The convocation was a grand affair with conferring the President of India gold medal on Gagandeep Singh, a passout from the Computer Science and Engineering faculty, for securing the highest cumulative progress index, while Anushmita Kaushik received the director’s gold medal for being adjudged the best all-rounder.

Kalam said the mission of transforming India into a developed nation can be achieved by integrating action in five key sectors––agriculture and food processing, reliable and quality electric power, education and healthcare, information and communication technology and self-reliance in critical technologies.

Speaking on the occasion Kaushik, pursuing MBA from IIM-Bangalore, said: “Our experience at IIT-Patna was good. People here are co-operative. They came forward to help us whenever they got to know that we were IIT students. Though we didn’t get the chance to study on the new campus, the institute provided all the facilities that any good institution provides its students.”

At the end of her speech, Kaushik administered a Sanskrit oath to the graduates in which they vowed to apply the lessons they acquired at IIT towards the development of the nation.

Ajai Chowdhry, the new chairman of IIT-Patna and a founder member of HCL, said after getting engineering degrees, most techies join the software industry for earning more, buying car, booking a home and travelling abroad. “I am not against students joining such companies but the techies should look at their job content. They should pitch themselves to create and innovate in their jobs rather than just coding,” he added. The outgoing Director IIT Patna, Anil Kumar Bhowmick was also present.

IIT-Patna also honoured former IIT-Kharagpur director K L Chopra and former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India Anil Kakodkar for their contribution to the field of education and research. Former chairman of the board of governor of IIT Patna, G Madhavan Nair, was also present on the occasion.