19th convocation of NIT Silchar: Students urged to contribute to build new India

Silchar, Nov 2: The 19th convocation of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Silchar was held in virtual mode on Tuesday at the institute premises. However, the medal winners were invited to receive their medals at the institute during the convocation.

A total of 609 B. Tech students, 268 M.Tech, M.Sc and MBA students and 68 PhD holders were conferred upon degrees on the occasion of maintaining COVID-19 protocols.

For securing the highest marks based on CGPI, Atul Shukla from the Department of Electrical Engineering was given the institute gold medal at the undergraduate level while Dheeraj Mehta and Archita Sarkar, Post Graduate students were given the institute gold medals. Rahul L Chetri from the Department of Electrical Engineering was given the Best All-round graduate medal and Dipyaman Mahanta was given the Best Doctoral Award. Dr Koushik Guha from the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering was given away the Best Faculty award at the convocation.

Delivering the convocation address, Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan who was the chief guest of the convocation said that implementation of the National Education Policy(NEP) in its entirety will ensure massive transformation in the education sector in the years to come. "The National Education Policy NEP 2020 is being implemented and I am happy to know that NIT Silchar is constantly upgrading its pedagogy and implementing the NEP through interdisciplinary research programmes. We must create a vibrant ecosystem where quality higher education and continuous research work can progress. Students of this great institute must think about the challenges and focus on synergising technology and knowledge to develop a model of inclusive information which reaches out to the society's holistic growth and contribute towards the new India as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Pradhan told the students.

Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, who graced the event as the guest of honour underscored the fact that the realisation of the dream of new India as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is possible through the committed and dedicated efforts of the students and congratulated the graduating students of the institute. Recollecting the life and works of Swami Vivekananda, Dr Sarma said, "Swamiji emphasized character building through education with the objective of man-making through assimilation of ideas and acquisition of skills for productive output. This thought of the great saint of India is more relevant even today students of the NIT Silchar are on the threshold of an important milestone of their engineering education. Assam and other North-Eastern states have a potential market in the Southeast Asian countries and to tap this potential requires the efforts of emerging entrepreneurs. I hope that NIT Silchar will play a pivotal role in realising the vision of the Government making Assam the expressway to the south East Asian countries."

Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor Government of India and Prof KK Agarwal, chairman of National Board of Accreditation(NBA) and Joint Secretary Department of Finance Service Government of India Sameer Shukla who was the distinguished alumnus of the convocation also delivered spirited addresses to the students. Silchar MP Dr Rajdeep Roy attended the convocation on the virtual mode.

While Prof Gautam N Mehra, chairman Board of Governors NIT Silchar declared the convocation open, Prof Sivaji Bandyopadhyay, the director of the institute narrated the journey of the NIT Silchar in various academic spheres and also its role in fighting against the COVID-19.