Celebrating
Rajeev Sangal
Featured Speakers
Prof. Raj Reddy
University Professor, CMU
Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe
AICTE
Shri. Pawan Gupta
SIDH
Prof. Abhijit Mitra
Past IIITH Faculty
Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharyya
IITB
Prof. B. Yegnanarayana
IIITH
Prof. Hema Murthy
IITM
Recordings of Sessions
Program Schedule
Day 1: Natural Language Processing
5th July 2022 at 105 Himalaya, IIIT Hyderabad
Welcome
About Celebrating Rajeev Sangal
Launching NLPAI website
Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharyya
Releasing language resources
On some putative “expletives” in Hindi
Maximizing User Experience in Enterprise Virtual Agents
“Alice in Wonderland”: Navigating the Landscape of Multilinguality for NLP
High-Tea
Panel discussion: Can deep learning be a silver bullet for language technologies?
Panel: Dr. Siva Reddy
Prof. Mitesh Khapra
Prof. Hema Murthy
Lunch
Effect of Missing Science in AI on Speech Research
Panel discussion: Future directions of language technologies in India
Panel: Prof. Asif Iqbal
Prof. Amba Kulkarni
Prof. Partha Talukdar
Tea break
TBA
Vote of thanks
Day 2A: Contributions to Value Education at IIIT Hyderabad and beyond (6th July 2022 forenoon)
Day 2B: Farewell/Felicitation (6th July 2022 afternoon)
6th July 2022 at 105 Himalaya, IIIT Hyderabad
Welcoming speakers and guests
Education Model at IIIT
Humanization of Education
Universal Human Values
Human Values at BHU
FDPs for Student Induction Programs (Online)
Role of Teacher and Administration in Value Education
High-Tea
Panel Discussion on Human Values in Higher Education
Panel: Prof. Karmakar, IIT BHU
Sri. Giridhar, TCS
Prof. Amarendra, IIT BHU
Prof. Kamal, IIIT H
Lunch
Felicitation
Prof. Rajeev Sangal was my teacher and mentor at IIT Kanpur. I did my Master’s project with Prof. Vineet Chaitanya, and Prof. Sangal was on my committee. The relationship that started in 1985 is going strong till today. I consider Prof. Sangal and Prof. Chaitanya as my Gurus and I owe whatever little I could do in NLP to them. Prof. Sangal’s urging on inculcating correct human values is a guiding light for all of us. Prof. Sangal has striven hard to advance the cause of Indian Language Technology and Human Values. Personalities like him actually never retire; they continue to act and direct others for the greater good and for the ultimate benefit of mankind and society. Pushpak Bhattacharyya.
Well said Mr. Pushpak Bhattacharyya,
Hearty Congratulations to Prof.Mr.Rajeev Sangal for his achievements and contributions.
Thanking IIITH Team for Honouring him.
May God bless us all.
Regards…. Ayazuddin.
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It was in 1987, I came across an article written by Profs Sangal and Vineet Chaitanya in Current Science on the Kaaraka theory of Panini. I was so fascinated by the article and the idea of using Indian Language Sciences for Machine Translation that I contacted Prof Sangal immediately, and since then I am fortunate to have his blessings with me. I was fortunate to do my M.Tech. at IIT Kanpur under him with Prof Vineet Chaitanya being a co-guide. The most important thing I learned from him is ‘leadership’. I have been observing him for a long as a leader. What fascinated me about him is his skill of imparting good habits to others in a natural way. I have rarely seen him raising his voice. Even if he disagrees, he would very politely put across his differences. A true Gandhian in many ways. He has been leading the NLP community for more than 30 years, with his vision and missionary goals. On the occasion of ‘celebrating Prof Rajeev Sangal’, I take the opportunity to wish him the best for achieving his goals in life. I pray to God that let me have his blessings throughout my life.
Remembering the days we were introduced to language technology as part of the NLP teacher’s training programme during the early 90s. That’s when I got to know Prof. Sangal and still cherish the nuances of NLP that was taught in the training programmes. Wishing Prof. Sangal a long life.
Prof. Rajeev Sangal’s contribution to Indian NLP and human values is very valuable. I learned a lot from him. It is a great opportunity for me to work closely with Prof. Sangal and Prof. Yegnanarayana in my earlier carrier. Two legends in their research area.
I have learnt and have benefited from Professor Sangal’s visionary, inclusive and care-based approach in education including NLP education in India, from his encouraging and caring words, and, above all, from his (so) simple living that made us feel at ease as a kind of part of his big family. I pray for his good health.
For a typical person, the ideas I present are incoherent and jumbled, but Prof Rajeev Sangal would present the same ideas in a manner which would appeal to a typical person and he would be able to appreciate them fully.
By doing these exercises, we were able to observe that how two different minds are acting as a single unit. Further Prof. Sangal took an initiative and we planned a method by which our group of only two persons slowly started growing. In which a few minds were working as a single unit towards the visualised goal of solving the Machine Translation problem. We named the group as Akshar Bharati.
Another strong point of Prof. Sangal is that he would take my day-dreams and work out a proper plan to turn it into a concrete product. The concrete product of this Machine Translation problem which we were working on, was later named as Anusaaraka.
