A step by step guide to progress

By Anjali Malhotra

NEW DELHI, AUG. 11. Military power and natural resources are no longer the determinants of progress in today's globalised world where knowledge gets precedence over all other factors. Driving home this point to 700-strong IIT students at the 32nd Convocation Ceremony of IIT Delhi, the Chief Executive Officer of Infosys, Mr. Narayan Murthy said, ``In today's world, natural resources or military strength do not determine the pace of a nation's progress. Education does.''

Sharing his thoughts with the new graduates, Mr. Murthy said ``education brings with it responsibility. It is responsibility of the educated to raise India to the ranks of the developed nations. We have political freedom but not economic prosperity - a vast majority still do not have freedom from hunger, disease and illiteracy. Political freedom without economic prosperity is meaningless''.

And economic prosperity in today's world, according to Mr. Murthy, can only be achieved through globalisation which offers innumerable opportunities. ``No nation desiring economic progress can isolate itself from the rest of the world.'' He also added that de-licencing of industries was a step in the right direction and stressed the introduction of the concept to the education sector as well.

Apart from the 1,179 students who received their degrees today, the eminent chemical engineer, Professor Man Mohan Sharma; the Executive Editor of the international journal ``Atmospheric Environment'', Dr. Hanwant B. Singh; the founder of the School of Convergence at International Management Institute, Mr Pradeep Gupta; and the Chairman of Hindustan Lever Limited, Mr. Manvinder Singh Banga, were also awarded for their contributions to the world of science and society at large. Prof. Sharma was conferred the degree of Doctor of Science while the others were presented the ``Distinguished Alumni Award''.

The batch of 2000-2001 dressed in traditional yellow robes, received their degrees from the IIT Director, Prof. R.S. Sirodhi. Scoring the highest marks, Ramandeep Singh Randhawa, won the ``President's Gold Medal'' this year. ``This gold medal is like a dream come true. It is a very happy moment for me,'' he said. His future plans include further studies in Stanford University at the Graduate School of Business, on completion of which he plans to become a professor.

Career plans of most of Ramandeep's classmates run on similar lines. Ankur Jain, who received a silver medal in Mechanical Engineering, has also applied in Stanford University after which, he plans to go into research.

However, the downswing in economy has affected the placement scene even in IIT. Admitting this, Ankur said, ``Most of my classmates have got good placements along with excellent salary packages, but towards the end of the season things did go wrong.'' Due to the slowdown in economy, certain students who had been selected by companies earlier during the placement season, received letters delaying their appointment. In fact, in certain extreme cases, students have received regret letters with companies withdrawing their appointment order.

Though Ankur refused to name these companies, he admitted that most of them had been ``software companies''.

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