There Should have been more: Modi pushes for greater female representation at IIT Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for greater participation of women in academic excellence while addressing IIT Delhi’s 57th convocation. He also honoured meritorious students, where over 3,000 graduates received degrees, and inaugurated the AI-powered Param Pragya supercomputing facility

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he wished girls were also there among the medallists and awardees at IIT Delhi’s convocation, emphasising the need for greater female participation in academic excellence. “Because you are not merely receiving a degree; you are leaving here with dreams of doing a lot for the country,” Modi said while addressing the graduating students at the 57th Convocation Ceremony of IIT Delhi.

Congratulating the students to whom he gave medals and awards for their achievements, he said, “It would have been even better if there had been one or two daughters. Sorry. Why just one or two? There should have been more of them.”

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Recognising outstanding academic excellence, 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.

The university conferred degrees on over 3,000 graduating students, including 587 PhD scholars, during the ceremony.

The Prime Minister also inaugurated Param Pragya, an AI-powered high-performance supercomputing facility established at the IIT Delhi’s Sonipat Campus. The state-of-the-art facility is expected to significantly enhance the institute’s capabilities in AI, data science, advanced computing and interdisciplinary research.