Vision

Mission Statement

One of the strong foundations for the growth of a nation is a high quality and effective educational system to be combined with good governance. Only few of the deserving individuals get the opportunity to qualify for higher studies in premier Institutes in India.

• It is our collective desire to ensure deserving candidates are not deprived of higher education due to financial constraints.
• It is our collective effort to willingly give back to the Society / Institute which helped as stepping stone in nurturing our career growth.
• It is our common goal to make the group of IITM alumni benefitted by this Trust to stand out to exhibit this character and be responsible, accountable and outstanding in their endeavor.

Introduction to SSAN ANANYA EDUCATIONAL TRUST

Mr. S.Swaminathan, Alumnus of IIT (69 batch ME) is the Founder & Managing Trustee of this Trust.

SSAN ANANYA is a Trust made with a noble intention to help deserving students requiring financial help during their education in India’s premier institute of IITM and then make them to be a part of an unique brand of citizens who believes in the importance to uphold the essence of the pure desire and Vision of SSAN ANANYA Trust by helping other students in need and derive joy and satisfaction in the process.

The founder of the Trust himself was a scholarship holder in IITM and he believes that it is a Social responsibility of an individual to contribute back to the Society, and it ensures pure joy of contributing and nurturing, either in the form of monetary benefits / funds or mentorship or intellectual support.

On his personal side, he found a devoted partner, Sandhya, and have been blessed with a daughter Nithya, who is a Pediatric cardiologist practicing in MEMPHIS (married to Rajesh Ramachandran who is a gastroenterologist with Specialization in advanced endoscopy in MEMPHIS) son Anand, completed double masters in Aerospace engineering and Controls from Ann Arbor, Michigan and is presently employed in Tesla, Palo Alto, CA, USA.

In the year 2013, he initiated SSAN ANANYA Trust for supporting IITM students seeking financial support to fulfil their aspirations in life. He can be reached at swamissn2002@gmail.com. Mr. S. Swaminathan, Founder & Managing Trustee of “SSAN ANANYA EDUCATIONAL TRUST”. He along with his wife Mrs. Sandhya decided to initiate this Trust as a way to contribute and serve the Society.

His family members are…

About the SSAN Trust

Mr. S. Swaminathan has invested ₹ 50 million as corpus fund as a Non Resident Indian. He had already started the Trust and opened the Trust account with SBI, IITM. He expects a regular return on investment of about ₹3.5 to ₹4.0 millions per annum consistently for a long time to come from next year onwards. He believes that this can service about 20-25 B.Tech students for their complete study of 4 or 5 years, based on the present cost of living expenses and tuition fee structure. Starting from the academic year 2013-14, he wishes to select 5 students per year so that in total 20-25 students over 5 years period can be given scholar loan of ₹ 0.15 million per year per student for 4 years amounting to ₹ 0.6 million for 4 years per student. This figure was calculated by including the tuition fee, boarding, lodging, book cost etc and will allow the student to be self-sufficient. For dual degree students, IITM itself gives scholarship for their 5th year course and hence the SSAN Trust assistance will be limited to only 4 years for both single degree and dual degree candidates.

Selection of candidates will be based on the following criteria:

• Deserving candidates with good academic records;
• The candidates not entitled for any other scholarships / financial assistance;
• Family income less than ₹1.2 million per annum (subject to relaxation on special cases);
• Selection solely on merit;
• Some of the conditions could be waived off for wards of teaching faculties (presently in service or retired) of IITM, as a respect for this noble profession.

The candidates should realize that this Trust is started purely with a vision to make the Trust grow to ensure that no potential candidate is deprived of education in IITM due to financial reasons. This implies that the success of SSAN TRUST predominantly depends on such candidates voluntarily contributing back the principle amount within, say, 4 years (~ a reasonable ₹12,500 / month ) once they start earning. Trust does not intent to apply any interest charges on the candidates. This is the only way to nurture this good cause enabling future candidates to avail the benefits of the Trust. Any additional contribution for the cause will be appreciated and welcomed. The Trust has already selected two students and the first installment of loans has already been disbursed in September 2013.

