Governor of Odisha addresses convocation of KIIT varsity
Governor of Odisha addressed the gathering at the 14th Convocation of KIIT University held on Saturday. He advised the students not to forget to smile, be kind and find peace in the laps of nature. He highly praised Achyuta Samanta who was instrumental in setting up KISS.
Total 5695 students of 2017–18 graduating batch KIIT University, received their degrees in the presence of Professor Ganeshi Lal, His Excellency the Governor of Odisha, Prof. (Dr.) Ernesto Kahan, Sr. Vice-President, World Academy of Arts & Culture (WAAC), U.S.A. & Fmr. Vice President, IPPNW (Nobel Peace Prize winner – 1985) and other dignitaries.77 students got Ph.D. degrees in various disciplines.
The University conferred Honorius Cause Degrees of D.Sc. upon Prof. (Dr.) Kahan and Prof. Dinabandhu Sahoo, Director, Institute of Bioresearches and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal, and D.Litt. upon The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Usha Kumari Prashar, CBE, PC, U.K.; Mr. Niklaus-Samuel Gugger, Hon’ble Member of Swiss Parliament, Switzerland; Prabhu Gaur Gopal Das, Life Coach, Monk & Spiritual Motivational Speaker; Shri Kabir Bedi, Renowned Indian Film Writer, Producer, Director and Actor; and Dr. Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
In his address, the Chief Speaker Prof. (Dr.) Kahan stated, “I have visited many places in the world, but never saw institutions like KIIT and KISS. Two institutions are indeed examples for the whole world”. Prof. Kahan, who is a well-known litterateur besides a physician, also read a poem he had written on conflict in Middle East and relevance of Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings.
Niklaus-Samuel Gugger, said Prof. Samanta’s work for the underprivileged children is the top level service to humanity. Calamities can be turned into opportunities and students can learn this lesson from the life story of Prof. Samanta, said Prabhu Gaur Gopal Das. “He has the combination of leadership with compassion and empathy. In his Acceptance speech Mr. Bedi expressed gratitude to KIIT, it founder, all the teachers of the world because “knowledge is the best gift a human being can receive”.
Advising the graduating students to explore entrepreneurship, Dr. Khan said that they are lucky to have an example like Prof. Samanta, who has become an icon of India. Accepting the Honoris Causa D.Sc. Degree, Prof. Dinabandhu Sahoo said, “This honor is very special to me as it comes from a top university of my home state”. Prof. Ved Prakash, Chancellor, KIIT Deemed to be University, Padma Shri Prof. (Dr.) Subrata Kumar Acharya, Pro-Chancellor, Dr. Hrushikesha Mohanty, Vice-Chancellor and Prof. Sasmita Samanta, Registrar also spoke at the convocation ceremony and expressed their best wishes to the graduate students.
Karan Khandelwal, MBBS, Pritam Samantaray, M.Tech. (CE&M) and Nirmal Pandey, B. Tech. (Civil) won Founder’s Gold Medals for their outstanding all round and academic performance. Similarly, 20 students were awarded Chancellor’s Gold Medal, while 21 students got Vice Chancellor’s Silver Medal. P.K. Bal Memorial Gold Medal, PPL Gold Medal and Nanibala Memorial Gold Medal were also given away on the occasion.
