Proud to be BITSian Road Runner Author Dilip D’Souza plans Pilgrimage to Pilani Rajasthan

Jan. 30, 2010 - PRLog -- Dilip D'Souza (born January 30, 1960) is a Mumbai-based writer and journalist. He writes about social and political causes, with a far-left perspective, as well as some travel and current affairs articles. The Sunday Observer, Rediff.com, Outlook and Mid-Day regularly feature his columns.

A column by him about two young engineers from Kerala who built a dam in rural Maharashtra and supplied electricity where there was none, provided the inspiration for a key segment of the 2004 movie Swades directed by Ashutosh Gowariker starring Shahrukh the King Khan.

Armed with a M.S. in Computer Science from Brown University USA, Dilip worked as a software engineer in United States from 1984 to 1992 and then returned to India to write full time. He still works as a free lance software consultant to support his writing. D'Souza has won several awards for his writing, including the Statesman Rural Reporting Award, the Times of India / Red Cross prize, the Outlook / Picador nonfiction prize (for which he was also, earlier, runner up), the Sanctuary Magazine prize and more.

His other roles include Member of the Managing Committee of Citizens for Peace (CfP) in Mumbai; Working with the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the Narmada Bachao Andolan and Ekta; Member of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD); Member of the India Progressive Action Group (IPAG) in Austin, Texas, that funded and worked closely with various rural development projects in India; Editorial board of the Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI) and the Foundation for Humanization; Invited speaker / panelist to the Austin conference of the Association for India's Development (AID) and witnessed first-hand their relief and rehabilitation work in Tamil Nadu after the tsunami in December 2004.

Two books authored by Dlip D’souza Branded by Law: Looking at India's Denotified Tribes (2001) and The Narmada Dammed: An Inquiry into the Politics of Development (2002) have been published by Penguin books.

Proud to be BITSian, Dilip D’souza was a student of Birla Institute of Technology and Science – BITS Pilani during 1976 – 1981 and obtained his B.E. (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree. He is a very active alumnus of the Institute and has come over several times to Pilani to address the students and inspire them. He has been the editor of the BITS Alumni magazine Sandpaper. D'Souza also maintains a blog "Death Ends Fun" where he has had some interesting debates with right-wing bloggers.

Dilip D’Souza’s latest book titled “Roadrunner: An Indian Quest in America” has been published by Harper Collins in December 2009. This book looks at United States of America through the eyes of an Indian focusing on how Americans see their country, their place in the world and how patriotism and idea of a nation resonate in the two countries. Dilip has been traveling extensively across the country launching his book and is all set to visit Pilani on February 5, 2010 to address the audience at his alma mater.

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About BITS Pilani: The Birla Institute of Technology and Science - BITS Pilani is a Deemed to be University established vide Sec.3 of the UGC Act, 1956 under notification No. F.12-23/63.U-2 of June 18, 1964. NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council reaccredited BITS with 3.71 CGPA out of 4 and awarded "A" grade "Very Good" status. It is indeed a matter of pride that for the year 2009, BITS Pilani has been ranked among the top ranking universities along with IITs in various Magazine surveys such as India Today, Outlook, LiveMint DataQuest etc. BITS offers degrees in various disciplines presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad campuses. BITS Pilani has done pioneering work in industry university collaborations in terms of Practice School and Work Integrated Learning Programmes. Alumni of the Institute who are Proud to be BITSians and ambassadors for Brand BITS Pilani are spread across all continents from Australia to America.