BATCH OF 1959 REUNITES AT THE DCE AUDITORIUM
The class of 1959 of Delhi College of Engineering held its 50th Reunion on February 5, 2009 at the new Campus.
The 1959 batch had 122 graduates in five disciplines, viz architecture, chemical, electrical, mechanical and textile
engineering. The chemical and textile disciplines were shifted to IIT Delhi and the architecture was shifted to
School of Planning and Architecture. A good number of graduates of 1959 batch took up the challenging assignments
by joining the Department of Atomic Energy and contributed earnestly to the design and development of
heavy water atomic reactors and fast breeder reactors.
Among the few luminaries are Mr. Maheshwar Sabherwal became a leading expert at Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre, Mr. B.C Goswamy rose to the position of professorship at Clemson University in USA, Mr. AK Chaudhary
became the CMD of MTNL, Mr. Sudesh Pal Duggal became chairman of PHIDC, Mr. Mohan Kishen Kaul became
the member of Railway Board and Mr. Raj Sahani became chairman of NTC. In appreciation of their Alma matter’s role in shaping their lives, the students of the class of 1959 announced the
establishment of the Scholarship Endowment fund of Rs 10 lakhs in the reunion event.Prof. B.C. Goswamy expressed his desired to set up a Solar Demonstration and research centre at DCE,
hoping that the institution would work towards the development of solar energy technology for the benefit of
society. Two Endowment Gold Medals have also been established by alumni of 1959 batch.
DCE graduates reunite at the FICCI auditorium
The alumni association of DCE organized its annual reunion at the FICCI auditorium on 7 February, 2008. Alumni from all batches were present at the meet, some of them even belonged to batches of 50’s and 60’s. The FICCI auditorium was jam packed. It was a nice experience to interact with the well established DCE graduates. Today A many of DCE alumni are occupying top positions in leading firms within the country and abroad .The event also included ‘kavi sammelan’ in which popular poets like Ashok chakradhar and many more tickled people with their hilarious poems.
Distinguished Alumni
Arun Jain, Chairman & Managing Director, Polaris Software
Arun Jain, 40, is a first generation entrepreneur, who promoted Nucleus Software Group with a few friends in 1986.The idea behind launching Nucleus was to develop a world-class software house. In its formative years, Nucleus specialised in the delivery of software development and project services for the global consumer banking division of Citibank India. In 1993, Jain promoted Polaris Software Lab Limited with software development centres in Noida (near New Delhi) and in Chennai. Polaris Software is a global software house providing quality and customized information technology (IT) solutions to several multinational clients across 20 countries. Born in 1959, into a middle class family of nine other siblings, it is passion, involvement and ethics that have shaped the course of Jain’s life. He believes he got these qualities from his father, who strove to provide for his children’s education even if it left him perennially in debt. His father’s legacy to Jain is what real success is. He values leadership, creativity and resource utilisation. Although he had the coveted “green card” in hand, and had the opportunity to migrate to the US and embrace assured affluence and an easy life, he instead, driven by his own vision, ventured to set up a centre of excellence in his own country.
That centre of excellence is Polaris. Polaris’ philosophy revolves around the same value systems that Jain grew up with and continues to practise. Jain, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering (1983), believes in people power and often says, “With committed people you can achieve what most people think is impossible”. Polaris has around 2200 professionals spread all over the world with over 6500 personyears of experience, who develop and maintain mission critical application software. Actually, Jain doesn’t like to be known as the tough talking, number crunching CEO of a software enterprise that employs around 2200 people across India, the Americas, the Far East, Europe and the Middle East. Call him the heart and soul of Polaris and he’ll love it. That’s the way Jain is Involved, Ethical, Passionate.
Involved as he is, with the careers of each of his associates (at Polaris employees are called associates), he believes that the task of an entrepreneur is not so much to create a job as it is to create an opportunity. In terms of geographies, Polaris operates in India, Singapore, Dubai, and the United States of America. Polaris has its worldwide headquarters at Chennai, development centers in Chennai and New Delhi and has wholly-owned subsidiaries in the U.K, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia and Singapore and representative offices in Riyadh, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi. Arun Jain sees Polaris becoming a quality Indian transnational only with people on its side. Under Jain’s stewardship, Polaris has several unique people practices. From its team of committed associates, Polaris annually selects a few to award the title of Konark, which is depicted by the mythological Indian wheel that symbolises excellence and energy (sun). Pre-Lakshya and Lakshya are two special initiatives that keep the organisation continuously energized. Pre-Lakshya is an interactive forum for inputs from each and every associate for the direction setting process of the organisation.
Together with the inputs of Pre-Lakshya, brainstorming at Polaris happens at the annual meet called Lakshya, which in Sanskrit means goal orientation. Recently, The Economic Times had this to say about Jain: “Jain…reminds you to desist from measuring success in purely financial terms. May be that’s why Polaris has its Ullas Trust, which provides scholarships to over 1500 students based on merit and family income.” India’s premier business magazine Business India too commented on Jain and Polaris: “The leitmotif, ‘Lakshya’, keeps recurring as the underlying theme in the evolution of both Jain and Polaris Jain is active in business circles. He is a member of National Association of Software And Service Companies (NASSCOM), Confederation Indian Industry, Computer Society of India, Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, German Chamber of Commerce, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council and Madras Management Association. He is also Vice Chairman of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Tamil Nadu Branch and Committee Member in the Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Jain is happily married to Manju and they have a son, Uday and a daughter, Aarushi and currently live in Chennai.