CHENNAI: IIT-Madras pupil Dhananjay Balakrishnan, who acquired governor’s prize on the institute’s 61st convocation on Friday, spoke out towards the continuing ‘mass genocide’ in Palestine and stated there isn’t a finish in sight.
Dhananjay gained the prize for finest all-round proficiency in curricular and extracurricular actions in a twin diploma in mechanical engineering.
In his acceptance speech, Dhananjay stated, “I really feel like I might be doing myself, and every thing I consider in, an excellent injustice if I don’t use the stage I’m offered with to say one thing necessary. It is a name for motion. There’s a mass genocide occurring in Palestine. Individuals are dying in huge numbers, and there’s no finish in sight.”
He stated, “Why ought to we be bothered about this, you ask. As a result of STEM (science, expertise, engineering and math) as a area itself has traditionally been used to advance the ulterior motives of imperial powers, reminiscent of Israel.”
Speaking concerning the position of tech giants within the struggle, he stated, “As engineering college students, we work onerous to get top-level jobs at tech giants, which provide very profitable jobs with nice advantages. Nonetheless, these tech giants management numerous features of our lives immediately, as higher than anybody. Many of those prestigious corporations are additionally instantly and not directly implicated within the struggle towards Palestine, by offering the state of Israel with expertise—expertise used to kill.”
Dhananjay stated he additionally didn’t have all of the solutions.
“There are not any straightforward options, and I don’t have all of the solutions. However I do know this—as engineers graduating into the true world, it’s our job to pay attention to the implications of the work we do. And in addition, (it’s our job) to interrogate our personal place in these advanced programs of energy imbalances.”
“I hope that we will incorporate this consciousness extra into our day by day lives, making an attempt to grasp what we will do to liberate the oppressed, on traces of caste, class, creed, and gender. That is step one to place an finish to the unending cycle of struggling,” he added.
He urged his fellow college students to work to raise individuals out of distress.
“Isaac Newton stated that he stood on the shoulders of giants to take him the place he needed to go. I wish to say this – I’m right here, we’re right here by standing on the magnanimous shoulders of the nice Indian populace. We owe it to them to raise each single particular person out of their distress. Inaction is complicity. I hope you and I and all of us can take motion to make the fitting selections—nonetheless onerous they might be,” he stated.
On the convocation, 2,636 college students, together with 444 students, had been awarded levels.
Nobel laureate Brian Kobilka handed over prizes and medals within the convocation.
