IIT (ISM) students wear kurta-pyjamas at convocation

The students of Indian Institute of Technology-ISM (Dhanbad) today attended their convocation wearing kurta-pyjamas instead of colonial-era gowns.

Boys wore pale white or cream coloured kurta-pyjama, while girls wore offwhite sari.

Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines)- Dhanbad director Rajiv Shekhar and other officials were also dressed in kurta pyjamas and many students took the convocation pledge in Sanskrit.

This was the first convocation of the institute after it attained the IIT status on September 6, 2016.

The students previously used to wear the colonial-era gown for convocation. The change has been effected to promote the traditional Indian attire.

Around 750 students of PhD, M Tech, MBA, MTech, MSc were conferred awards and degrees at the convocation, Dean of Infrastructure J K Nayak said.

IIT-Kanpur students too had received their degree wearing traditional Indian dresses during their convocation last year.

Sunil Kumar Barnwal, principal secretary to Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, received his PhD degree wearing a cream-coloured kurta pyjama at the function.

Addressing the gathering, chief guest Ashutosh Sharma urged the students to take technologies from research lab to society to make an impact in the lives of ordinary citizens.

Sharma said there is a need to innovate for sustainable growth and societal well-being.

"The country has emerged as one of the world's largest economies, it needs to move away from being a net consumer of knowledge to a net producer of knowledge," he said.

Sharma said realising the importance of innovation and technology for development, the Union government has approved implementation of Prime Minister Research Fellow scheme for PhD students.

"The scheme would help tapping the pool for indigenous research in cutting-edge of science and technology domain. Research under the scheme will address national priorities," he said.