It’s that time of the year again. The time we at IIT Roorkee face the coolest of all challenges, to help Cognizance live up to its tag of being one of the largest college technical fests in Asia; and it is exactly as difficult as it sounds. We compete with the standards we have set for ourselves in the past few years. We’ve been host to some dexterous artistes like Anthony Cappetto, Kate Chruscicka, Amar Sen and Andrew Lee, just to name a few. The genius of people like Sam Pitroda, AjoyGhatak, Vinita Bali and Prof. CNR Rao have also graced the fest with their presence. Go ahead, hit them all up on Google and gift yourself some awe. With the departments of Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering, among others, organizing their own special events, and social initiatives like SAAF, IITR’s own contribution to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Cognizance has managed to pique interest of everyone it has had the pleasure of hosting. If that’s not enough, exhibitions and workshops dealing with the latest in technology and robotics, and events that help our participants get a chance to innovate and share their ideas make Cognizance an unforgettable three-day extravaganza. How do we beat all that? How do we better the event that has had Coke Studio and Eluveitie entertaining its guests? We’re going to give it a shot this March. Cognizance ‘16. You don’t want to miss this one!

At Cognizance, we try and do our part when it comes to giving back to the society. Case in point? Our collaboration with International Year Pulses (IYP 2016) as declared by the FAO, United Nations, to bring awareness about this major source of protein and to promote food security and safety is just one of the many ways we have tried to do so. The FAO and WHO, for the longest of times, have been harping on the chord of food security.Exciting contests like the ‘National Signature Dish Competition’, our own version of MasterChef, and a case study entitled “Project Hunger” in 6 cities of India namely Delhi, Dehradun, Bhopal, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Jaipur to fight the problem of hunger by 2020 are all a part of our effort to stress on the importance of food security. We also attempt to promote the various schemes of the Indian Government and its various departments, like the Ministry of Social Justice and Environment, the Department of Electronics and Information technology (DEITy) and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. One such highly publicized policy of the parliament is the “Accessible India” campaign, which hopes to make government buildings and reforms more disabled-friendly. We also support the “Digital India” crusade, which, as the title very explicitly explains, aims to digitize the country. Cognizance endorses these ambitious progress drives of the parliament wholeheartedly. The Chief Guest of Cognizance 2016 is Mr. Manohar Parrikar, the Defence Minister of India. So, come over to witness the aura and grandeur only at IIT Roorkee.

Stay tuned for the updates. For more details, visit the website:  www.cognizance.org.in