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Scam centres operating out of the borders of Thailand are a good example of how people use technology for bad purposes, Royal Thai Consul General Racha Aribarg told students at VIT Chennai, urging them to join the fight against scamsters. “In Thailand, and I think even in India and other countries across the world, we have the problem of scams. Thailand is fighting against these scam centres. This is an example of how people use technology for bad purposes,” Mr. Aribarg said, delivering the inaugural address at TechnoVIT, the institution’s annual techno-management carnival. Mr. Aribarg said these scamsters had abducted Indians living in Thailand and forced them to work in the scam centres. The Consul General said that he expected students to use technology to help society in its fight against such misuse, because it was now part of an international agenda involving many countries. “Studying hard science and technology is not enough. You have to also study philosophy and ethics,” he urged the students. D. Prince Jayakumar, Executive Vice President, HCLTech, asked the students to find the purpose of what to do with a technology product and how to use it to better the life of a human being. He said the participants should use this platform to find collaborators for their ideas and form garage teams. G.V. Selvam, Vice President, VIT, said that after the U.S. announced new policies, students going for higher studies to that country has come down. “A survey says there is a drop of 44% of higher education admissions in the U.S.,” he added, stating that it was time for students to realise that studying in India and making in India was the way forward. T. Thyagarajan, Pro-Vice Chancellor, VIT Chennai, said that the 10th edition of TechnoVIT featured over 10,000 participants, including 3,300 from other colleges, covering 15 States in the country. Moreover, 20 students from Thailand, Poland, Australia, Philippines, Myanmar, Taiwan, and Uzbekistan were also participating. The prize pool was over ₹10 lakh. He said that the institution had invited headmasters of model schools from each district of Tamil Nadu to be part of the fest.
