As the country enters its 78th year of Independence, IIT Kharagpur also enters its 74th year of foundation on 18th August 2024 which was adorned by the eminent personalities. Shri Amitabh Kant, India’s G-20 Sherpa and Former CEO of NITI Aayog graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Dr. S P Somanath, Chairman ISRO; Dr. Samir V Kamat, Chairman, DRDO and Dr. Sonal Mansingh, Padma Vibhshan Awardee and Former MP, Rajya Sabha also graced the occasion as the Guests of Honour. The invocation started by hoisting the national flag and institute flag at the main building. Gitindra Saran Sanyal Faculty Excellence Awards; Young Alumni Achievers Awards, Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award; Staff Excellence Awards were conferred along with the institute employees who were felicitated upon completing 25 years of service.
Prof. Karabi Das, Dean Outreach welcomed all the dignitaries with her opening speech saying, “Today marks a significant milestone in our journey as we reflect on our rich history, celebrate our current achievements and envisioned our future filled with hope and innovation. It is my honour to see a diverse and distinguished group of people who have played a crucial role in shaping the trajectory of our institute. Our foundation day is not just a celebration of our history but a tribute of the collaborative spirit that propels IIT Kharagpur forward. When IIT Kharagpur was established in 18th August, 1951, it was found on the principles of excellence in education, ground breaking research, innovation and a strong commitment to societal impact. Today we have come a long way becoming global leaders in education and research which could not have been possible without the dedication of our faculty, brilliance of our students, ingenuity of our staffs and the continued encouragement and support of our Alumni. Today as we celebrate our Foundation, we also acknowledge the challenges that have defined our journey. Our institute’s strength lies in our abilities to adapt, innovate and lead with purpose, we are proud of the numerous contributions our communities have made in advancing technology and addressing the critical issues facing our world. The strong presence of all the dignitaries is the testament of all the strong network and collaboration that has helped us to grow. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our Alumni for their continued engagement and contributions which have been essential for our growth and development along with my deepest gratitude to each and every member of the IIT Kharagpur family, your unwavering support, dedication and spirit have made a profound difference. Once again, I welcome you all to our 74th Foundation Day and look forward to a memorable day and inspiring day of reflection, celebration and forward looking dialogue.”
Prof. Rabibrata Mukherjee, Dean of International Relations congratulated all the awardees and welcomed everybody to the 74th Foundation Day of the Institute. He remarked that people might be wondering why is there a Dean of International Relations in an Indian Institute of Technology to which I would like to say that Shri Amitabh Kant ji is the testimony that we are no longer satisfied with what we are doing in the country. India is now poised to become global leaders and definitely technology and science is one such domain. While we are thriving to become the very best in the country, we are also competing and collaborating with the best in the world where incidentally are alumni are spread all over, if you talk about any institution, any organization, our alumni are present there. Today the world has changed a lot, previously when people needed to find some information, some data, people used to look in the newspapers, Encyclopedia Britannica, today when you want to check something where do you go, you go to Google which is headed by an IIT Kharagpur Alumnus. So, that is the level of internationalization that the IIT system has produced and I take lot of pride in telling everyone that this is the place that has given India its best known international brand that is the IIT System. So I welcome all of you here and to the Alumni and Young Alumni Achievers who are visiting us, you were students for 4 years but you are Alumni and KGPians for life. Just the way your teachers and professors have helped shaping you and your career either by attending the lectures and staying away from them, please understand that now the institute needs your help. We need active support, feedback, orientation, suggestions from the Alumni so kindly help us. You grow, you shine and along with you your Alma Mater will also shine.”
Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur in her welcoming address said, “We are celebrating our 74th Foundation Day and we are entering the platinum jubilee celebration this year. As the institute of Eminence, IIT Kharagpur has successful glorious stories, which have revolutionized the scientific motivations. And if we look back, the first day the institute had started with 42 faculty members and 224 students and on today’s date we have around 17,000 student community and 800+ faculty members in this institute. If we see the different departments, centers and schools then we can find that around 58 such departments, schools and centers and the most recently added department is the AI department. Everybody nowadays is talking about AI and IIT Kharagpur has thought to start the Undergraduate B.Tech programme in AI and this year 51 students have joined this programme. If we see the magnitude and diversity of this particular institute, we can find that in this institute, we have several unique departments that start with ocean and naval architecture. It has new different centres of excellence like the Advance Manufacturing Technology, Advance Transportation, Safety and Reliability Engineering, Advance Manufacturing Engineering, Artificial Engineering, Precision Agriculture and Food Nutrition are few to name. Now the institute expands its horizons in the field of medical education. Many of you are aware that we have started the New Hospital which is called the Syama Prasad Mukherjee Institute of Medical Science and Research. None of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our faculty, staff, students and our Alumni. We owe our deepest gratitude to our current Member and future generations including our founding fathers who laid out the ground work of this institution, let us honour their legacy by upholding the values what IIT Kharagpur is today. In the recent address of our Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan ji, he emphasized a compelling vision of Indian Institute of Technologies. He highlighted that the need of IITs is not to just excel within the country but we have to go completely globally. IIT Kharagpur has already started and implemented the New Education Policy NEP 2020 and from this year we have given the flexibility of multiple entry and exists and double degree for the newly entered students of this institute. The major strength that lies with IIT Kharagpur is the globally recognized faculty members, students and the researchers as a result, in the Global QS Ranking, we are 222nd. In NIRF ranking also, we have improved a little bit which is not satisfactory, but we are working in that direction. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who have been a part of this remarkable journey, your passion, commitment and the vision have shaped IIT Kharagpur into what it is today. And together we will continue to drive its success into the future. Let us celebrate this day with pride, joy and renewed sense of purpose. Here is to many more years of excellence and innovations.”
Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur, remarked, “I welcome our Guests of Honours who are the two most important persons of India Dr. S P Somanath, Chairman, ISRO and Dr. Samir V Kamar, Chariman, DRDO along with Chief Guest Shri Amitabh Kant, India’s G-20 Sherpa & Former CEO of NITI Aayog. In addition to our long term association, Chairman DRDO has given us a 25 year DRDO project which is called the DRDO Industry Centre of Excellence. We are inculcating certain strategic and futuristic research in very important areas and I am sure that this project’s outcome will be utilized by DRDO, for the Deference requirement of the country. I would also like to thank our Guest of Honour Dr. Sonal Mansigh, Padma Vibhushan Awardee and Former MP, Rajya Sabha for taking out time and enchanting us with her mesmerizing performances. Our goal has been to be the top 10 universities in the world and we are rigorously working towards it. On the similar lines IIT started out with 224 students and now stands at 17000 students. Our own education research and consultancy with new infrastructure development have been aligned with the country’s growth and requirement. Being the first IIT and the indigenous IIT of the country, the IIT Kharagpur mothered the IIT system structure which was later followed by IIT Bombay and IIT Madras. IIT Kharagpur has the best AQI among all the other IITs, which is between 20-40 and the best atmosphere with beautiful and clean campus and I hope we also perform well in our sustainable initiatives. This is the first IIT to have implemented NEP 2020 in its letter and spirit and changed our course curriculum in 2020. We initiated that anybody who enters IIT Kharagpur should have atleast one course in AI. IIT Kharagpur has the largest number of faculty members working in AI as compared to other IITs and centrally funded universities, having a department in AI with 51 students. We already have an M.Tech in AI and now we are gearing up for having PhD in AI. We are the first IIT to have a Department of Education which was granted to us by the Ministry of Education to produce top quality students and teachers for schools. We are currently providing B.Sc & B.Ed in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Economics. There is a lot of flexibility in the current curriculum as well with students being allowed to pursue any other course they want apart from their parent domain. Having 59 departments, schools, centres and academies, we have branched out to Academy of Classical & Folk Arts where Dr. Sonal Mansingh, Padma Vibhushan accepted our invitation to guide us since last one year.”
