IIT-Delhi working on outreach programme for parliamentarians

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is working on an outreach programme for parliamentarians to enhance policy-making decisions, its director Rangan Banerjee said on Friday.

"We have a role in providing inputs to policy-makers so that policy can be based on an understanding of what is happening. The idea is to have groups of faculty members going to Parliament and speaking to MPs – be it on AI-ML, 5G or the air quality issue," he said at a press conference here.

"Essentially, discussions will be on what research says, and the modalities are being worked out. It will also help us to connect and know what our representatives are concerned about," Banerjee added. The 53rd convocation of the institute will be held Saturday.

Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee will be the chief guest. Degrees and diplomas will be awarded for the first time to students graduating in new programmes such as joint PhD (IIT Delhi and NYCU, Taiwan), joint PG Diploma in Visionary Leadership for Manufacturing (jointly with NITIE Mumbai), MS (R) in Sensors, Instrumentation, and Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering, MSc in Cognitive Science, and MSc in Economics.

Also read | IIT Delhi setting up campus in Abu Dhabi

The institute will also award the President's Gold Medal, Director's Gold Medal, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma (Former President of India) Gold Medal, Perfect Ten Gold Medal and the Institute Silver Medal to meritorious students. IIT Delhi will honour its 13 esteemed alumni with the coveted Alumni Awards 2022 -- Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA), Graduates of Last Decade (GOLD) Award and Distinguished Alumni Service Award (DASA) at the 53rd convocation.

"The institute has also initiated major infrastructural projects, including construction of new hostels and an academic block. The development of the Jhajjar complex is also underway where a healthcare hub is proposed to come up," Banerjee said. Regarding the proposal for setting up an IIT campus in Abu Dhabi, the director said the modalities were in the works.