia bas grown b y leaps and bounds in recen t years Prime 1\1.inister Tony Abbot[ p ledged on bis recent trip to India, $20 million fo r th e Australia lndia Stra[egic Research Fund. In October, the Australia Lidia Cou n cil announced funding for 13 specific collaborative research projects d1at: will mutuall y benefit the two countries

Indian Prime 1\1.in.i ster arendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign will have potential as well to see this relationship develop fnrd1er.

Prof. U.B Desai, Direcror o f IIT Hyderabad was pleased with the o utcomes of the visit He sai d , "We exchanged ke y opportunities (with our Australian counterparts) a nd had one on o n e meetings to pursue sp ecific action item s."

Prof. Mark Hoffman, Pro Vice Chancellor of UNSW said, "The initiative helped to make UNSW more familiar with a number of t h e IITs and hopefully will lead ro more reciprocal and collaborative agreements."

A lumni can pl ay a sign.incant role i n creating such links, says Samit C han dra, the Vice President of the IITAA " Creating such opportunities is particularly satisfying for us," he told Indian Link "\Ve are indebted both co our alma ma[er and co our new home here, and our efforts can bru1g ab o ut fruitfu l outcomes for both."

" The education initiative is o ur first large -scale endeavour and we hope to continue with it in die next few years," Chand ra , an IIT Roorkee alumnus, revealed. "'il/e also have plans for an i ndustryrelated conference in die near fumre."

As well, there are p l ans afoot for programs with PAN - IIT U SA, a more global alumni organisation. The IITAA was founded in 2003, but only became activem a professional sense five years ago, Ch andra re vealed , with momentum pi cki ng up two years ago as d1e numbers increased in Australia. The organisation recently pare sponsored an UT Roorkee race car project, in which

''a smdent team not only designed and fabricated a race car bur also competed in an in ternatio n al competitio n , the FSJ\E Australasia held in Melbourne. The Indian team was ad judged the best in the fuel efficiency category.

The IITs are India's most prestigious science .institutions "It may be d1e most important universi ty you have never heard of," a recent 60 1\!Ii1111/es segment on India's premier techno logical university began famousl y

It was in 1946 tl1at the id ea of tl1e IITs fust came up, as p lans began to be drawn for the governance o f a soon- to -be independent India. The fo unding fathers of die nation , realising the imponance of tertiary technic al institutions in the job of nation -building, s uggested tl1e setting up of th e instimres across the cotmtr y The first IIT was established in Kharagpur in 1950. Wi thin the next decade, the .institutes at Delhi , Bombay, Madras and Kanpur came into being, and became highly regarded as educational .instimtions that trained you ng India's scientists

Today there are 16 IJTs in India, and man y mor e institutes are awaiting recognition to become fuU- lledged IITs.