Shri Amitabh Kant, India’s G-20 Sherpa and Chief Guest of the 72nd Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur remarked, “For the growing India, we need innovation of the highest order which would require India to become an Innovation hub. This in turn will require us to invest in applied research and market oriented innovation for which we need a huge build-up of Academia-Research-Industry Partnership. We also need to build innovation, infrastructure talent with prototyping and testing to transition from labs to markets. The mistakes we did in our initial years was to establish research Institutes outside which were independent bodies, but all future researches should be part of the academic institutions like the IIT Kharagpur. All CSIR/DSIR institutions should be linked to the academic institutions as all the innovations in the world happens from the academic institutions where professors and students work together, that is how Silicon Valley was created. Industry oriented skills has to come from institutions like IIT Kharagpur and further innovation and research must come IIT research base. High quality patents can lead to huge competitive advantage for India and make India a market leader because patents must lead to commercially viable innovation and all patents must lead to commercial innovation. We also have to enhance the scientific and public innovation. India is paying much more in Intellectual Property Royalties (IPR) than in returns. We have 24000 PhD graduates in India, the US produces 68000 doctoral graduated. According to the economic survey only 51.25% of the Indian graduates are deemed employable. So, we are responsible for whoever we produce from the academic institutions, must not only be employable but should be highly innovative and should be an innovator, disrupting society in a manner that has ever seen before. We need to create many more institutions like ISRO and DRDO which will ensure that our defence imports are brought to zero and we become the world’s leading exporter with space entrepreneurs. The government has taken several initiatives, it has pushed for innovation, a new mission on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, pushed for 76000 crore scheme for semi-conductors and 25000 crore scheme for green hydrogen; 1.93 lakh crores on production linked incentive manufacturing in India so that Make in India & Start-up India receives huge impetus. In a very short time we have become the 3rd best start-up ecosystem in the world. To become the 5 trillion dollar economy in the next 4-5 years, the challenge for India is to raise its per capita income which can come from intuitions like IIT Kharagpur. IIT Kharagpur was the founder of all IITs, it has been the father figure to all IITs. It has not only inspired million of engineers in India but also encouraged all other IITs to become the Centres of Excellence so the future of India is truly in the hands of Institutions like IIT Kharagpur. Its energy, its vitality, its dynamism will shape India in the years to come.”
A total of 09 Faculty Excellence Awards, along with 30 Staff Excellence Awards. Until last year, the staff members who have who have completed 25 years of service were recognized and presented with a wrist watch as a token of appreciation for their unwavering dedication towards the service of the institute. This year for the first time opinions were shared and discussed with the faculty and staff members to suggest something that will have a greater impact of belonginess than just being a souvenir. Therefore, it is decided that a silver medal along with a designer box carrying the IIT Kharagpur logo will be presented to the employees who have completed their distinguished services in the institute. In regard to this, a design competition was organized in the institute to select the design of the medal and the box. The first placed was given to Mr. Sanjeev Halder from the Department of Agricultural & Food Engineering; the second place was give to Dr. Prakash Sharma from Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law and the third place was given to Mr. Sunil Patra from Computer and Informatics Centre. A total of 74 employees were recognized for their uninterrupted 25 years of service to the Institution.
When the Guest of Honours became the Awardees
In an exciting and surprising change of events the 74th Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur was changed in to a quick set-up of Convocation Day for the Conferment of our Life Fellow Awards of 2023 to Dr. S P Somanath, Chairman ISRO and Dr. Smair V Kamat, Chairman, DRDO.
