Honorable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee graced the first annual convocation ceremony of the first batch of Post Graduate Program in Management (PGPM), class of 2014-2016 of MDI Murshidabad, by his august presence as Chief Guest.
Among a host of other dignitaries also present were Hon’ble Union Cabinet Minister Ms. Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Governor of West Bengal, Mr. Keshari NathTripathi.
During his speech to the students, faculty and dignitaries, Hon’ble President expressed his satisfaction to have opened this institute as a representative of the area. “This campus was established in collaboration with MDI Gurgaon and I am happy that the campus has come up so well. As the Chairman has pointed out, exactly on this date 2 years back, I inaugurated the Post Graduate Program which is being pursued now”, he said. Incidentally, the foundation stone was laid at Murshidabad, by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the then Honorable Union Minister of Finance.
He addressed the passing out students in particular and told them that while they are entering the professional world – a vast competitive real life, they may not have the privilege of getting nurtured by the mentors of the institute any more but the education which they have received, the skills which has been instilled and the knowledge which they have acquired from the institute will guide them through the challenges they may face in their professional lives.
“We cannot attain our place in the international community, if we cannot build a knowledge society. Knowledge leads to technology, technology leads to power, and power leads to supremacy. It has to be acquired, cannot be gifted to us by anyone. Look forward, the world belongs to you. High salaries and comfortable life, you are sure to have, but also contribute to the nation’s development”, he said.
Hon’ble President expressed his deep concern about Indian institutes not finding place in international rankings and accreditations and the fact that no Noble laureates can be seen from India nowadays,whereas Indian Universities produced famous Noble laureates like Amartya Sen of Calcutta University, Hargobind Khorana from Punjab University and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar from Madras University, once upon a time. While Hon’ble President has taken up the issue of rankings and accreditations with the Vice Chancellors of various universities and heads of institutes, he said he wish to see an ambiance in India which encourage research, innovations and environment which encourage people to do something new.
Thanking everyone, President expressed emotionally, “A day will come when I will not be here, I am an old man, but surely MDI Murshidabad will find its rightful place amongst the higher educational institutions of the country”.
Chairman MDI Governing body Shri Malay Mukherjee assured that the Institute will remain committed to maintain an environment which shall help students imbibe human, cultural and ethical values.He also announced that their will be joint admission & placement for MDI Murshidabad and MDI Gurgaon.
Director Prof. Gurudas Gupta called upon the graduating students to utilize their knowledge to foster an inclusive and sustainable growth and mentioned that MDI M, since its inception is committed to achieving academic excellence and create global business leaders.
Among the other dignitaries present were, Hon’ble Minister, Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance Shri. Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Govt of India Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, MP Jangipur Shri. Abhijit Mukherjee,MP Baharampur Shri. Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary. Hon’ble Minister –in- charge Dept of State Food Processing and Horticulture Govt of West Bengal Shri. AbdurRazzakMollah, Hon’ble Minister of State Dept.of Labour Govt. of West Bengal, Shri.JakirHussain, Shri Md. Sorab, Former MLA, Jangipur.