Rourkela: Attending the 18th annual convocation of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela, President of India Ram Nath Kovind batted for a Universities' Social Responsibility at par with the prevailing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the country.
"A University must contribute to empowering the community around it. Happy to note that NIT Rourkela has adopted five villages under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan in which it is upgrading science laboratories and providing computer education to students in those villages. A poverty alleviation programme has also been running on the campus for the less privileged people of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput region of Odisha," he said.
The convocation was attended by the Governor of Odisha and Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan among others.
Reminiscing Odisha's scientific and technological heritage, Kovind invoked India's first President Dr Rajendra Prasad and said, "Here in Rourkela, Dr Rajendra Prasad had dedicated India's first blast furnace of a large steel plant. In 2002, it was given the status of NIT. I am pleased to know that it has students from 33 states and 17 diff countries enrolled in different disciplines of the institute."
In his advice to the graduating young minds, he further said, "Introspect, what kind of person you want to become. Never judge success in terms of material gains... Choose to do what gives you satisfaction and meaningfulness. Do what takes you closer to your aspirations. Do what makes your families proud of you. Plan for yourself a fruitful and productive path ahead."
As per reports, 7116 students have been enrolled in NIT Rourkela of which 1518 (21%) are girl students. Three Gold medalists out of the total seven are also girl students. "The enrollment of women in engineering and technical institutes is only 20%. Country needs more girls in science and technology. It will promote gender empowerment and break the glass ceiling in the field of science," Kovind said putting emphasis on women education.
The National Education Policy (NEP) also featured in his speech. "One of the objectives of the NEP 2020 is to make India a knowledge superpower in the 21st century and institutions like NIT Rourkela has to play a major role in achieving this national target."
"National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisions the Engineering education should move towards more holistic and multi-disciplinary education with increased emphasis on arts and humanities. I am happy to note that NIT Rourkela has already adopted this approach to a certain extent. I am sure it will take steps to implement other salient features of the NEP," he said.
Marking the occasion, the NIT provided Honorary Dr of Science degrees to Kumar Mangalam Birla for his outstanding contributions to industrial development and nation-building, to Dr Sitakanta Mohapatra for his outstanding contributions to Indian literature and Dr Pramod Kumar Mishra.
(Edited By Pradeep Singh)