Addressing the 12th Convocation of the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NITR) on Saturday, former Atomic Energy Commission of India Chairman Dr Srikumar Banerjee said the future of the country is in the hands of the youths.He said the meaning of education is not to earn money rather to use it for the betterment of the society. As of now, out of seven billion people in the world, six billion have the mobile phones. But till next one hundred years, it would a far dream for having two bottles of pure water per head.
Dr Banerjee expressed concern that while the population has been growing fast, at the same time the natural resources are reducing. That is why it is necessary for reuse of every material, and a green revolution is required for a bright future of the world.Presiding over the meeting, NITR Board of Governors Chairperson Vasantha Ramaswamy appreciated the efforts of the institution in development and the competency of its Director. She said, “We have to proceed with old glories with new technologies.
NITR Director Sunil Sarangi read out the annual report. A total of 1,190 degrees which included three DSc, 50 PhD, 39 MTech (Research), 456 MTech, 106 MSc, nine Integrated MSc, eight MA, 22 MBA and 497 BTech were awarded.Susnata Roy, Narapaneni Ragasudha, Ritusmita Mishra, Bithika Jena, Prakash Sarangia and Kumari Swarnima were the gold medal winners in Computer Science & Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, life Science, School of Management, Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry, respectively.
Honorary DSc degrees were conferred on Dr Bansidhar Panda, Padma Shri Dr Srikumar Banerjee and Padma Shri Prof Manindra Agrawal for their immense contributions to the fields of science and technology.