BHTC 2022 was held on October 1 & 2, 2022, at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus.

The inaugural session was opened with an overview of the conference by Dr.Aloknath De who informed us about the origin of BHTC and initiatives taken to Achieve SDGs followed by a very enlightening talk on Govt initiatives toward achieving SDGs and reducing the carbon footprint of India by MV Gowtama former CMD of Bharat Electronics. Dr. R Gopalakrishnan former ED Tata sons delivered a very impressive lecture on the importance of our Ve.dic culture and tradition in preserving resources. The session was concluded with a Vote of Thanks by our very charismatic and loved IEEE Bangalore Section Chair, Dr. Deepa Shenoy.

Keeping in line with the conference theme our second session was on responsible production: management and use of natural resources. This session was opened by Madam AnandiGiridharan, followed by a very enthralling plenary talk by Dr. TV Ramachandra on natural capital accountancy and green GDP with a focus on saving our rivers and soil.

The key takeaway of this session was the importance of production and its ecosystem in total, its impact that matters future was well narrated throughout the session.

This was followed by a very engaging panel discussion moderated by Dr. Ramachandra. We got to know some important facts. Dr. S Rajagopalan emphasized on responsible use of digital resources whereas Dr.Inayatulla of Bangalore University presented various attempts being done to save our water resources Dr. Asha Hanjagi of Bangalore University enlightened us about the deterioration of soil health and how to conserve it. Dr. Gopal Naik of IIM Bangalore laid stress on the responsible usage of water

Post lunch we steered the conference focus on Responsible consumption and session 3 was opened by Prof. Ashwini Holla. This was followed by a very motivating plenary talk on the conservation of natural resources by Mr. Prabhash Chandra Ray. The session continued with a lightning talk by Mr. Gautam Surana on sustainable packaging followed by Mr. Pravinjith who presented solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change on consumption third lightning talk by Dr. Ramchandra Kamath on medical waste management and finally a very interesting talk by Dr. Adil Khan on Dozen which is a healthcare product packed with life-saving features.

Session 4 followed after the tea break and we witnessed motivating talks. The session was opened by Dr.Chengappa who gave us information and facts. A packed plenary was delivered by Ms. P Bhineesha on the circular economy of waste. She spoke about recycling plastics indefinitely which includes the methods to break a hard plastic into its constituents without losing its desirable properties. She also mentioned the waste hierarchy pyramid and zero waste management.

The session was concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Alok De. The panel discussion brought out some very important facts and kept the audience engaged throughout. For example, Mr. Surojit’s bosses highlighted the importance of replenishing the water and treatment of wastewater from the production processes, whereas Mr. IramMaimuna emphasized the reuse of e-wastes in ways that create a more decent and sustainable environment, on other hand, Ms. Kavya Madappa insisted on pollution free papermaking and design and regeneration of natural resources, and Santosh Kumar was keen on recycling of lithium batteries and advantages of lithium batteries over other commonly used batteries and further he enlightened participants about the integration of blockchain technology with this.

The second day of the conference started with session 5 with opening remarks by Jayakrishna Sir. This session was themed Relevance of Gandhian thoughts on sustainability and self-reliance in current times.

As the day followed with the most important lineup of October 2nd and this session is a fitting tribute to our Father of Nation, Gandhi can be called the very first climate and environment activist who always practiced consumption by need and not greed. There were two plenary talks. The first one was by Prof. Anil Gupta. In his captivating talk, we were informed of the Gandhian principles. He discussed the paradoxical and autopoietic leadership. The social behavior and responsibility of a man, autonomy, and agency were well stated. He mentioned how the challenge awards encourage the youth of today to work more towards such causes. He even displayed how beautifully a bridge at Cherrapunji was built using stones and roots, a stepping stone towards a sustainable environment. He portrayed how much the world has changed with time. This was followed by another fascinating talk by Dr. Uma Maheswaran on space sustainability. He covered the untouched initiative about a few projects that can be developed to avoid or handle space debris which can be an efficient way to reduce waste. A major resource overuse happens in building space equipment which can be efficiently reduced and hence a better way was suggested.  

Next after the tea break, the session continued and there was a panel discussion moderated by Mr. Narayan Subramaniam. The panel discussion was very absorbing with Dr.Indu Murthy and Dr. Vishwanath both letting the audience know about sustainability at the core of self-reliance. The panel addressed water waste management in Bengaluru and experiments taking place in Bengaluru to treat the same to help places with drought. The same technology which helps fishermen catch fish in large numbers causes an ecological imbalance affecting the environment. 

The session was followed by posters and a project demo evaluation. This session was conducted in parallel with session 6 which consisted of a panel discussion on community problem-solving opportunities challenges and best practices. The session was opened and moderated by Mr. Jayakrishna and the panelistsDr. Anil Gupta, Dr.Abhaas Abhinav, and Dr.Preetha Sharan participated with a lot of enthusiasm. They presented many interesting ideas on problem-solving and addressing various community issues.

We were honored to have our chief guest for the valedictory session Mr. Manoj Kumar. He delivered a talk on the Potential for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in India. Followed by

Mr. Sampath Kumar R10 HAC chair delivered an address on the impact of social ideas and humanitarian technology on a diversified society.

Followed by prize distribution for winners of the project and poster presentation winners the event had a grand success and reported a huge impact on young minds towards technology driving a better future. A small video was displayed by the IEEE Siddaganga Institute of Technology students on the activities taken by the institute in bringing Gandhian thoughts into action.