PM Modi inaugurates 'Param Pragya' AI-powered supercomputing facility, honours students at IIT Delhi's 57th Convocation

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi held its 57th Convocation Ceremony on Saturday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in attendance as the chief guest.

The Prime Minister presented the institute's most prestigious honours, including the President's Gold Medal, Director's Gold Medal, Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal, and Perfect Ten Gold Medals, to meritorious students graduating this year.

As part of the visit, PM Modi also inaugurated Param Pragya, an AI-powered high-performance supercomputing facility set up at IIT Delhi's Sonipat campus.


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Harish Salve, Chairperson of IIT Delhi's Board of Governors, and Institute Director Prof Rangan Banerjee felicitated PM Modi and Union Minister Prahlad Joshi at the ceremony.

Addressing the gathering, PM Modi said the day marked the beginning of a new journey for the country's talented youth, and that the graduating students were currently living through a truly memorable moment in their lives. He said being part of an occasion filled with such enthusiasm, zeal, dreams, and emotions, and visiting the IIT Delhi campus to share the experience with the students, was very special for him as well.

PM Modi said that just as the families of the graduating students were feeling proud that day, he too was proud of all of them. Congratulating the medal winners, he added that he would have liked to see a few more women among them as well.

He further said that the students were graduating from the institute at a time when the world was advancing rapidly and the global balance of power was shifting by the moment, and that the driving force behind this shift was the speed of technology.

He also added, "Unicorns, digital payments, and the fintech revolution have provided a platform for millions of the country's youth to do something significant."

PM Modi announces ₹1 lakh crore research push

He said, "Another major possibility lies before you all, and that new opportunity is in the field of research... The Prime Minister's Research Fellowship is providing our talented youth with opportunities to conduct research. A 'Research, Development, and Innovation Scheme' has been launched to enable the advancement of new ideas. The National Research Foundation has also been established to give fresh impetus to science and research in the country. Funding of up to Rs 1 lakh crore is being arranged for the research sector... Through the 'One Nation One Subscription' initiative, prestigious global research journals are now reaching even the smallest towns in the country at no additional cost."

Higher education enrolment up sharply since 2014

Speaking at the event, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi said more than 4.5 crore students are currently enrolled in higher education, up since 2014. He noted the number of universities has grown by nearly 70 per cent in this period, with over 650 new universities, 14,000 new colleges, and more than 4,000 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) established.

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Joshi also pointed to the expansion of premier technical and management institutions, with nine new IIMs, seven new IITs, and 13 new AIIMS set up during this time.

On gender representation in technical education, Joshi said women now account for nearly 44 per cent of enrolment in STEM disciplines, calling it one of the highest such proportions anywhere in the world.