August 10, 2000

38th  CONVOCATION OF IIT BOMBAY

IIT Bombay held its 38th Convocation on Thursday, August 10, 2000. Shri Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NIIT Ltd., was the Chief Guest at the function and delivered the Convocation Address. "Creating extraordinary economic wealth with a long - term purpose sshould be the number one goal for each student passing put of the IIT's", said Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar. Alumni of IITs, who represent the cream of the country's engineering genius have started making waves in the Us not only in the field of software, but in diverse areas like management consultancy, financial services, telecom etc.", Mr. Pawar added. He advised the young graduates, "as you advance in age, your urge to make investments in society without a direct financial return is bound to increase, and then you would be paying back to nourish your roots".

Shri Pawar, reflecting on the present global scenario vis-à-vis the past also said that the major change that the world is witnessing is the transition from industry-based society to knowledge-based society, whereby increased importance is being placed on the human mind. The second major change, which has had its impact worldwide, is the rise of democracy where the major focus is again on the individual. Shri Pawar further added that this being an era of rampant capitalism and staunch materialism, we ought to focus on the positive aspects and make the most of it.

Prof. M. G. K. Menon, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Bombay, in his address cautioned the gathering that we often tend to forget real values in the mistaken pursuit of happiness only through materialistic approaches. "In our ethos, there are many words that relate to these values such as : "Satya" or truth - which is our national motto, as "Satyam eve jayate", and which is an essential requirement for scientific progress e.g., the need for scientific integrity, science being the search for truth; "Ahimsa" or non-violence, which is not purely the forbidding of killing, but goes much deeper, in that it implies absence of violence against anything in nature, and which is the dharma of modern ecology", Prof. Menon added.

The Director, Prof. Ashok Misra in his report mentioned that the total financial support received for more than 260 new as well as ongoing projects in the current year amounted to Rs. 14.56 crores. This includes the grant received for over 130 new projects initiated with a sanctioned outlay of 12.6 crores.

Prof. Misra said that it was a proud moment for us that based on our dedicated efforts and achievements, IIT Bombay had been rated as the top technical institute in the country by India Today this year. Our Institute had also been ranked third among the technological institutions in the Asia Pacific Region by Asia Week, being the highest ranked Technological Institute of India.

In his report Prof. Misra mentioned the progress of the Dual Degree Programme. New Programmes include the Master of Science by Research (M.S.) in all Engineering Disciplines and Interdisciplinary Areas and a 3 year Postgraduate Programme in Management for working professionals, and the new M. Tech. Programme in Aerospace Engineering with specialization in 'Systems Engineering'.

The Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology (KReSIT) has started a PG Diploma Programme, through Distance Learning Mode, the first of its kind in the Institute, designed for working professionals which is offered as a "module" through our continuing education programme.

A highlight this year was the establishment of an IT business Incubator at the IT School for helping entrepreneurs amongst the students or alumni, with start-up companies. A pilot incubator programme was initiated this year with assistance from Mr. Nandan Nilekani and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

Prof. Misra asserted that the bold decision taken by the Institute led to proactively increasing the student intake which has spurt to about 27% over the last 6 years. Prof. Misra revealed that so far IIT Bombay has awarded a total of 23,600 degrees.

Dr. Kasturirangan awarded Honorary Doctorate

Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization was conferred with a Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) for his outstanding contribution to the Indian Space Programme. In his response, Dr. Kasturirangan emphasised the need for closer links between universities, research laboratories and industries for commercialising and technology. "The advancement of globally competitive technology has become the order of the day", he said. He further added that the Indian remote sensing satellites were the best civilian satellite system in the world and their data was being used by different countries, including the U.S.A.

DEGREES AND AWARDS

At the 38^th convocation, 937 degrees were awarded which are as follows:

B.Tech:                                           315
M.Tech. (including 5 yr. M.Tech.) :     362
M.S. :                                                 1
M.Sc.:                                            102
M.Des.:                                            26
M.Phil.:                                              7
M.Mgmt.:                                         33
Ph.D.:                                              91
 
 

The newly introduced Institute Gold Medal was awarded to Mr. Manoj Malathi Prabhakaran of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Other Medals