The Man, the Legend, the Achiever, Dr. Sreedhara Panicker Somanath is the Distinguished Scientist and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization. Under his chairmanship, ISRO carried out the third Indian lunar exploration mission named Chandrayaan-3, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole and the fourth country to demonstrate soft landing on the Moon. Dr. Somanath also served as the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. He is globally renowned for his contributions to launch vehicle design, particularly in the areas of launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design, structural dynamics, and pyrotechnics. Also served as a Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of Space Commission, he piloted the National Space Policy, draft Space Bill, facilitated IN-SPACe activation, engagement of ISRO with new space actors and leading the Indian Space Enterprise. He also played a crucial role in human rating of the LVM3 launch vehicle for the ambitious Gaganyaan mission for sending Indians to Space. Under his leadership, a new launch vehicle, TV-D1, was developed and successfully demonstrated the crew escape systems capability. An expert in the area of system engineering of Launch Vehicles, under his leadership seven PSLV missions, two GSLV missions and two GSLV-MkIII missions were accomplished successfully along with the successful demonstration of the Pad Abort Test (PAT). Awarded the Doctorate of Science (Honoris Causa) by SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, Dr. Somanath has been providing leadership in motivating young minds through innovative programs of outreach and spreading the awareness of the power of space technology on the lives of common people of this country.
After receiving the award Dr. S P Somanath, Chairman ISRO, said “Thank you so much for this opportunity and selecting me for the Life Fellow Award. I would like to tell you that I am totally 100% made in India product. Whatever I did was from the knowledge and skill I acquired from the Indian Space Research Organization. I would like to thank my alma mater and TKM College of Engineering, IISc Bangalore and others. I thank all my teachers and gurus in ISRO and these institutions. Our work has been in building certain capabilities in this organization in the last 38 years along with the years I was working. I am fortunate to work with great people, motivators, leaders, who made ISRO what it is today and had the opportunity to follow their footsteps today and do certain works that made all of us proud like the Chandrayaan 3. This gives us more courage and determination to work towards achieving greater goals in the future. Whatever you are doing, it is great as an institution and the ability to connect with you is very important for all of us in ISRO and other scientific organizations in the world and in this country. There is a great vision ahead for all of us in ISRO and I will like you to be a part of it as well, contributing in your capability in different domains. I would be more than happy to connect the faculty of IIT Kharagpur with the scientist in ISRO for greater goals that we have set for ourselves. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
A Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, Dr. Kamat stands on the pedestal of transformational leadership providing direction to several critical materials programmes in DRDO as the Secretary DDR&D and Chairman Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) such as development of high strength steels for naval ship hulls, development of high temperature titanium alloys and nickel base superalloy based components for aero engines, development of tungsten heavy alloys for kinetic energy penetrators, development of fused silica radomes for missile seekers, development of armor solutions for personnel as well as combat vehicles and stealth materials for airborne and naval applications. He has been conducting cutting-edge research and development on materials for various defense applications for the past three decades and has also spearheaded the development of naval systems such as advanced lightweight torpedo, anti-torpedo decoy systems, autonomous underwater vehicles, advanced hull mounted and towed array sonars for ships and fuel cells based air independent propulsion systems for submarines. Recipient of the Metallurgist of the Year Award from Ministry of Steel and Scientist of the Year Award from DRDO, Dr. Kamat is also responsible for setting-up state-of-the-art experimental facilities at DMRL such as Thin Film Lab, Small Length Scale Mechanical Testing Lab and Stress Corrosion Cracking test facility.
