Union Minister of Education  Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ addresses the 18th Convocation of NIT Silchar through the virtual platform as a chief guest.  Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam was the Guest of Honour on the occasion. Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman AICTE as the Special Guest;   Gautam N. Mehra, Chairman, Board of Governors, NIT Silchar and Distinguished alumnus  Sanjay Chaudhuri, Associate Director (Scientist G), DRDO were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion  Pokhriyal congratulated the passing out students and mentioned that the moment is one of the memorable moments in their life. He congratulated the NIT Silchar for achieving 46th rank in NIRF 2020 and mentioned about the upliftment of 5 positions from NIRF-2019. He expressed his happiness in learning that NIT Silchar has secured prominent positions in the global ranking platform like THE ranking and US News ranking. He congratulated the NIT Silchar for accomplishing such recognition and said to excel in all dimension to uplift the national education in the international forums. 

Minister has mentioned about the admired ancient Indian education system where scholars from across the globe travelled to our soil to learn in universities like Nalanda, Takshila, Vikramshila etc. He narrated that taken pride from our ancient education system and our visionary preparedness with our scholarly teachers and students, and value based education system India will place itself as the ‘Viswa Guru’. Pokhriyal highlighted the various aspects the New Education Policy-2020 that are going to path breaking and will help millions of students to grow and excel in all sectors of life. He mentioned under NEP-2020, the government is collaborating with top 100 universities/institutes globally for not only setting up their institutes but also collaborate in various dimensions. The Minister mentioned connecting TALENT with PATENT in order to enhance the patents which not only will drive the institute but will play a major role in the economic development of the country.

Pokhriyal said that the initiation of National Research Fund and National Technological Forum has been started under the leadership of the Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister and is about to change the research and development scenario of the nation to a better, inclusive and excellent environment. He mentioned that the three pillars of NEP-2020, Reform, Transform and Perform will bring revolution in the education system of the nation and has all the ability to uphold our education system in a global platform.  Pokhriyal also mentioned that the alumni need to be connected with the alma mater in order to create a sustainable future for the institute. He expressed his view to building an Alumni Task Force for the betterment of the institute in an inclusive manner.

 Pokhriyal recalled that  Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan announcement by the then Prime Minister  Lal Bahadur Shastri changed the nation into a  self-dependent nation in the agriculture sector. The addition of ‘Jai Vigyan’ to it by Former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,   made a significant change in the scientific research of the country and helped us to stand in the front line with other nuclear superpowers globally. In the same line, our present Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi added ‘Jai Anusandhan’ which is transforming the research and development growth of the nation to a greater height. He added that with the vision of the present government and implementation of NEP-2020 we are going to reclaim our glorious pride in education and research. Minister has also mentioned about the initiative of YUKTI 2.0 portal where all the eminent institute of the country share their innovative ideas and share technical know-hows for the betterment of the society. At the end, he mentioned about the various schemes of Government of India such as Make in India, Digital India, Startup India and said that these are framed to provide adequate support and cooperation to the young talented resource of the nation to build a new India that is self-reliant (ATMA NIRBHAR) and empowered with wisdom and knowledge.

In his convocation address, Sarbananda Sonowal congratulated the young graduating students. He expressed his happiness to see the recent achievements of the institute. He asked the students to stay focus on their goals and work hard to realise those. He reminded the importance of integrating physical wellness in all academic and research activities for achieving success. He mentioned to follow Swami Vivekananda in life in order to keep a suitable balance of mind and health for a successful life.  He also expressed that the Realization of the dream of the New India of the Prime Minister could be achieved by the collective effort of our students. He mentioned that it is the youth like the graduating students who have the ability to uphold the nation and build the envisioned India. He also mentioned about the immense potential and possibilities of NER and believed that it has the ability to create a great impact in creating a progressive India.

Prof. Sivaji Bandyopadhyay, Director NIT Silchar presented the Institute report highlighting all the activities during the reporting period. He congratulated all the graduating students and expressed that the batch of 2020 will be remembered in the history of time because of the possibilities and abilities they hold. He expressed his thankfulness to Education Minister for his gracious presence and told that with the help and support of the Ministry of Education, NIT Silchar will always thrive in fulfilling the vision of the government with its resources.

In 18th Convocation of the institute, the name of the various medal winners was announced. This year the institute Undergraduate Gold Medal is received by  Kshitij Mehrotra, a Mechanical Engineering graduate for achieving the highest CPI in the institute. The gold medal for best undergraduate students is received by  Jha Praksh, a Computer Science and Engineering student. The postgraduate gold medal is received by  Sujith T of Mechanical Engineering. This year, the Kalikrishna Mrinalini memorial Gold medal recipient is   Hladini Agnivesh from Electrical Engineering and Saswata Purakayastha Memorial Gold Medal recipient is   Ashis Ranjan of Electrical Engineering.   Kalyani Rajkumari a PhD degree recipient form Chemistry Dept. is awarded the Best Doctoral Degree Award. The name of the silver medal winners is also announced. The distinguished faculty award went to Professor Saurabh Chaudhury.   

A total of 881 students is awarded their degrees which includes 572 B. Tech. students in various engineering disciplines, 188 M. Tech. students, 30 M.Sc. students and 43 MBA students and 48 PhD students.