Patna, Dec. 13: National Institute of Technology-Patna celebrated excellence today.
To start with, it was a "golden moment" for 24-year-old Ashish Kumar Singh, a mechanical engineering student of National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Patna.
Not only was Ashish declared the stream topper, but also the overall topper in all seven undergraduate engineering streams. The announcement was made during the convocation of NIT-Patna today.
Bhagalpur resident Ashish, whose father Ajay Kumar Singh is a farmer, received a gold medal at the sixth annual convocation of NIT-Patna.
Ashish, who secured 9.75 cumulative grade points average (CGPA), has been placed with Bharat Petroleum with a package of Rs 11.5 lakh per annum.
"I come from a humble background where my parents always focused on education. It was my parent's thrust on studies that bore fruit in CBSE Class XII board examination. I topped the district (Bhagalpur) securing 95.4 per cent marks in 2011, and now I have been declared overall topper in undergraduate streams. Nothing can be happier than this," Ashish said.
Though he already has a job in Bharat Petroleum, his eyes are set on the civil service examination. "I aim to become a civil servant," he said.
If Ashish's core interest is to become a civil servant and serve the society directly, his senior Rohit Kothari who topped the branch as well as overall in postgraduate (MTech), desires to streamline his knowledge towards academics and research.
Rohit, who secured 9.68 CGPA, is pursuing PhD at IIT-Indore.
"I always wanted to join academics. After my BTech from Ujjain Engineering College, I joined NIT-Patna for the MTech," he said.
Rohit, who wants to engage in research in thermal engineering, said: "There is wide scope in the field of research in our countries, but many engineers after completing the BTech, take up jobs in multinational companies. This is sad."
Ashish and Rohit received gold medals from Governor Ram Nath Kovind. The governor asked the students to focus on research. The governor said the Centre and the state have initiated new schemes such as Make in India and Digital India where engineers can get good exposure.
NIT board of governors chairman Manish Sabharwal, too, stressed on research. He was appointed the chairman this year in January and attended the NIT convocation for the first time.
"Engineering is one such field that gives an opportunity to get maximum exposure. Techies should not confine themselves to jobs. They should try to become job providers. Students should not run after what others are doing. They should pursue what interests them," said Sabharwal.