Anusaaraka is an approach which is continuously growing and adopting itself according to the changing situation.
In the present situation, I feel that there is a fundamental need to change our education system in such a way that people learn to think. By “learning to think” I mean an ability to tackle new challenges which changing time keeps on posing.
Of course the above paragraph is an example of a jumbled idea and I need to discuss in our group with various participants so that it can be turned into a presentable idea and of course Prof. Sangal would be the right person to lead this activity.
Prof. Rajeev Sangal was Director when I was a research scholar in the department of CVEST. He is a simple, soft-spoken and down-to-earth person. He was empathetic to the students and was willing to listen to their problems. I have the highest regard for Prof.Rajeev Sangal.My prayers and wishes for his new journey.
A big thanks to you sir for your efforts, guidance and teachings.
I have immense pleasure to share my personal interaction and experience with Prof. Rajeev Sangal-Ji since my employment in IIIT-H from 2003. It was my first appearance before him seeking a Job opportunity to enter IIIT-H who tried my past experience to work with students as Care Taker and ensure a quality and healthy environment in hostels and Mess. Subsequently, I had many occasions to meet Prof Sangal along with my Warden Team, to discuss on Students Welfare in hostel living conditions, health and additional facilities of hostel n Mess infrastructure. I considered every meeting with him, was an education and learned from him how to address an issue, deal with people and create a friendly atmosphere between students, faculty and staff. He always believes in resolving issues or matters/ conflicts of serious nature with a concept of “Prevention is Better Than a Cure” and acts on a permanent solution to it. It is very difficult for any one to find anger on his face or tone, whatever situation it might be. He is a Cool Ice Berg with an usual smiling face and soft tone. He is an out-class in Memory and maintaining rapport with everyone including a person like me at staff level. His informal personal enquiry with us will be very heart-touching. It is indeed a Blessing and A Rare Privilege to work under Leadership of Professor Rajeev Sangal, and I Am One of Such Luckiest. I Wish Prof Sangal A Happy Retired Life. BLN (Retired Staff, IIIT-H Hostels n Student Affairs)
I got opportunity to interact with Prof. Rajeev Sangal on few occasions when duo team of Prof. Rajeev Sangal – Dr. Vineet Chaitanaya used to visit Sampoornanand University, Varanasi during 1991-1994.
Prof. Vidya Niwas Mishra, Vice Chancellor of the SSU was Chief Investigator of the two projects under the TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Languages) project of Department of Electronics, Government of India:
1. Development of Corpora of Sanskrit Texts
2. Exploring Information Processing Systems in Sanskrit,
IIT Kanpur was also entrusted with Machine Translation Project under the TDIL Scheme of DOE, Government of India.
I was working in TDIL Projects at SSU at that time.
Some more opportunities of interactions were at the periodical review meetings at the Department of Electronics, New Delhi where all the Institutions running projects under TDIL Scheme were required to demonstrate the work done and place the progress reports.
Hi All, I am a 2007 Batch IIIT-Hyderabad Alumni. Prof. Rajeev Sangal was my MS Thesis Advisor. He has played a very important role in shaping my life, both on professional and personal front. I cant thank him enough for teaching me the human values. On this occasion of “Celebrating Prof. Rajeev Sangal” I would like to thank and congratulate him for everything he has done for the numerous students and teachers world-wide.
When I was a PhD student in the HSS Department of IITK, I met Prof. Rajeev Sangal. Though from the computer science department, he frequently attended seminars in the HSS. I used to attend the inter-disciplinary sessions Prof. Sangal organized on linguistics, NLP, Sankrit grammar, I met Amba Kulkarni and Vineet Chaitanya during those meetings. As a student of philosophy, who used to learn LISP as a hobby, using his lecture notes, Prof. Sangal’s students used to be part of our regular tea/coffee chats. He inspired and impacted several people around him. I am happy to be one of them.
Prof Rajeev Sangal is a great teacher, researcher and above all a superb human being. I had the good fortune of working at LTRC, IIITH, while I was working for my PhD at OU. A part of my research was related to Genre-based text classification for Hindi. The support extended by Prof Rajeev Sangal in terms of interactions with him and his team members and using LTRC resources was unthinkable. Later, he was also instrumental in setting up the Induction Program for BTech students. We immediately implemented it at the College of Engineering, Osmania University, while I was serving as Principal and my students stood to benefit a lot. I wish to profusely thank Prof Rajeev Sangal for his contributions to the Computer Science community in particular and humanity at large. Also thanks to Dr Dipti, Dr Amba and Dr Vineeth Sir. May the Almighty bless Prof Rajeev Sangal and his family with the best now and always.
I feel always blessed when talk about Prof. Rajeev Sangal, during Student Induction Program (IITBHU) learnt the new dimensions of academia. The true interaction rather than conducting a class and prepare a student for nation. His contribution to Universal Human Values and NLP will always be saluted.
