Shaastra is the annual technical festival of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai, India. The Sanskrit word ‘Shaastra’ means science and the festival accordingly consists of various engineering, science and technology competitions, summits, lectures, video conferences, exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops

Shaastra – 2016 was held on 2nd to 5th January, 2016. With the tagline “The Spirit of Engineering” and with the underlying principle of “Do it yourself”, Shaastra – 2016 was a real technical show.

Events
Aerofest, B – Events, Coding, Design and Build, Electronics Fest, Quizzing, Involve, Research Events

It consists of various sciences and technology based competitions, a symposium, lectures, video conferences, exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops.

It has evolved into a technical festival which involves everyone, from budding engineers and entrepreneurs to future policy makers.

The underlying philosophy of Shaastra is to promote creative thinking and showcase technological creativity. Shaastra receives a footfall of over 30,000 from over 1000 colleges in India.

Shaastra 2016

• Pledge A Book 2.0:
The Pledge-A-Book campaign, jointly founded and supported by IIT students and Shaastra in 2014, reaches out to a large number of poor communities through new partnerships with NGOs, stores, transportation companies and book stores.
Pledge-A-Book has received support from eminent global leaders, sportsmen, and politicians.
The campaign is now active in Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore.

• Shaastra IITM Summer Fellowship:
Starting from Shaastra 2016, winners of specific events at Shaastra are awarded an opportunity to work as summer researcher interns at IIT Madras.

• The Makers Summit:
The Summit is a potpourri of events including lectures, a panel discussion, unique workshops and a product design challenge.
It is a unique opportunity to interact and learn from like-minded individuals and field experts.