BITS PILANI held its Convocation ceremony for the graduating students who have completed their First Degree, Higher Degree and Ph.D Programmes from BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus on Sunday, 30th July, 2023. The convocation ceremony was held in-person in main auditorium.

On this momentous occasion, 1461 students have received their degrees, out of which 1000 (205 Girls) were undergraduate degree, 380(105 Girls) postgraduate degree, and 81 (34 Girls) doctorate degree. This year’s ceremony was held live in the main auditorium while also being livestreamed online. The Academic procession was led by Col S Chakraborty (Retd), Registrar, BITS Pilani.

BITS PILANI felicitated three students of this campus for their exceptional academic performance throughout the four years. Mr Pratheek Ranjan Mitra, Mr. Kushagra Pipraiya, and Ms. Jasleen Kaur Bheora who have received the Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and Bronze Medal, respectively.

Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, MS Swaminathan Research foundation and Former Chief Scientist, WHO, was the Chief Guest of the ceremony. In her brief address, Dr Soumya urges the students that technology, including digital technology is a boon in health care if it is used rationally and ethically. Health data are highly sensitive personal data with identifiable information and require high standards to protect privacy, confidentiality and integrity. New technologies come with their own social, cultural, legal and ethical challenges and need a societal debate to arrive at a consensus on how best to use them, maximizing benefits and minimizing harm.

Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chancellor of BITS Pilani in his message to the outgoing students shared the four principles of pioneering leadership: First, Be curious. Second, Take the long view. Third, lead with your inner conviction and fourth and finally build your own band of co-travellers. He further reminded them that India is in a unique moment in its evolutionary curve as a nation. There may have never been a better time to be young and well qualified in a country that’s bursting with entrepreneurial energy. So, make this moment count. For your sake, for the sake of BITS, and for the sake of India.
Prof. V Ramgopal Rao, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani and Prof. Sudhir Kumar Barai, Director, BITS Pilani, Pilani campus presented their reports.

In his report, Prof. V Ramgopal Rao, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani, inspires the graduating students to remain a life -long learner. There is so much to learn so never lose that childlike curiosity and that inquisitiveness to learn. Keep pushing the boundaries. As Mahatma Gandhi once said “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” He further appeals the students to be creative in their thinking, otherwise Google will replace you. Since Google has become less creative, ChatGPT is on its way to replace Google. Next will be our turn. Creativity is all about “unlike” minds coming together. Get out of your comfort zone and try to interact with people who don’t share your disciplinary background, culture or attitudes.

While presenting a detailed campus report, Prof. Sudhir Kumar Barai, Director, BITS Pilani, Pilani campus highlighted the students’ and faculty achievements. He said that the graduating students have made an excellent choice to be a part of this distinguished institution, and today as you leave the gateway of your alma mater, do keep yourself aware that this institution has provided you not only the best education but an education that is the manifestation of perfection already in you – as said by Swami Vivekananda.

Covocation 2023 has also witnessed alumni awards accorded to BITSians across categories.

The 2023 BITS Ratna Award has been conferred on to Mr Rakesh Kapoor who is graduated from BITS Pilani in 1980 with Chemical Engineering degree and has been the Global CEO of Reckitt and Benckiser and Mr Rakesh Verma, graduated from BITS Pilani in 1995 with Mechanical Engineering Degree and he is the founder and Chairman of MapmyIndia . In the category of Academia and Research, DAA 2023 is awarded to Prof. M. Balakrishnan, Honorary Professor, CSE Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Prof. Kannan Rangaramanujam, Co-Director, Center for Nanomedicine Professor of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Prof. Rahul Telang, Trustees Professor of Information systems at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University and the Tepper School of Business and Prof. Suvrajeet Sen, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering in the category of Academia and Research. In the category of corporate leadership, Padma Shri Pratap Pawar, Chairman at Sakaal Media Group, Mr. Amur S Lakshminarayanan, CEO of Tata Communications, Mr. Rajiv Srivastava, Managing Director, Redington Ltd and Ms. Sarbani Bhatia, Sr. Vice President – IT, Dainik Jagran.

In the category of Entrepreneurship/ Public Life / Philanthropy, Mr. Cuckoo Kochar, Founder & President, DCR Phoenix Group, Ottawa, Canada, and Mr. Anil Singhal, Cofounder & CEO at NETSCOUT Systems for Entrepreneurship / Philanthropy. Mr. Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, Cofounder at Eruditus/Emeritus, Mr. Alagu Periyannan, Cofounder & Chief Technology Officer, Bluejeans by Verizon, and Mr. Preetish Nijhawan, Managing Partner at Cervin Ventures and Cofounder Akamai Technologies.

At the end, Prof. S.K Verma, Dean, Administration, BITS Pilani, Pilani campus proposed the Vote of Thanks.