IIT-Kharagpur: In a first, 2 students given President gold medal

For the first time, two students from IIT Kharagpur have been awarded President of India gold medals during its annual convocation. Prithwish Mukherjee and Soham Dan, both from the department of computer science and engineering, had the highest CGPA score of 9.75. Each year, the President of India Gold Medal is given to the student with the highest academic performance. “It was a tie. We have some rules for a tie-

breaker also but we thought that since both of them had worked equally hard both should get the award. It was a special gesture from the board of governors,” the Institute’s director P P Chakrabarti said. He said it was the first time they decided to give the award to two students. The medal was given yesterday, on the first day of the two-day convocation of the IIT. IIT Kharagpur was the first Indian Institute of Technology in the country. It was inaugurated on August 18, 1951 by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad. The Institute began functioning first at the Hijli Detention Camp, a prison house. The Institute started with 224 freshers and 42 teachers. As of now, IIT Kharagpur has 18 academic departments, five centres of excellence, 550  members of faculty, 1,700 employees about 9,000 students. The campus is spread over 2,100 acres and the township offers over 15,000 township.

The Institute admits students in various engineering fields every year through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). Recently, due a cut in government funding, IIT Kharagpur has launched a scheme where students can take a loan from the Institute for their education fee if they pledge to return the money to the institute in yearly installments when they start earning.

IIT-Kharagpur: In a first, 2 students given President gold medal