Om Birla Celebrates 75 Years Of IIT Ecosystem At IIT-Delhi Event

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla addressed an event at IIT-Delhi on Saturday to celebrate 75 years of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) ecosystem, highlighting that solutions to global and national challenges are now emerging from these premier institutions.

The event, organized by Pan IIT Alumni India—an organization representing more than 500,000 IIT graduates—brought together a gathering of IIT alumni, academicians, and policymakers. During the gathering, Birla launched a new publication titled 'IIT: The Story of India's Most Prestigious Educational Ecosystem', authored by Prabhat Kumar, the chairman of Pan IIT Alumni India.

Speaking to the audience, Birla emphasized that the country's youth and their capacity for innovation have built world-class institutions. He noted that other nations now look to emulate the IIT model to set up similar institutions for research, science, innovation, and technology.

"We are proud that there is no institution in the world that can compete with our IITs' quality, innovation, and research," Birla said. He added that while other countries may be more developed, the hard work and thinking of India's youth are what build strong institutions.

The Speaker also observed a significant shift in the career paths of IIT graduates. While IITians were once primarily focused on the engineering sector, Birla stated that they are now working across diverse fields to address challenges facing farmers, the common man, and humanity at large. He specifically pointed to their contributions in addressing artificial intelligence (AI) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Competition in the world has increased. But even then, our IITs are doing the best work in dealing with challenges…not only the country’s challenges, but the challenges facing humanity in the present and the future," Birla said, noting that India is increasingly becoming the center of global solutions.