LUCKNOW: President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday urged students of IIT, Kanpur to help the government use technology to maximise the reach of its people-centric initiatives. The President was addressing the 51st convocation of IIT-K, where he gave away degrees to over 1,500 students.
In his convocation speech, Kovind said: “Today’s India offers unprecedented hope and avenues... .Our fast-growing economy offers you huge scope. With your talent, your education and your IIT degree, each of you can be a gamechanger for India.”
He said the government has undertaken many initiatives to improve the quality of life of citizens, like the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation or AMRUT, the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna, Digital India, Make in India, Start-up India and the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
“Technology can be a force multiplier for all these programmes. As you build your careers, please attempt to contribute to such national missions,” he said.
Kovind also asked them to contribute towards re-imagining Kanpur as an industrial and commercial hub. Kanpur, he said, was central to the success of Centre’s ambitious Namami Gange programme to the clean up the Ganga.
“The city is also critical to the success of Namami Gange. This is a programme to not merely de-pollute the Ganga and conserve it from industrial effluents. It goes further. It seeks to rationalise the allocation and usage of the river’s waters as well as to develop the Ganga basin,” he said.