IIT Bhubaneswar Celebrates Independence Day with Patriotic Fervour amidst the pandemic

15th Aug 2021, Bhubaneswar: IIT Bhubaneswar celebrated the 75th Independence Day at its Campus by adhering to social distancing and other norms as per Govt. protocol amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Prof R.V. Raja Kumar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar hoisted the National Flag, offered floral tribute to the Father of the Nation, Bharat Mata and delivered his Independence Day address followed by national anthem, sung by everyone in a rhythmic chorum.

In his address, Prof R.V. Raja Kumar, addressed the gathering recalling the supreme sacrifices made by the martyrs and freedom fighters who fought for the freedom of the nation and paying homage to them. He reminded that, it is the responsibility of everyone to strengthen the spirit of freedom, carry on with nation-building, and help the nation to attain the right place it deserves. He reminded about the clarion call made by Shri Narendra Modiji, Hon'ble Prime Minister for making use of the Pandemic as an opportunity for the creation of “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat” and stated that the institute launched a number of initiatives in this direction. He further added that the pandemic posed many challenges to educational Institutes on all fronts across the globe. Despite the pandemic, IIT Bhubaneswar has been successful in making several innovations, come up with unique mechanisms for running its academics in an uncompromised manner including, devising a robust method of conducting conventional pen and paper exams online etc., and applied the same very successfully in carrying the performance evaluation of students. Apart from being successful in offering education in uncompromised standards, the Institute could protect its campsites extremely well and could vaccinate all. He complimented the faculty, and staff on their achievements. The Institute has brought all research scholars and Senior M.Tech students to the campus already after the second wave of Covid and within the next three days, the fresh, Senior M.Sc and final year Dual degree students will be arriving at the campus.

He also reiterated that the campus planning and infrastructure development are also being made at global standards and it is truly unique. The green campus developed at IIT Bhubaneswar over the last five years presents a very positive atmosphere with wellness ambiance. He reminded about the recent disasters occurred due to flash floods in Uttarakhand in Feb 2021 and massive landslides in Kinnaur, Himachal, a couple of days back and mentioned that our Educational Institutes must gear up and take studies on mitigation methods, suo-motto and contribute towards preventing the losses.

Keeping in view of the restrictions owing to the ongoing pandemic, there were no celebrations and March past taking into the consideration the safety of the campsites. The Security staff of the institute gave the Guard of Honour.

Others present on the occasion include Prof V.R. Pedireddi, Dean, Student Affairs, Dr. Pravas Ranjan Sahu, Dean Academic Affairs, Shri Debaraj Rath, Registrar, Dr Shantanu Pal, Warden, Dr. Srikant Gollapudi, EAA Co-coordinator, faculty members, staff and a large number of students. The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr Bankim Mondal, EAA Coordinator.