Fight corruption and injustice: Murthy

• Elect clean politicians above caste and religion - NR Narayana Murthy
• IIT-H second convocation held; 195 students graduated
• Focus on Nano technology: UB Desai

Mentor and CEO of Infosys, NR Narayana Murthy has called upon the youth to become patriotic Indians and ask themselves before every action whether that will make India a better place for future generation. Delivering the second convocation lecture at IIT-H, Hyderabad on Wednesday, he stressed the need to improve public governance in all respects. “How can we do it? The first duty is to vote for the best candidate irrespective of religion, caste and region and elect only merited candidates based solely on their performance. Democracy succeeds only if we create strong and enduring institutions of the state and effective watchdogs of the civil society” he outlined.

He also called upon the young graduates to participate in public movements that fight injustice, bigotry, nepotism and corruption. “This is your sacred duty, one that has to be discharged mandatorily if you want to be a patriotic Indian and if you want a better India” he averred. Narayana Murthy took out some salient features from a recent book of Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze which has given naked picture of India. “India is behind even the lowly ranked nations of South Asia in human development parameters like infant mortality, literacy, nutrition and basic healthcare. It is this India that needs your attention as patriotic Indian” he advised.

A total of 195 students were presented with degrees out of which 113 B Tech, 20 M Sc, and 59 M Tech students. For the first time after the inception of the IIT-H in 2008, three students viz E Harikrishna Reddy in Chemical Engineering and K Ramachandra Sekhar and Anesh Kumar Sharma in Electrical Engineering- were awarded PhD. Namrata Jampani, of B Tech Computer Science was awarded President’s Gold Medal for securing highest overall CGPA in her subjects. She also won a silver medal for the same feat.

Chandrima Ganguly and Pinakinarayan AP Swain have also received ‘Institute’s Gold Medals for highest overall CGPA in M Sc and M Tech. T Aditya Srinivas won the Institute’ Gold Medal for Excellence in Academics and Co-curricular Activities. A total of 12 students were awarded silver medals.

Earlier, presenting the annual report, the Director of IIT Hyderabad, Prof. UB Desai informed that Rs 1500 cr Japanese ODF (Overseas Development Fund) has got nod from CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs). “Besides developing infrastructure, our collaboration will focus on five cutting edge areas such as Next Generation Communication Technologies and Manufacturing, Nano Science and Nano Technology, Sustainable Development and Energy and Environment. With joint efforts, we are confident we will make international impact in these areas” he explained. BVR Mohan Reddy, chairman, Board of Governors, IIT-H also participated