Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually attends 8th Convocation of IIT Indore today. The Minister also inaugurated the five buildings of KendriyaVidyalaya, Computer and Information Technology Center, Central Workshop, Abhinandan Bhavan and Takshshila Lecture Hall Complex. The Chairman, Board of Governors, Professor Deepak B. Phatak presided over the ceremony and Chairman, Senate Prof. Neelesh Kumar Jain awarded the degrees.

While congratulating all the graduating students, the Minister said that the knowledge possessedshould beutilized for the betterment of the society. The real examination of the student starts when he uses theoretical knowledge in practical life.  Shri Pokriyal hoped that students will progress and spread their knowledge as a brand ambassador of the mission of knowledgeable India.

The Minister informed that IIT Indore is doing a good work in the field of research with 2740 research papers and 35 books and 175 chapters written by its teachers.  It has the highest citation index per faculty on second and third generation IIT institutions.  The institute has filed 61 patents and one of its patents has also been approved. He appreciated the efforts of IIT Indore to reduce the gap between the academy and the industry, and for a self-reliant India and innovation. The Minister expressed his happiness that the institute for securing 10th position in the NIRF rankings of the year 2020, 55th rank in Asian University Rankings -2020 and 64th rank in Young University Rankings by Times Higher Education.

The Minister congratulated IIT Indore for its new buildings (Kendriya Vidyalaya, Computer and Information Technology Center, Central Workshop, Abhinandan Bhavan and Taxila Lecture Hall Complex), innovative programs and convocation.   He assured that the Ministry of Education of India will stand with them for all possible support for such all-round development efforts.

Professor Deepak B. Phatak, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Indore said “I congratulate all the students who are graduating today and am sure that you reach newer grow heights and would like you to focus on the following things. Seeing the present pandemic of COVID 19, it is advised that we should have patience and maintain our composure and fight the pandemic. Knowledge is an ever evolving process. I urge you all to gain knowledge continuously not only in your subject but also on other subjects as well. From now onwards you will have new relation with Institute which is much more than being a student. You should remain connected to you Institute, and contribute to the growth of the Institute. Finally I would advise you all to think good, do good work and become a good human.”

A total of 412 degrees were awarded to students in various streams and courses at the convocation ceremony. Of the graduating students, 233were B.Tech, 58were M.Sc., 57were M.Tech.,6 MS (Research) and 58were Ph.D.The B.Tech students included the first batch of 34 & 31 BTech students graduating in Civil Engineering,and Metallurgy Engineering and Materials Science respectively. The M.Tech students included the first batch of 10 students each,with specialization in Mechanical Systems Design, and Metallurgy Engineering.58 M.Sc students include the first batch of 7 students in Astronomy. The first batch of 6 MS (Research) students in Computer Science and Engineeringalso graduated in this convocation. Amongst the PhD students, Mr. Anand Petare is the first staff member of the Institute to have completed his PhD under the Institute Staff category.

The President of India Gold Medal for the best academic performance among all the graduating UG students was awarded to Mr. Saptarshi Ghosh from Computer Science and Engineering. Arushi Jain of Computer Science and Engineering, Khushboo Ahuja of Electrical Engineering, Agam Gupta of Mechanical Engineering, Shalay Gupta of Civil Engineering and Ashutosh Gupta of Metallurgy Engineering & Materials Science were the recipients of the Institute Silver medals for the best academic performance among all the graduating UG students of a particular Discipline. Manish Badole of M.Tech and Anchal Saxena of M.Sc program also received the Institute Silver medals for the best academic performance among all the graduating PG students of a particular Discipline.  Ms. Srija Tewari received the ‘Buti Foundation Gold Medal’ for the best female student securing the highest CPI among all the graduating students of all the two years Masters’ Programs. Chaitanya Mehta received the award for the best B.Tech Project for “Design and Development of a Tree Climbing Quadruped Robot”. Whilst all the students would be joining the function through online mode, the award winners would be physically present to receive the degree and awards.

All the medalists received their medals from the Chief Guest whereas Best BTP award and the degrees will be given by the Director.

Some details of the newly inaugurated buildings are as follows:

1- Kendriya Vidyalaya

This 3-storeyed building has an area of 8,628 square meter and construction cost of Rs. 23.35 Cr.

2. Computer and Information Technology Center

This two storyed building has an area of 2,000 square meter and construction cost Rs. 4.90 Cr. It was constructed by M/s N.H. Brothers Mumbai. This building house such as high-end performance computing (HPC) facilitites, email, internet and academic servers, other computing servers, CCTV control center of the security, emergency operation room, communication room, DBM, Integrated Building Management Systems (IBMS), electrical panel, battery and UPS rooms, and offices of the staff members involved in providing computing and information technology and its enabled services.

3. Central Workshop

This was building has an area of 2,594 Sqm with construction cost of Rs. 8.02 Cr. The main portion of the building has fully functional Mechanical Engineering Workshop having Machining Section, Foundry Section, Welding Section, Forming Section, Plastic Parts Manufacturing Section, Carpentry Section, Fitting Section. The planning and execution of the entire Central Workshop was done by Prof. Neelesh Kumar Jain during 2011-12. Different machines available in the Central Workshop are used the students of different academic programs to manufacture and/or fabricate their apparatus, setup, equipment, etc. for their experimental research and projects. They are used to fabricate different accessories, equipment i.e. UV based disinfection, padel operated sanitizer dispenser, dustbins, key chains, etc.

4.Abhinandan Bhavan

This is ten-storeyed building having an area of 7,347 Sqm with an estimated cost ofRs. 46.96 Cr.It the tallest building of IIT Indore. The consultant for this building M/s Pithavadian and Partners, Chennai and it is constructed through Central Public Works Department (CPWD). This building will be used for offices of different sections of the administratations, offices of different Deans, Associate Deans, Joint/Deputy/Assistant Registrars, Office of the Registrar, Office of the Director and other Institute functionaries.  Following are the details of different administrative offices in this building:

5. Takshshila Lecture Hall Complex

The Lecture Hall Cluster consists of following three buildings with an area of 19,706 Sqm. Consultant for this building is M/s AKA Consultants India Pvt. Ltd. and it is being constructed through Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on the deposit basis for an estimated cost of Rs. 125.56 Cr.

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MC/AKJ/AK