Union minister Pradhan urges youth to be entrepreneurs for creating jobs

Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday urged the youth to take up entrepreneurship to create livelihood for the people.

Addressing the students and staff during the 12th annual convocation of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Hamirpur virtually from New Delhi, the minister said an entrepreneur is also a job creator.

A total of 1,057 degree certificates were awarded during the convocation. The institute honoured the meritorious students for their academic achievements.

A student of BTech in Electrical Engineering, Charu Sehgal was awarded the Director Medal for her achievements as the best all-rounder student for 2021.

The institute conferred 36 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 11 bronze medals to meritorious students for their outstanding performance and distinguished achievements in various under-graduate and post-graduate programmes.

Pradhan congratulated the degree holders and applauded that NIT Hamirpur has done a good job on education, research, and development front.

He was happy to note that the New Education Policy (NEP) has been partially implemented as the institute has allowed multiple-entry and multiple-exit from the various programmes being offered as of date.

Six faculty members of NIT Hamirpur have been listed in the world's top two per cent scientists in their respective areas by the report released by Stanford University, the minister pointed out.

He also appreciated the contributions of the institute in Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. He said, "It is impressive to know that as the regional coordinating institute of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan programme, the institute is one of the 27 participating institutes across the state. It has adopted a number of villages to promote sustainable development, means of livelihood among the initiatives using local resources."

The minister stated that the Union government has been supporting the setting up of new startups, technology business incubators at several prominent intuitions in the country. The government has launched various schemes such as Start-up India and Skill India to promote entrepreneurship among the youth.

Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur congratulated all the medal and degree recipients for their commendable achievements. He said this institute was very close to my native place and, as such, has always been very close to my heart.

He said, "I have always wished and strived for the betterment of this institute. It is my pleasure to state that, today NIT Hamirpur is highly acclaimed and is one of the most prestigious institutions with a good reputation for excellence in quality teaching, research, consultancy, and education at under-graduate, post-graduate, and doctoral levels."

NIT is passionately involved in exploring the frontiers of technology & science and inculcating this commitment among all its students, Thakur said.

He said the central government has taken many initiatives like Start-up India, Skill India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Vocal for Local, Digital India, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat, etc. These initiatives are opening access to enter the world of innovation and entrepreneurship, he added.

Prof. Lalit Kumar Awasthi, Director of the institute, in his address said that we are here for this important event to share the pleasure of achievement of all young people.

He said the institute presently has around 4,000 students enrolled in various UG and PG programmes. The institute has a total of 261 sanctioned faculty positions out of which 162 are in place after the addition of 75 faculty members in the last three years.