President Ram Nath Kovind attends Annual Convocation held at IIT Roorkee

-Degrees awarded to 2029 students this year-

Roorkee : Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) celebrated its 19th Annual Convocation on 4th October 2019. Hon’ble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji graced the occasion as the chief guest. Governor Smt. Baby Rani Maurya Ji, HRD Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ Ji, Chief Minister Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat Ji graced the occasion as guest of honor. Prof. A.K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee presided over the function.
A total of 2029 degrees were awarded this year.1018 were under graduate recipients, 702 were Post Graduate Recipients and 309 PhD degrees were handed out to students. The convocation began with the Degree Conferment Ceremony on 4th October at 10:30 am in the morning. Post which, The Undergraduate Degree Award Ceremony began at 2:30 pm and The Post Graduate Award Ceremony began at 6:30 pm in the evening.
Speaking about the convocation Prof. A. K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, “The presence of the Honorable President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind made our 19th Convocation memorable. His address inspired the graduating students as they step out of IIT Roorkee into the real world. I am sure his words will resonate with them at every stage in their life.”
Speaking on the convocation, HRD Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ Ji said:
“I congratulate each and every student getting their degrees today. You are going into the world today after getting your degree from one of the most prestigious Institutes. Your time to effectively & efficiently showcase your learnings from IIT Roorkee, starts today.
I am sure, you will through your technical & innovative prowess, contribute to our revolutionary schemes like Make in India, Start-up India, Stand-up India, will help achieve Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi’s dream of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshth Bharat’ and will also help establish India as a global super power. ”
Speaking on the convocation, Chief Minister Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat Ji said:
“There is happiness in our heart, when we stand here at the convocation of the prestigious IIT Roorkee, which is an identity & pride of Uttarakhand. This Institute is one of the biggest contributor to providing qualified engineers across the world. When we talk about the country’s prestigious colleges, IIT Roorkee has its own niche. I would like to congratulate all the girls & boys who are being awarded their degree here today.
In the Time magazine’s emerging economy universities ranking, IIT Roorkee has reached 35th rank and it is matter of pride for us. In today’s time of stress, it is important to remain physically & mentally Health. I would like to plead to everyone to imbibe the practice of Yoga promoted by Hon’ble PM Modi in our lives, so that we can fulfil his dream of ‘Swasthya Bharat’ & Fit India’. When you will graduate today from here, please think of how you will take your learning forward and how will you contribute back to engineering.”

Speaking on the convocation honorable President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji said: “I am honoured to be here at one of India’s oldest and pioneering Engineering Institute. For the graduating students, this occasion represents a major milestone. I congratulate you on this seminal occasion. You are leaving this historic campus for the excitement of a career in a world which is full of opportunities.”
He further added “Many of the alumni of IIT Roorkee have been nation builders in true sense. I believe that this Institute’s alumni can and should contribute to their alma mater. All of them have fortunate to have received world class education here. A huge part of the cost of their education has been borne by the taxpayers of the country. So, in whatever way you want, contributing back to the society and helping underprivileged people is your moral responsibility & duty. Your contribution will help improve our education system and your effort will be appreciated.”
The Honorable President not only lauded the university over its research projects and their achievements but also over their initiative of making the hostel timings the same for boys and girls. He said “Earlier I am told that different hostel timings applied to boys and girls, but recently these have been made same. This is allowing girl students to work in their departments, labs, libraries in the same manner as boy’s students. This is an example of giving girl students an equal opportunity to excel. I am sure this will positively impact the contributions of girl students and boost their self-confidence. Such steps will encourage girl students to take up scientific & technical education. Currently the proportion of girl student in our scientific & technical institute is lower than desirable. This is a concern for everybody. Not only for the Government but for the society as well. We have to take necessary steps to improve the enrolment of girl students in scientific & technical institutes of higher learning. When this happens our scientific achievement will become even wholesome and desirable.”
He also said “In the long term our success lies in developing a culture of enterprise and ideas. We must nurture innovation and creativity. And I am happy to note that IIT Roorkee is doing just that. The TIDES business incubator here supports Start-ups and early stage companies working on emerging technologies. Creative thinking on campus has been encouraged by doing away with hierarchy among academics and by giving students a representation in academic bodies and decision making.
Lastly he urged the students to come back and contribute to the university that gave them so much with these inspiring words “IIT Roorkee should engage the alumnus in the institute’s work and invite them for academic work. A lot of Alumni work in other Institute and corporate world. Even if they can spend limited time, they should come back to the Institute. Efforts should be made in this direction.”

Data on the Graduating Students is given below:

Given below is the list of medal winners:

This Year total 41 Gold medals were awarded to students of various courses for securing highest CGPA in their respective programmes and classes.  President Gold medal for securing highest CGPA amongst the graduating students was awarded to Mr Pulkit Singal of B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering for securing 9.908 CGPA. Pulkit also got four other awards. He also received a cash prize of Rs50,000/0 for his innovative B.Tech. Project which is started by one alumni of the Institute.  Out of 41 Gold medalists, 12 were girl students.

The Institute Bronze medalist Ms Tanvi Verma, a student of B.Tech. Engineering Physics, was another top performer of the graduating batch. She got a total five medals/ awards.  There were at least five girl students who got more than two awards in this convocation. This shows that girls are competing neck to neck with boys.  It also embodies the BharatkiLaxmi philosophy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This was the first time when IIT Roorkee gave out awards to Ph D scholars. A new award with the name of “Excellence in Doctoral Research” was started this year. Three Ph D scholars who got their doctorate degree in the convocation got this award. It is similar to Best PhD award given in many other institutes. Dr Pallavi Gupta, Centre for Nanotechnology, Dr. Dhiraj Raj, Department of Earthquake Engineering and Dr. Yogeshkumar Manibhai Makwana, Department of Electrical Engineering received this award. Each of them got Rs50,000/- cash prize.