Students don traditional attire at IIT-B convocation

Ditching the ceremonial black robe and headgear, the students of IIT Bombay decided to go traditional with white kurta pyjama at their 57th convocation on Saturday.

The institute conferred an honorary doctoral degree to Infosys Co-Founder and Chairman Nandan Nilekani who is also an alumnus of IIT Bombay.

Recently, the University Grants Commission had asked the vice chancellors of all the universities to adopt "ceremonial robes made out of handloom fabrics which would not only give a sense of pride of being Indian but also be more comfortable in hot and humid weather".

The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' was the chief guest at the event. 

He said education is a 'weapon' which can transform the life of students, their families and society, and IITs have an important role to play in the goal of establishing India as the world leader in education within the next five years. 

The Minister added that culture should be joined with education so that the individual has an enduring and firm foundation for growth. He exhorted the students to "bring light where there is darkness anywhere in the world".

Later, the Minister awarded degrees to 2,603 students besides 385 PhDs, two joint PhDs of IIT-B/National University of Singapore and one Cotutelle PhD (Joint Supervision) agreement with the University du Quebec a Trois-Revieres in Canada.

Four students were presented gold medals for top performance. The 'President of India Medal' was conferred on Srivatsan Sridhar, the 'Institute Gold Medal' on Shashank V. Obla (2017-2018) and Reebhu Bhattacharyya (2018-2019), the 'Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal' to Dhruti Shah, besides other gold medals sponsored by donors.

Pokhriyal also congratulated IIT-Bombay for being ranked among the Top 200 in the QS World University ranking, and asked it to "aim higher" as it can contribute significantly to challenges of climate change and goals like increasing India's renewable energy capacities.

He also held a live interaction via National Knowledge Network with students of all 23 IITs in the country on the subject of 'Navbharat Ka Nirman, IITs Ke Saath', inaugurated Hostel No.18 at the campus and planted a sapling.

Addressing the audience, Nilekani said the five years he spent at IIT Bombay were a defining experience for him. He said he strongly believes in giving back to the society and in making sure that the next generation of students have better opportunities.

Speaking of his experience in building Infosys and later the Aadhaar project, he said that large-scale development problems can be addressed using technology. IANS