The International Day of Light (IDL) is celebrated on 16 May each year to mark the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer, Theodore Maiman. The day celebrates the role that light plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy to help achieve the goals of UNESCO – ‘education, equality, and peace. The message of 2021 International Day of Light is “Trust Science”.

This year, Prakash Bharati (Consortium of IEEE Photonic Society) Celebrated the International Day of Light and contributing to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, 75th anniversary of Indian Independence in collaboration with 75 Universities and Colleges around India which is remarkable inputs given by them. These institutes celebrated of their way IDL by involving students and faculty member in various technical and non-technical activities like expert talks, poster presentation, extempore speech, paper presentation and many more. The many other student chapters of photonics society also joined hands and to support for this gala event first time in India for ILD celebrations.

Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna, Chair, IPS Rjasthan Chapter and Chair, Prakash Bharati delivered the welcome speech Dr. Inderpreet Kaur, Vice Chair, IPS Rajasthan Chapter and Secy., Prakash Bharati, welcome the Er. Hitesh for his session and cultivated the outcome from industry – academia collaboration.

All 75 institutions participated in the final day event on 16^th May 2022 at 6:30 PM (IST) and shared their experiences about events organised at their instutional level with video clips submitted from which 5 best awards would be given from IPS and PB in near future. During the event, DR Preeta Sharan, Vice Chair PB welcomed the Prof.(Dr.) Naresh Chand, IEEE International Chapter Relations Officer, New Jersey, Mentor, Prakash Bharati and Prof (Dr.) T. Srinivas , Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Immediate Past Chair, Prakash Bharati. They were honored with Lifetime Achievement Award due to their comandable contribution in the area of photonics and its allied applications.

Dr. Roshan Makkar is a Senior Scientist at SAMEER, Mumbai was the keynote speaker of the session, who delivered an expert session on development of prototype products for medical use at SAMEER.

Dr. Bhavesh, Principal SRMGPC, Dr. Shilpa Kapse-Lokmanya Tilak Institute of Engg and Technology, Navi Mumbai, Dr. Sojan Lal- MBITS, Kothamangalam, Dr Sangeetha, Dr Birinderjit Singh, Prof. Ganshyam, shared their experiences while celebrating IDL 2022 in their respective institutes. The session ends with the vote of thanks from Dr.N.Venkateswaran, Professor, Dept. of ECE, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering(Autonomous), Kalavakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

Glimpse of the event