CHENNAI: The onus of maintaining the momentum of India’s development for the next critical 25 years leading up to the 100th year of independence is on those graduating today, said Suman Bery, vice chairman of NITI Aayog, Government of India, while delivering the chief guest address at the 43rd annual convocation of Anna University at the university campus on Tuesday.
A total of 1,25,113 students, including 1,485 PhD scholars, graduated from the university during the convocation ceremony for the year 2022. Among the students, the majority of them (56,017) were from the Information and Communication department followed by 28,555 from the Mechanical Engineering department. Gold medalists and PhD graduates received their degrees from the governor and Chancellor of the University RN Ravi.
“Prime Minister Modi has defined the collective goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047 for all of us. Not only because of the splendid achievement of Chandrayaan-3, there are many reasons for believing that this is indeed India’s take-off moment. For the next 30 years, India will be home to the largest working-age population in the world,” said Suman Bery. He added that many multinational companies coming to India cite lateral thinking of the Indian mind as one of their main reasons.
Talking about leading NITI Aayog, he said as the vice chairman, he gets to see a different side of the political system at work which is what we call ‘Team India’. “What I want to reassure you is that don’t be dismayed about the political discourse in the newspapers which is part of the democracy. We are led by CMs who are dedicated and committed development practitioners. And that is why the success of India until now, and in the future, is the joint project of Centre and the states,” Bery said.
Speaking about the academic achievements of the university, Vice Chancellor R Velraj said that the university has provided skill-based education to three lakh students and 15,000 faculty members. Of the 5,200 drone pilots produced till now through various Remote Pilot Training Organisations across the country, more than 1,200 are from Anna University.
During the academic year 2022-23, about 275 companies have recruited 1,400 UG students and 378 PG students with a maximum salary package of Rs 40 lakh per annum. The average salary package was Rs 8.5 lakh per annum, he added. Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy, Higher Education Secretary A Karthik and other dignitaries were present.