Fellow members of TSI,

 I deem it a privilege to have the opportunity to address this communication to you. I thank you for the confidence reposed in me, in electing me as the President of our Society. I cannot but feel humble when I see the illustrious list of eminent personalities who have held this position in the past.

My formal induction into TSI took place in 1996 at the instance of my friend and former colleague Dr J. Bhatia. This happened after a decision was taken by the then Executive Committee under the leadership of Mr Sudhir Singhal, President of the Society, to hold the first international conference (ICIT 1997) at Kolakata to commemmorate the silver jubilee of the commencement of the Tribology movement in India. My employers, Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd, had, in pricnciple, agreed to conduct the conference on behalf of TSI. Since Dr Bhatia had taken on another assignment within our group and was based at Mumbai, he suggested that the responsibility for organising the conference be entrusted to me. I was thus nominated as the Organising Secretary of ICIT 97. It was baptism of fire.

Reflecting the multi-disciplinary character of Tribology, our society is quite unique as a professional body in the sense that it brings together people of diverse technical disciplines from every type of organisation- a variety of industrial organisations, research institutes, academic institutions, services sector etc. While we benefit from the diversity which also enriches the development of the science as such, it also poses a challenge to evolve activities of wide interest and progress the charter of the Society. We, the office bearers and other members of the new Executive Committee, propose to draw up a mission for the next two years along with a comprehensive action plan. We would share this with you shortly and with  the feedback, support and guidance of our predecessors, the regional chapters and all members,  we shall endeavour to implement the same. The mission would encompass increasing the membership of the society, activating and supporting the regional chapters, increased number of workshops & training programmes, TSI-academia interaction, setting up of a permanent secretariat, regular and frequent communication through Newsletter/Journal etc. We request and welcome suggestions from members in formulating the mission and action plans.

Yours sincerely,

V Narayan Sharma