West Bengal, India: As the country enters its 76th year of Independence, IIT Kharagpur also enters its 72nd year of foundation on 18th August 2022 which was adorned eminent personalities. Shri Amit Khare, Adviser to Prime Minister graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Dr. B N Gangadhar, President, NMC, MA&RB (Former Director of NIMHANS) & Mr. Ranjit Rath, an Alumnus of IIT Kharagpur & CMD, Oil India Limited also graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour. The invocation started by hoisting the national flag and institute flag at the main building. Conferment of Chair Professor Awards, Faculty Excellence Awards, Young Alumni Achievers Awards, Staff Excellence Awards Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award and the instituted employees who completed 25 years of service was felicitated.
The Young Alumni Achiever Award was given to 25 young alumni of IIT Kharagpur honouring excellence in innovations, technological developments, research, community welfare, leadership, entrepreneurship, social impact, nation building, national interest and professional accomplishments.
This year a team of 8 inventors from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has bagged the most prestigious Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award 2022 for their breakthrough technical innovation in Indigenous Development of Compact Alkaline Water Electrolyzer Technology for Simultaneous Production of High Purity Hydrogen and Oxygen from Laboratory to Industrial Scale. This award has been instituted jointly by IIT Kharagpur and Dr. Akhil Sahai, an alumnus of the institute and the husband of late Dr. Nina Saxena, to commemorate the spirit and memory of its illustrious alumna Dr. Nina Saxena, who personified technical excellence to encourage young minds for innovative research in the frontier technology.
A total of 10 Institute Chair Professor Awards, 25 Faculty Excellence Awards and 2 Technology Development & Deployment Excellence Awards were presented along with 27 Staff Excellence Awards. A total of 22 people were recognized for their uninterrupted 25 years of service to the Institution.
Shri Amit Khare, Advisor to Prime Minister & Former Secretary Higher Education, Ministry of Education addressed the 72nd Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur. He remarked, “The idea of the Gurukul that we had 1000 years ago is the same Gurukul with a modern outlook and new technology exists in IIT Kharagpur where you have all the faculty, staff, alumni and students working as a team to bring something new. We are in the Amrit kal and as Team India we have to work together and encourage institutions like IIT Kharagpur working in the direction of Prime Minister’s vision for the country. The journey of the institute is also interwoven with the journey of the country post-independence starting from the freedom struggle. The institute withstands at the Hijli Detention camp, facing many challenges and having many achievements including the Alumni from various backgrounds of Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Bhatnagar Awardees along with IAS officials to young technocrats to district magistrates to collectors to Superintendent of Police to Forest Officials to CEOs of top companies in the world. Quoting Prime Minister Modi’s five visions for making India a developed nation he said that overall development of the youth will be an important focus area with NEP 2020 which is designed to ensure that every child is able to achieve whatever potential he/she might have. The main pillars of the policy are enhancement of capacity compared to other developing countries. We have almost 100% enrolment at the school level and 27.5% enrolment in Higher Education but we should not be satisfied with these figures. We should not only go for the accessibility and numbers but the quality, accountability and regulation, working as a team on research & innovation. He identified seven major areas in the context NEP where IIT Kharagpur plays an important role.
- Quoting Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jay Anusandhan, in Innovation & Research – we are an IT Superpower but we need to be a superpower in Intellectual Property (IP) because knowledge is power. We cannot borrow technologies and indigenize it, we need institutions like Nalanda and Vikramshila. We have to be creator of that knowledge.
- Multidisciplinary approach is essential as knowledge is created at the intersection of different disciplines. New frontiers of knowledge with Biomedical research and interface between bio science and engineering along with devices that are used to detect large data so as to help formulate policies be it social sector or in the area of health welfare.
- Linking our past knowledge with the future as we are 100 years old civilization, we have past knowledge and can develop it & test it imperically with the help of institutions like IITs.
- Being a global citizen there are exchanges in the form of goods and migration of people.Only those societies and cultures develop who are connected to their ground, you cannot become rootless as no tree can survive without its roots.
- Social responsibilities are attached to every institutions. IIT Kharagpur can collaborate with local institutions and help them by providing local development and technical assistance.
- Bringing back internationalization in education having a peer group learning interaction in terms of faculty, students etc.
- Connecting with the Alumni not only for development but also mentoring students with what kind of research is good enough and other experiences should be shared. IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bombay has the best Alumni connections among other IITs.
- Connecting the institution on one hand and the society on the other. Inquisitive mind of the society is needed to be developed. Equal awareness among industry and society is required. The trinity of academia with industry and society is a must.
He concluded that I hope IIT Kharagpur improves its rankings and the institute should develop niche areas of specialization to excel and be among the top 10 universities in the world.
86 year old Saripalle Satyamurthy, an Alumnus from the second batch of IIT Kharagpur after its formation in 1951 inspired everybody with his presence and was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award 2020.
Prof Virendra K Tewari, director IIT Kharagpur remarked, “IIT Kharagpur supported the nation to excel the standards of globalization with domestic innovations, finest scientific research and affordable technologies that contribute for a Self-reliant India. The initiatives of IIT Kharagpur towards Indian Knowledge System and NEP 2020 shaped the higher education system and set its course for a new age of becoming the Vishwaguru and boost the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives. Seven niche areas comprising of Advanced Manufacturing Systems for Industry 4.0, Safety Engineering & Analytics, Quality and Reliability, Healthcare, Precision Agriculture & Food Nutrition, Smart Infrastructure and Advanced Transportation have been identified by the Institute that will drive its growth trajectory to become the top 10 universities in the world. Quoting Swami Vivekananda, he said – Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in a man. I would like to say that I urge you to take a pledge and start working towards this goal, with our collective efforts we shall bring glory to the nation and ourselves.”