With the intent to continually serve and contribute in the Society and to ensure sustained operations of the Trust, it is recognized that the Trust will be faced with the increased cost due to impact of inflation in due course of time and it is necessary to devise a suitable mechanism to counter this impact. For the sustained operations of the Trust, in addition to repayment of the principle amounts from the beneficiary students, injection of Third Party funds would also be required after say 4-5 years of operation. It needs to be understood that the repayment of the scholar loan by the beneficiary students after (4 or 5) to (8 or 9) years will partly compensate the impact of inflation and value of money and the third party funds will help to maintain the cash flow to the level to achieve the main objective of this Trust.

Candidates are welcome to provide periodic feedback through the donor’s e-mail contact, swamissn2002@gmail.com, so that this Trust becomes more effective instrument for the benefit of the aspiring IITians. The Trust account will be audited annually to meet statutory requirement and published in the web site.

Life time Trust Members are as follows:

• Sunderam Swaminathan: Founder & Managing Trustee
• Sandhya Swaminathan: Trustee
• Nithya Swaminathan: will be inducted later.
• Anand Swaminathan: will be inducted later.

Additional individuals who will be involved in selection of candidates are as follows:

• Dean- International &Alumni Relations- IITM
• Dean- Academic Courses- IITM
• Dean- Students- IITM
• President, IITMAA

The preliminary selection of candidates will be done by the three Deans of IITM and president, IITMAA. The final list will be released with the consultation of Managing Trustee.

Background of Founder & Managing Trustee of SSN ANANYA EDUCATIONAL TRUST

Mr. S.Swaminathan: He graduated from IITM’s 5 year course - B.Tech (Mechanical) 1964-69. Subsequently took up an engineering career instead of higher studies. The career experience exposed him to a diverse environment, including public and private sector companies, small and large organizations and various assignments both in India and abroad: all phases of Lump Sum Turn Key (LSTK) as well as Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies in multiple roles, namely, owner’s role, project management consultancy role, contractor’s role as well as manufacturer’s role. While he started his career in BHEL (Trichy), he moved onto Shriram Chemicals Limited (Kota), and thereafter to Engineers India Limited. Later on, he built a Rockwool plant in Hyderabad and then two polyethylene plants for Reliance Industries, Mumbai. For the past 17 years he has been handling various mega projects with a successful multinational EPC Company in UAE, whose business stretches from Malaysia to the USA.

Recently, he initiated SSAN ANANYA Trust for supporting IITM B.Tech students in need of financial support.

Procedure for Application

Application forms are available in the office of Dean-International & Alumni Relations-IITM.

Required documents are as follows:

• Filled application with all relevant details of the candidate and of the parents such as:
  • clean typed copies of application forms;
  • copies of PAN Cards;
  • 2 passport photos;
  • passport copies;
  • e-mail IDs and contact details;
  • SBI letter for opening of the account with account details;
  • copy of expense forecast given by IITM;
  • copies of all certificates& documents;
  • Any other document requested on case to case basis.
• Execution of Agreement in ₹100 non-judicial stamp paper (the soft copy of Agreement is in Dean-IA&R office).
• Deed of Ratification dully filled and signed.
• A letter from the recipient / Parents stating his / her intent to return the amount within 4 years from the candidate securing a job.
• Progress report and academic performance will be reviewed on periodic basis. Each beneficiary should ensure meeting basic minimum performance criteria (to be established later) to enable to continue the benefit of financial assistance of the Trust.
• At the time of graduation, beneficiaries will be required to provide contact information in a prescribed format, and their employment/ repayment status, career growth, achievements etc. will be tracked by Office of Alumni Affairs and all details will be posted in the web site As a member of this group each beneficiary will be provided with an unique Trust Identification number.
 

