Upgrade India’s index of excellence: Pal

Patna: Noted scientist and former director of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, Padma Shri Sankar Kumar Pal on Sunday called upon the students of National Institute of Technology Patna (NITP) to work hard and finish their task ahead of the deadline like Chinese people, and take up the responsibility of upgrading India’s index of excellence on par with China.
Addressing the 4th annual convocation of NITP at SK Memorial Hall, Pal said, “As per international rankings, academic institutions in India are certainly not in an enviable position; ours are even much behind compared to those in China with similar opportunities and limitations.So, you have a big responsibility to upgrade the country’s index of excellence.”
Altogether 564 students of 2013-14 session were presented medals and certificates. Out of 564, 415 were undergraduate, 145 postgraduate and the rest four were PhD.
Pal asked the students not to adopt shortcut formula and set a definite goal for life. “Set Delhi as your target, Kanpur will be on the way. If your target is Kanpur, you may not even reach Mughalsarai,” Pal said.
Speaking on ‘Big Data: Challenges and National Relevance’, Pal said big data analysis has high potential from the R&D perspective in both academia and industry. Bangalore has recently developed as a hub of data analytics in India.
Earlier, NITP director Prof Asok De highlighted the institute’s achievements in the past one year. He said during 2013-14, altogether 37 reputed companies visited the campus. They offered more than 200 jobs to the students. The average offers carried a package of Rs4.5 lakh per annum while the maximum remuneration was Rs10 lakh per annum.
Chairperson of NITP board of governors, Manas Bihari Verma, said the institute’s alumni were making significant contributions in all disciplines of engineering and technology at national and global level. NITP’s placement record was improving with each passing year. “Prof De and his team have brought qualitative change in every sphere of activities,” Verma said.