17 Dec 2010|Noida | Amity University Campus, Sector-125 Noida
With the current growth rate, Per Capita Income of India will get doubled in 9 years,” avers Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia- Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission during the “Convocation” at Amity University
“The future economic prospects of India at the moment look very good but for this to continue and for the true potential of India to be realized it is extremely important that the scale of higher education should expand. In the Universities, at the moment, about 11% of each cohort goes through University education and this is roughly similar to China about ten years ago and China has managed, within ten years, to expand from 10% to 20%. We also want a similar expansion, which probably will take more than 10 years in our case by 2020 that at least 20% of our students of each cohort should end up getting some kind of higher education,” said Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia- Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, while addressing the graduants of Amity during “Convocation 2010” at Amity Campus , Sector- 125, Noida, where Dr. Ahluwalia was conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree of Philosophy (D. Phil).
Amity University has organized “Convocation 2010” for three consecutive days- December 16, 17 and 18, 2010 wherein successfully qualified graduants from 49 institutions of Amity University, Uttar Pradesh will receive their much awaited Degrees and Diplomas. Over 10, 000 UG and PG Degrees, Diplomas, Trophies and Medals will be conferred on graduants from several programmes during the three days.
Talking about the expansion of Universities through Public Private Participation in India, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, “Everybody knows how difficult it is to make or expand Universities and to do this in a ten year period is not a small task. We will have to seek very substantial expansion in the Public Sector Universities, which is being planned but in our view we will not achieve the end result unless there is a parallel, complementary expansion in Private Sector Universities -which also is the policy of the Government of India. Many states also are encouraging, trying to get private initiatives into Universities and clearly, Amity University is a living proof that it is possible to set up a good quality University to attract students and to give them superior education.”
Sharing economist perception of the nature of the rapid changes being witnessed by Indian economy at present and comparing the same with the state of economy in 1963 when he graduated, Dr. Ahluwalia remarked, “In 1963, the economy was growing at a rate of 3.5%per year and continued for the next 15-16 years. When an economy grows at 3.5% in terms of GDP and the population growth is over 2%, which it was at that time, the Per Capita Income in such an economy is actually growing at less than 1.5%. When Per Capital Income grows at 1.5%, it takes 45 years for Per Capita Income (PCI) to double. I think, the doubling of PCI is very important, it is much more important than doubling of total GDP, then only the economy will change. Change occurs when PCI changes, taste change, people demand different things, the structure of production changes, otherwise you don’t have an India that’s twice as rich, you just have an India that’s twice as large so you have two Indias that’s not very interesting. You are graduating at a time when the average growth rate of economy for the last ten years is 7.7%, that is more than twice what was happening in 1963 but more importantly, the underline growth potential of this economy is much more than 7.7%. And our current task in the Planning Commission is to see whether during the 12th Plan period, we can get to the GDP Growth rate of 9 or 10%. Even if manage to keep 9%, which actually we have achieved before, and the Population growth is now probably going to be less than 1.5%, PCI will grow at more than 7.5% or so. When PCI grows at 7.5 %, then it doubles in 9 years and if that were to continue, then it is easy to see that PCI will quadruple in 18 years and will increase 8 fold in 27 years. So, by the time you become senior people, you will run companies in a country which will be at least 8 times richer PCI then it is today. It is actually a huge change and you have to cope with this change much faster. The products and technologies that will be demanded probably cannot be imagined today and I really advise you to be better aware of the fact that world is changing much faster and as you move forward the skils you have learnt now will have to be changed dramatically, so keep updating your skils.”
The Vice Chancellor, Maj Gen K Jai Singh welcomed the august gathering, and presented a brief report of the University in which he touched upon the key achievements and initiatives that have been taken during the year 2009-2010 including new programmes launched in cutting edge technologies, breakthrough research work done by Scholars and Researchers, various research projects given to Amity by Department of Science and Technology and several ministries of Government, research paper presented by faculty members in National and International Conferences and Seminars and Rs. 7.40 crores worth of scholarships being given to the students during 2009-10
Conferring the degrees on the graduating students, Dr. Ashok. K. Chauhan - Founder President, Amity said that more than 95% of the men on earth live and die without any aim, mission or vision but Amitians are very fortunate because they know succinctly what is their mission and vision in lives. Motivating and inspiring the alumni, Dr. Chauhan said that Amity is a fraternity which unparallel in the entire world because of its dexterous students and their strong conviction and believe in human values. Dr. Chauhan averred that though the graduants might face problems in their lives but the virtues which have been imbibed in them while studying in Amity will stand them in good stead everywhere and anywhere.
During the Convocation, PhD degrees were awarded to seven scholars including Prof. Uttam Kr. Bagde (Doctor of Science), Ms. Manisha Sharma (Doctor of Philosophy), Ms. Gitanjali Chauhan (Doctor of Philosophy), Ms. Neeraj Srivastav (Doctor of Philosophy), Ms. Jyoti Pandey (Doctor of Philosophy), Ms. Swati Tripathi (Doctor of Philosophy) and Ms. Aparajita Das (Doctor of Philosophy)
A large number of awards and medals were given to the meritorious graduants for bringing laurels to the university through their work and for contributing to the cause of development of their respective Institutions. Over 6 All Round Student Awards, 31 Gold Medals, 32 Silver Medals and 25 Bronze Medals were awarded to the graduants.
Corporate Awards were presented to the best performers of the institutes including “EMC Technopreneurial Excellence Award” comprising of Rs. 25, 000 cash was given to Mr. Pratyush Agnihotri from B. Tech- Computer Science and Engineering.
Recipients of Gold medals included Mr. Manish Sharma- Bachelor of Technology (Mechanical and Automation Engineering), Ms. Shilpi Goel- Bachelor of Technology (Computer Science and Engineering), Mr. Saurabh Gupta-Bachelor of Technology (Electronics and Communication Engineering), Mr. Rahul Gopinath- Bachelor of Technology (Information Technology), Mr. Abhimanyu Markan- Bachelor of Science (Information Technology), Ms. Priyanka Tayal- Bachelor of Computer Applications, Mr. Sharad Krishnan-Master of Science (Network Technology and Management), Ms. Komal Sangtani- Bachelor of Science (Honours) Biotechnology, Mr. Naman Dev Garg - Bachelor of Architecture and others
On December 18, 2010, Justice Markandey Katju- Supreme Court of India will be conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree of Law by Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity at Sports Ground, Amity Campus, Noida.