SILCHAR, May 17 � There has been a sea change in the global scenario in the last one decade and India is forging ahead with great determination to face those challenges banking on its socioeconomic and technological progress. This global change also demands that the students and the youth of the country should aspire to become entrepreneurs rather than chasing jobs in big companies, said Vishram Ramchandra Jamdar, chairman, Board of Governors, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur.
In his convocation address, Jamdar, who was the chief guest at the 13th convocation hosted by the National Institute of Technology Silchar, urged the graduating engineers to turn entrepreneurs which are as much a need for now as scientists and technocrats.
Congratulating the institute and the graduating students, Padma Bhushan awardee Prof Asis Datta, a distinguished emeritus scientist of National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi and guest of honour of the occasion, said that the present day education is under radical change in response to various factors like development, information technology and globalization and in the process, a new society has emerged where knowledge is the primary source instead of capital and labour.
Narrating the progress report of the institute, Prof NV Deshpande, director, NIT Silchar, said that since 2011, 24 projects out of the 48 major ones assigned, have been completed and an amount of Rs 1,282.5 lakh granted for the institute�s TEQIP-II has been utilized till March 31 this year. He informed that according to the NPIU, the performance of fund utilization of TEQIP-II project at NIT Silchar is the best in the country and it has been recognized as the top most TEQIP performance institute in the country.
Speaking about the ongoing projects, Prof Deshpande said that the institute is focusing on the construction of a 1,000-capacity boys� hostel and a new library building, besides completing the construction of the administrative building, food-joint and the auditorium and sports complex. He said the new auditorium has a capacity of 2,000 seats and promotes the green campus theme.
Soon after the convocation, the newly built auditorium and sports complex was inaugurated by Union Minister of State (HRD) Ram Shankar Katheria. Lauding the efforts of NIT Silchar, Katheria said that institutes of higher learning should try to impart value-based education which shall pave the way for nation�s development.
As many as 795 students, who have successfully completed their BTech, MTech, MSc, MBA and doctoral programmes, were conferred degrees. Also, gold and silver medals and endowment awards were bestowed upon the rank holders. Prantika Sarma of Electrical Engineering was declared the Institute Gold medallist for securing 9.71 CPI.