Dr. Samir V Kamat, Chairman, DRDO, “At the outset my greetings to you on your 74th Foundation Day. I am indeed humbled and honoured by this conferment of the Life Fellow Award. As you are aware, I am the Alumni of this institute and it is indeed special when you alma mater recognizes you. Whatever little I have achieved in my career is because of the strong foundation that I got in IIT Kharagpur. And let me say it is not only the knowledge I gained here but it is the life skills that I learnt here which has helped me in my career. So as Dr. Somanath said that when you work in organizations like ISRO and DRDO, it is not individuals who make the difference. It is a collective effort which goes in when you have to realize large systems and where I am standing today is because of all the collaborations and all the team work that several people contributed in achievements that we made. As Dr. Somanath said we are on the threshold of a transformation in the nation. The Prime Minister has given us a clarion call to become a developed country by 2047 and that we should become a technology leader. And this can only happen if academia, industry, R&D organizations work together, work in synergy and develop innovative technologies which are cutting edge, which are first in the world and I am sure, the way things are going forward in this country, this dream will be achieved even before 25 years are complete. So, thank the Director of IIT Kharagpur for granting me this Life Fellow Award, I will cherish this for the rest of my life.”
The Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award 2024 was awarded to Mr. Pankaj Kumar & Mr. Siddhant Aagrwal at IIT Guwahati for developing the technology of Floating Solar PV Technology. The Young Alumni Achiever Award was given to 32 young alumni of IIT Kharagpur honouring excellence in innovations, technological developments, research, community welfare, leadership, entrepreneurship, social impact, nation building, national interest and professional accomplishments.
The Alumni Endowed Chair Professorship Award – Prem Prakash Verma Faculty Award, was instituted by Mr. Sharad Verma distinguished alumni of IIT Kharagpur (1997/B Tech/CH/PH) in the year 2023. The award is given to support the State-of-the-art research in the domain of ‘Mechatronics’ from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering (ME), Electronics & Electrical Communication (E&ECE), Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), G.S Sanyal School of Telecommunication (GSSST) and Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship (RMSoEE). This year the award is given to Prof. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur for his outstanding contribution towards Teaching, Research and Institutional Development.
The G S Sanyal Faculty Excellence Award, instituted by the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Foundation (USA) since the year 2020, is awarded each year to a faculty member of the institute, based on his/her contributions to the students through student-related activities, such as social and cultural activities, technology, innovation and/or entrepreneurship. The purpose of the Award is to recognize a faculty member for going out of the way to help students in academics, social or other matters representing the best of legendary Prof. Gitindra Saran Sanyal. This year the award was bestowed upon Prof. Vikrant Racherla, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Dean Alumni Affairs, IIT Kharagpur talked about Gurudakshina, an aesthetic giveaway by the Alumni of IIT Kharagpur. Guru Dakshina for my Alma Mater will be received from the Alumni of the institute which will help in making IIT Kharagpur self-reliant over a period of time. The funds received through Guru Dakshina shall alleviate the challenge of collecting funds by the students for Spring Festival, Kshitij, Sports Fest and even for increasing and improving hall amenities. Total 34 Pledges of Gurudakshina has been received with the current batch of students. Dr. V Narayanan, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, ISRO; Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur; Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Dean Alumni Affairs and Commander V K Jaitly, Chairman, C_cube Consultants are the donors who have already contributed their part of Gurudakshina to IIT Kharagpur.
Dr. Sonal Mansigh, Padma Vibhushan Awardee & Former MP, Rajya Sabha in her address said,” I am very happy to know about the Gurudakshina scheme as India really believes in this Guru-Shisya Parampara in which I have also learnt. Science and Arts are like Ganga and Yamuna, they always have met with each other. All Rishis and Munis were scientists and the ashrams were then the laboratories where experiments went on for decades and sometime centuries and then we got the results. IIT Kharagpur is one such ashram in modern day India and I am sure it will continue to produce great minds and great names who will contribute to India and to the world proving “Vasudeva Kutumbakam.” With this, I would like to share a quicks thought that, this is not the season for flowers anyway but my most favorite sweet is honey. You cannot describe the taste of honey except to say or use as an Upama or analogy saying as sweet as honey and all the beloveds are called honey. We have to have bees to collect Amitra from varied flowers and convert them to honey but it is not of their own use, it is for the common good and this is exactly the message of Vidya and Knowledge which is not only for self-glorification but it is to be shared, spread around so that the common good is achieved and the global benefits are achieved. I am sure, that IIT Kharagpur is the “Bee-Hive” producing honey, so I wish you all great brilliant years ahead and wish IIT Kharagpur great future, delighted to be a part of it.
