Put others first, Union Minister tells tech grads at IIIT Sri City

Subhas Sarkar delivers address at 5th convocation of IIIT Sri City

Union Minister Subhas Sarkar being felicitated at the fifth Convocation of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-S) at Sri City on Saturday. M. Balasubramaniam, Chairman, IIIT Board of Governors and Director G. Kannabiran are in the picture. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar has advised the student community to work with the larger interests of the society in mind.

Delivering his address at the fifth convocation of Indian Institute of Information Technology Sri City (IIIT-S) here on Saturday, he quoted famed Telugu poet ‘Karuna Sri’ Jandhyala Papayya Sastry to drive home his point on selfless contribution to the society.

“All rivers flow for others only. Cow gives milk to others. Trees give flowers and fruits to others. What’s better in life than living for others,” the Minister read out the Telugu poem and later translated the same. He also suggested to them to practice compassion, i.e., believe in dignity, respect, equality and justice for everyone.

Appreciating the institute for having emerged as one of the top IIITs in the country, Mr. Sarkar noted its significant progress in IT education, R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship, besides societal engagement.

“Students have an opportunity to undertake a credit-earning project for building a socially relevant, technology-oriented solutions to problems in the villages adopted under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan,” he said, highlighting India’s capability in building a large Artificial Intelligence and robotics ecosystem when students evinced interest in exploring the field.

Expecting the incoming batch of students to touch 338 supported by 35 full-time faculty, M. Balasubramaniam, Chairman, Board of Governors of IIITS, said technology would never replace great teachers, but it could be transformational in the hands of great teachers.

Referring to the emergence of a ‘new generation of tech leaders’ during the pandemic, he recalled how companies had implemented digital strategies to navigate the pandemic and how their technology investments led to outperforming competition by four to five times over the last year.

IIITS Director G. Kannabiran presented the details of Gyan Circle Ventures, the achievements and best practices of the institution. Degrees were given away to 218 graduates on the occasion, including 208 from B.Tech, 5 each from MS and Ph.D. streams.