Fund Transfers

• All fund transfers from SSAN ANANYA TRUST will be made directly into SBI, IITM account of the candidate excepting possibly, for the first disbursement immediately on selection, which could be re-imbursement for the first semester in the form of SSAN Trust cheque.
• Scholar loan will typically be transferred twice a year, each at the start of the semester through online Bank transfer. It is imperative that the SBI Account number should be clearly mentioned and hence the necessity to give a copy of SBI account opening letter showing the account number along with the application.
• Repayment of the loan should be online and should be sent only to SSN ANANYA Trust account in SBI, IITM under intimation to the Trustee as well as the office of Dean (IA&R). No other beneficiary is allowed.
• Total account statement will be maintained and will be shared with the Trust beneficiaries and also on Trust web site.
• Once they have fully repaid their loans, beneficiaries will receive a special framed, laminated & mounted “THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THIS NOBLE CAUSE CERTIFICATE” signed by the Founder & Managing Trustee, Mr. Swaminathan, and the Director of IIT Madras with seal. This certificate will also be posted in the web site as a mark of acknowledgement and appreciation.
• The founder Trustee expects the beneficiary students should be truthful, honest, confident and responsible individual who will live up to and uplift the reputation of IITM and will associate with the Trust to achieve its objective to serve the Society.
• The founder Trustees wishes the beneficiary candidate great future and career.

 

Interview Transcript – By IITM student Jithin Sam Varghese with the Founder in Dec 2013 when he visited IITM

When I started studying in IITM 49 years back, I was one of those benefited by the MCM scholarship. Without the MCM, I would not be an IITian. It’s a sense of giving back to the Society which helped to form the strong root for career growth. In those days, there was no third party to help you including Banks. If you cannot manage to mobilize the required funds in-house in those days, you just cannot join the University. Please realize that these were the practical constraints in those days. Now the situation has improved a lot. With this background, I want the students who are studying in IITM now to know there is someone to help out. I felt this urge after coming a long way from then to now. This motivated me to endeavor to create a new brand of select students from IITM who can benefit from this and later, derive the joy of giving back to the Society which will be a win-win situation for both. One of the biggest returns on investment is via investing in education. The money spent in IITM is insignificant compared to the earning capacity in one’s life time, thereby making the so called “giving back to the Society” also an insignificant percentage of life time earnings. What is required is only to condition one’s mind to view in a broader perspective. One of the things I feel India still requires is enhanced focus on primary education to all citizens. Quality higher education at reputed Institutes would benefit the country at large.

a) Students at IIT Madras
My colleagues of very high caliber are something I treasure from IITM. It was difficult those days to find a group of people around you who were with such a high potential, highly motivated, very knowledgeable and capable. 5 years of my stay here passed quickly as we were fully involved in the whole learning process.

OAT movies are something I can remember with students coming out of daily academic pressures and having great fun on Saturdays.

I was in Godavari for 2 years, then Tapti for 2 years and the last year in Ganga. After visiting these hostels recently, I felt bad that these are not kept in good condition as it was kept in my days, probably due to lack of guidance to keep the environment clean and healthy. More efforts are required in this direction by occupants as well as by IITM management

b) Faculty at IITM
A German Professor for Turbo Machinery developed a set of questions for an exam. Answer for the 1st question was the input for the 2nd question and answer to the 2nd question was an additional input to the 3rd question and so on…... This gave us a flavor of what German education was all about- understanding of the basics, perfection and quality. Everyone can now guess- no one could reach the correct final answer! The professor subsequently agreed to conduct a special lecture in the week end to teach the process of solving those problems. Be rest assured, there were 120% attendance on that week end!!

c) Life after IITM:
After IIT Madras, it is certainly rough weather. You need a different skill to survive in the Industries. You should know that the life at IIT Madras is the best time of your life. Unless you get into a ‘slot’ where you are fully motivated, it is difficult to sustain.

To find that ‘slot’ you need to find what is that which drives you. Don’t think about your salary to start with! You need to think about your long term goal (aspiration) and develop a vision! Be rest assured, you will reach the goal if you work with passion towards the vision in mind, however difficult it could be. Move always towards the goal and you will always enjoy working with passion to achieve it.

For example, Dhirubahi Ambani had a vision to own a Refinery when he was just a clerk in a Petrol Station in Yemen and that helped him build his business empire including world class Refineries and Petrochemicals! This also helped him to stay focused.

I also recently met a young IIT and IIMC alumnus who scaled all tallest mountains in all 7 continents within 172 days creating a world record (Guinness world record). He also matched each peak with each day of the week. Mind you, he was not even a professional mountaineer to start with, but had a strong vision/goal, perseverance and sheer tenacity with passion to achieve something unique, which no Indian has achieved till date!!!