Thank you sir for teaching us “Education is Character”
Satya Prakash M
Prof. Rajeev Sangal is undoubtedly the father of Indian NLP, and truly is an inspiration to all the new generation NLP researchers like us. I salute for his patience, and express my deepest gratitude for all the hard works that he has put in for the advancement of Indian NLP. An academician of his stature can never retire, and we shall always remain blessed by his valuable guidance.
Prof Rajeev Sangal was teacher and mentor for my PhD at IIITH. He believes in simplicity and in research that helps solving real-time problems that common man faces. He believes in – talk less, work more. I still remember the first time he said my research paper was good – it was like receiving an Oscar of sorts. The way he suggests solutions to the most complex research queries is rare to find. There is a culture at IIITH that distinguishes it from the other elite academic institutions in this country and abroad – the spirit of humbleness, passion to learn, the vision of knowledge as purpose of life with human values as guiding principles; I believe strongly that Dr. Sangal’s active leadership as founding Director has helped all of us to imbibe these qualities for life.
Thank you for all of this sir!
We look forward to your blessings always!
A researcher like Prof. Rajeev Sangal will never retire but rather re-flourish with his students without the time and geographical boundaries. He was my teacher when I was doing my PH.D. under the supervision of Prof. B. Yegnanarayana. Whenever I remember my life in India I always miss Prof. Rajeev Sangal and Prof. B. Yegnanarayana. I benefited a lot from both fatherly researchers. It is my honor to hearty Congratulate Prof.Mr.Rajeev Sangal for his achievements and contributions. I wish him long life
Prof Rajeev Sangal was not my teacher directly but indirectly he is a Great Teacher to me, and a Great Mentor to all, Who popularised Global ethics and human values in academic Institutions bridging the students and faculty
I have many great people, truly great, not just in worldly sense, in my life and have a lot of respect for them.
In the Indian tradition we believe a human being is afflicted with three kinds of deep-seated desires 1)lokeshna (desire for name and fame) 2)vitteshna (desire for material possesions) 3) putrashna (desire for the progeny)
Most great people overcome vitteshna and putrneshna but very rarely are they able to overcome lokeshna. Rajiv bhai is one such person .
Before coming to IIIT, I know Prof. Sangal Sir as an author for the book, Programming in LISP which we have studied in college and I never forget the day 6th July 2002, first time I got opportunity to talk to Sir. On the first meet I inspired and learn how to talk with softness and clear with concept. When ever I got opportinuty to attend his lecture I never miss those. No doubt he is a great researcher, teacher and good person. The society and next generations will always remember his contribution towards NLP, Machine Translation and Human Values. I pray for Prof. Sangal sir and his family a good health. Thank you Sir and Ma’am for all the support you provided to me and Lipi.
I am very fortunate that Prof Rajeev Sangal was my mentor for DST Post Doc. At IIT(BHU). He is a profound scholar, teacher, and great human being. He is my Guru who has guided and inspired me on the professional and personal front.
He is pioneer of Indian NLP and value education. He is the source of inspiration and motivation for many. Legendary personalities like him never retire; they continue to impact and encourage people around them. I pray to God that I’ll always remain blessed by his valuable guidance.
I earned my Master of Technology degree in Computer Science and Engineering in February of 1988 from IIT Kanpur. While doing the Master’s program, I took courses on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Professor Rajeev Sangal taught some of the courses. He was an excellent teacher. I did my Master’s project with Professor Rajeev Sangal and Professor Harish Karnick. I thoroughly enjoyed the project. I loved that it was research oriented. In those days, coding in Lisp was exciting and fun!
In January of 1988, Microsoft Corporation recruited me from IIT Kanpur to architect, design, and develop mission-critical products such as the Windows operating system and
the Office suite of applications. I had completed the course work and was finalizing my Master’s thesis at that time. I earned my Master’s degree with distinction and relocated to work at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA.
I introduced AI technology at Microsoft. My team and I created popular features such as the Spell Checker, Grammar Checker, Thesaurus, AutoCorrect, AutoFormat, and
IntelliSense for prominent Microsoft products. After that, I invented the “Intelligent Filling Manager” to introduce workflow automation across various industries. This AI system allows organizations to elegantly manage data and efficiently perform multi-jurisdictional filings across the fifty states of the USA and Washington DC. The technology facilitates cooperation among an organization’s cross-functional teams and significantly enhances the efficiency of business operations. I pioneered the utilization of declarative markup
languages and developed AI frameworks for creating Graphical User Interface (GUI) applications. Microsoft developed Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), and Blend technologies. These technologies facilitate collaboration among domain experts, user experience designers, and software
developers.
I created a unique Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to perform complex transactions on the cloud by utilizing AI. I built award-winning SaaS applications such as CTAdvantage.com, hCue.com, LienSolutions.com, and MediRegs.com. I used the
Intelligent Filing Manager and Microsoft server-side technologies to build these SaaS
applications. My innovative work on AI and cloud computing enabled Microsoft to emerge as a global leader in the enterprise and consumer technology space.
During my professional career spanning over thirty-five years, Professor Rajeev Sangal,
Professor Harish Karnick, Professor Gautam Barua, and the other professors at IIT Kanpur have been a source of inspiration to me. I wish Professor Rajeev Sangal the very best in his future life.
Regards,
Krishna C. Mukherjee