Address by Hon’ble Chairman, Board of Governors National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur

Chief Guest of the Convocation, Prof. Damodar Acharya, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education, Prof. G. Panda, Director, NIT Jamshedpur, My Colleagues on the Board of Governors, Members of the Senate, Degree Recipients, Students and Staff Members of the Institute, Distinguished Invitees to the Convocation, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I join the Director in extending a very warm welcome to all of you on behalf of the Board of Governors and on my own behalf to this ceremonial maiden Convocation of NIT, Jamshedpur.

National Institute of Technology, formerly known as Regional Engineering Colleges, were established in most of the States to provide Under Graduate and Post Graduate education in engineering in the country. Besides raising an army of technologists, the aim was to foster the spirit of national integration among the students since the allotment of fifty percent seats to the students from other states provided ample scope for it. These institutes were also intended to be prominent centers for research, both in basic and applied fields. I am glad to know that the last few years have been significant for NIT, Jamshedpur in various ways. The institute like several other leading Engineering colleges of the country has been included in the World Bank funded Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP). With the support of this project, the institute has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure development programme. It has achieved considerable success in its constant strivings to become one of the Centres of Excellence in the field of Technical Education in the country. I would like to mention two remarkable developments in this regard. The first is the introduction of the Ph.D. Programme in the institute from this year and the sharp increase in the number of papers presented and published by the faculty members in the recent times. The other laudable achievement has been near total placement of the final year students of the institute, although the placement year has yet to come to an end. In fact, the institute has become a favourite destination for the leading software and manufacturing companies. I hope the institute would make prudent use of the World Bank funds to develop Sate-of-the-Art facilities for UG and PG teaching and for R&D activities. It is also imperative that the course of curriculum be revised, restructured and reoriented from time to time in tune with the changing needs of the industry so that we can keep pace with the developed nations of the world.

In consonance with the traditions of Convocation, the degrees and medals will be awarded to the students in a short while from now. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the recipients of the various professional degrees of the institute. I would also like to remind them that the attainment of their degrees should not be deemed to be their final objective; in fact, journey of their life has just begun. I hope their training and education has inculcated in them such essential values and cherished qualities as compassion, honesty, dedication, team spirit and a sense of fair play. These qualities will enable them not only to become qualified and successful professionals but also better human beings.

As the maxim goes, “Learning never ends”. Completing your studies and acquiring a degree is not the cessation of learning for you. In your future professional life, you will have to keep yourselves acquainted with the latest developments taking place not only around you but in the whole world. That is the reason, a lot of emphasis is placed these days in colleges and universities on acquiring self-learning skills and maturing a life-long learning attitude. This attitude must be nurtured and you should try to enrich and update yourselves from time to time through new books, journals latest materials from internet, professional discussions with peers, superiors and subordinates or by participating in seminars, workshops, conferences and symposia, etc.

It is true that your getting a job for the first time, depends upon your technical competence, the standing of your alma mater and the ingenuity you exhibit at your campus interview. But as you proceed on the ladder of responsibilities, you will crucially need “Soft Skills” for your upward mobility and professional success. These Soft Skills include communication and presentation skills, inter-personal skills, organizational ability, negotiation skills, decision-making acumen and knowledge of the imponderables of business and government. If you want to excel in your professional career, you will be required to concentrate on and acquire these soft skills while continuing to retain your trouble-shooting abilities in your own technical field.

So far you have been mostly engaged in theoretical studies; in the near future you will be gaining experience of the practical and professional world and through them you will acquire engineering judgment and will then be accomplished in turning ideas into reality and in creating products and systems for the benefits of the common people. You have to keep in mind that in your professional activities, you might be impinging upon societal and global concerns. You need to be sensitive and alive to these concerns while you are carrying out your assignments. I am sure you will all endeavour to create conditions where engineering and technical activities also ensure protection of the environment. I also sincerely hope you will imbibe the spirit of sacrifice and dedication to devote yourselves to the task of reconstruction of the country and its economy and to realize the dream of a new India, transformed from a “developing” to a “developed” status.

You are graduating at a time when India’s technological image in the world is reassuring. The English speaking technical workforce in our county is the largest in the world. Indian companies are turning global and Indian brands are beginning to be admired all over the world. The world is coming to our doorsteps to avail the benefits of high quality health services, and R&D and manufacturing in engineering. This turnaround has been possible because of the praiseworthy work of thousands of our scientists and engineers. A conducive ambience for economic and technological development is now discernable everywhere. I hope all of you will prove equal to the task of making India an economically vibrant and technologically superior nation. I wish in your quest for excellence the following lines of Rabindra Nath Tagore might prove to be an inspiring motto;

“Where tireless striving stretches its arm towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, ……….. Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake”.

Now, it is my privilege to introduce to you the Chief Guest of our First Convocation, Prof. Damodar Acharya, the Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education. We feel honoured by the presence of Prof. Acharya, who has contributed enormously to the development of Technical Education in India. A wonderful personality who combines in him the excellent shades of both academics and administration, he was successful in increasing the revenue of Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy from Rs. 2 crores to Rs. 18 crores as Dean (SRIC), IIT Kharagpur. This is a tribute to his administrative and technological genius and speaks volumes about his outstanding abilities. I am sure my young friends receiving the degree and medals will look up to Prof. Acharya as a role model and will feel proud in emulating him.

Thank you all.