Please believe on the power of one’s VISION with matching PASSION to achieve it.

d) Message to Students who are receiving the scholarship:
This scholarship I wish to be given to 5 students every year and this will continue even after my life. This is my vision, as I am sure my children will continue this. This is coming completely out of my earnings so far. I wish to see these beneficiary students should also be unique brand of people, giving maximum value to uphold the essence of the vision of helping other students in need and get immense joy and satisfaction. Beyond a certain limit if you keep your earnings to yourself, you will be depriving yourself of the experience of the special joy of giving.

I have realized that we Indians in general lack the required level of self-confidence compared to many other nationalities. We have been conditioned in this way from childhood. Though we have knowledge, we lack the required level of self-confidence to get full advantage. I think education does not offer this aspect and students need to develop behavioral skills as part of personality development such as communication skills, body language, presentation, voice modulations etc.

e) Message to Alumni on giving:
It’s a voluntary process. SSAN ANANYA is only the beginning of a process and I need the right students to get into the trust to uphold the essence of the Vision. People have to give back whether it is by funds or mentorship or intellectual support! This is the institute which has helped you come up to where you are.

I Love IITM because this institute gave me the opportunity to come to where I am.

IIT Madras is a nice campus with a beautiful environment. Please enjoy your stay here!!

f) Plans for IIT Madras
SSAN ANANYA TRUST has just started. I want the younger generation benefiting to be active alumni with a special brand and not just IITians, but also with a pure vision in terms of something holistic.

The Country needs good governance and quality education. I aspire thatall of these students to be part of the change.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.0) Why was SSAN ANANYA TRUST started?
The founder of the SSAN ANANYA Trust believes that it is his responsibility and duty to contribute to the Institute and to the Society, which made him an engineer and successful in his career. In fact, he himself was a MCM scholarship holder during his student days. In those days, if your parents could not afford the expenses for your education, you just could not make it to any Institute, even if you genuinelydeserved and got selected and that is true for many candidates even today. Neither Bank loans nor any other means of financial assistance could be expected in those days. The founder had to work very hard not only to get into IIT, but also to get a high rank to get qualified for MCM scholarship. In fact, he got 2nd rank in Southern India and 71st rank in all India in All India IIT Entrance Examination.

He made his personal commitment to return back to the Institute. This gave birth to SSAN TRUST.

2.0) Why SSAN TRUST expects the beneficiary to return back the principle amount of the loan?
This is a good question.

To start with, the founder expects this Trust to service a large number of IITM students on a sustained basis for a long time to come. This is his VISION.

Consider the scenario, where, in the year 1964, a Trust was formed to help 25-30 students of IITM students, as SSAN TRUST is planning today. In those days, MCM scholarship was ₹1,000 per year per student. This was sufficient for tuition fee, boarding, lodging etc for a student per year. If the same fund is continued to service the students now, the number of beneficiary students would have reduced slowly and steady in the last few decades with the result, not even a single student can be supported with that fund even for a couple of months. This means that TRUST would have gone into extinction by its own due to inflation and on account of value of money.

Even if all beneficiary students return back the principle amount, the value of money after 8-9 years will be much lower than today and we need to collectively pump in more fund to keep the SSAN TRUST alive to meet the objective of the Trust. This is precisely the reason that all beneficiary students should return back the principle amount without fail and if possible, contribute more. Recipients need to recognize the objective and feel the need to keep the SSAN TRUST alive to perform its function, i.e. to help more aspiring students.

3.0) Why “SSAN” as the name of the TRUST?
This word is formed combining the first letter of all his family members to ensure the collective commitment of all members to this Trust to keep it alive eternally.

4.0) How do you plan to provide the fund to SSAN TRUST?
As explained earlier, the founder has transferred ₹ 50 million of NRE fund recently which will generate a return on investment of about ₹3.5 to 4.5 million per annum. This is sufficient for 25-30 students per annum. The fund is mobilized strictly from the personal sources of the founder Trust member and he is not expecting any inflow for another 4 to 5 years from any of the beneficiary students or any other contributor. The founder expects the beneficiary student to return back only to SSAN Trust account.

The success or failure depends mainly on the beneficiary students, present and future. The SSAN Trust requires the support of all beneficiary students undoubtedly to make this initiative a grand success.

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