“The institute is also working towards all the 12 areas in G-20 declarations and have conducted several programmes aligned with its vision in various disciplines like AI, semiconductors, energy and environment, working on sustainability, quantum mission, rare earth metals etc. By 2030, we will be 30 trillion dollar economy where the role of IITs will play a major aspect for growth and development along with the role of MSMEs which employs around 10 crore people with 27% GDP in employability, education and services. We also have various Centres of Excellence in Advance Manufacturing Technologies and Industry 4.0 , the SAATHI (Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes) centre with students and experts participating in capacity building to create good products for a global market. We are also working on 6G and beyond with a centre of excellence funded by one of our Alumni. From the last 30 years we are also working on communications and radar. We have instituted the first school of management in an IIT system, the Vinod Gupta School of Management conceived by our Alumnus Vinod Gupta along with the Academy of Leadership started by one of our Alumnus Partha Ghosh, which was never heard of before in an IIT. These unique inclusions will take us to the top 10 in the world in the coming years. With these strong foundations and strong alumni network with the likes of Mr. Sundar Pichai who has said that very soon he would develop a strategic partnership with IIT Kharagpur as well. So, we are growing towards a performance based direction not only as an academic institute, we are also becoming the knowledge economy for India and for the world. I would like to congratulate all the winners of the Young Alumni Achievers Awards, the people who have completed 25 years of services in the institute, the faculty and the staff excellence awards,” added Prof. Tewari
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(L-R) Kavya Pichai, Daughter of Mr. Pichai; Mr. Regunatha Pichai, Father of Mr. Pichai; Mrs. Lakshmi Pichai, Mother of Mr. Pichai; Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur; Mrs. Anjali Pichai (Haryani), Alumnus & Wife of Mr. Pichai; Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur; Shri Sundar Pichai, Alumnus & CEO of Google; Shri Vinod Gupta, Alumnus & CEO and Chairman of infoGROUP; Shri Ranbir Gupta, Alumnus & President of Gupta Associates Inc., and Chairman of SIGMA7 and Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, Dean, Alumni Affairs, IIT Kharagpur.
Shri Sundar Pichai receiving the DSc Honoris Causa from Prof. V K Tewari
Mrs Anjali Pichai (Haryani) receives the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Prof. Rintu Banerjee
The Awardees with their family and friends
The speakers at the workshop extolled the role Maulana Azad played as the country’s first education minister. Chairman of the Central Advisory Board of Education, he had laid the much needed emphasis on adult education and literacy for a newly independent India where illiteracy was a scourge. He had pointed out that “We must not for a moment forget, it is a birthright of every individual to receive at least the basic education without which he cannot fully discharge his duties as a citizen.” His insistence that children should have free and compulsory education till the age of 14 is a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right.
The speakers not only appreciated Maulana Azad’s role as a national leader, but also his patriotic zeal. The assembled audience was reminded of the fact that he had founded the All India Council for Technical Education in 1945. He was instrumental in the founding of the first IIT at Kharagpur and the University Grants Commission, and led the development of the Indian Institute of Science and the Faculty of Technology at Delhi University. It was also under his leadership that the Central Institute of Education was set up in Delhi.
Asked why he thought it is important to observe a National Education Day, Prof. Tiwari answered, “It is necessary because we all know that education can transform a society like India’s. It has the potential to make or break an individual. It can transform personality and help as a catalyst to bring changes that are beneficial to society. Education is also necessary so that the youth can make informed choices to build their career. And a National Education Day is necessary to remind people of this potential. Decision-making can be improved with better education and information. Maulana Azad, who was instrumental in the setting up of the IITs, is a perfect example of all that education can achieve.”