The Parting GenSecs: Satyam Shukla
By: Harshit, Surya
As the Students' Gymkhana representatives of the year 2021-2022 end their tenure, we look back at their journey as Gymkhana core members, their ideas and vision for their respective councils, as well as their ongoing, incomplete, and complete projects. Read ahead to find out from none other than the ex-Gymkhana core members themselves - the VP, UGR, PGR, and the GenSecs of the 5 different councils. This is an 8-part series with full-length interviews of ‘The Parting GenSecs’.
SATYAM SHUKLA
EX-GENERAL SECRETARY, STUDENT TECHNICAL COUNCIL
Being the GenSec - Technical Council is one of the most demanding tasks in the Gymkhana. Their role involves coordinating all technical clubs, organising technical events and maintaining a healthy relationship with other institutions' technical committees while working on different tech-related projects for the college. Satyam Shukla, the Technical Secretary for the year 2021-22, took up this challenge to the best of his spirit. Here are some questions we asked him about his journey as a Technical Secretary.
Q: Could you tell us about the agendas you were working on and how much of them were you successfully able to complete? What problems did you face while working on them?
Satyam - I can proudly say we as a council, were able to start most of the things that we had targeted for our term. Some of them are complete and some are yet to be completed. To name a few, we redesigned the STC website to emphasize and promote the work and activities of the technical clubs of IIT Patna. The STC was committed to automating several administrative and registry processes in college. We successfully completed multiple automation projects - for instance, the application for Bonafide Certificates is now easier as it is automated. The biggest challenge here was to move people out of the loop. When you bring up the topic of automation, sometimes people feel that things may turn upside-down for them. However, if we start with such small things, we could make significant changes all the while keeping everyone comfortable throughout the process. We were also able to complete the fund distribution and requirements of STC which I hope will help the Technical Council to run smoothly in the future.
Q: What would be your expectations from your successor and what would you advise him and/or your juniors in general?
Satyam - I have a lot of expectations. I expect my successor to complete all those automation projects that we had initiated. Some of the clubs are inactive since the arrival of COVID-19, mainly because a lot of them couldn’t function in the online mode - it simply wasn’t possible. Motivating them to actively manage events will be a challenging task. I personally know Shivam, the new GenSec for the Technical Council, he has been involved with the council since his 2nd year and I trust that he will bring good changes, and help the technical clubs at IIT Patna reach newer heights. I wish nothing but the best to him and his team.
Q: How do you think our college performed in the Inter-IIT Tech Meets under your leadership?
Satyam - I don’t want to take any credit because, by all means, it was a team effort. I would especially like to thank Akash Balaji, Anuj, and Rishikesh. They worked on this a lot. We won one Gold, one Silver, and one Bronze medal this year*. So the performance was prodigious because every medal in Inter-IIT Tech Meet matters. The level of competition with all IITs there is immense and the experience is worth making efforts for. I would like to congratulate all the medal winners and participants for their active participation in the Meet. As the General Secretary of Technical Affairs, it was a proud moment for me to have such an amazing contingent who had overcome all obstacles and witnessed that historic moment for IIT Patna.
(Note: IIT Patna won 1 Gold, 1 Silver, and one Bronze medal in the Inter IIT Tech Meet 10.0. Overall, IIT Patna was ranked 9th among 23 participating IITs in the GC(Grand Championship) of the Tech Meet.)
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