NIPER Guwahati awards degree to 140 students in 4th Convocation

Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.

In total, 135 are PG students and 5 Ph.D. students from the 2018-20 and 2019-21 batches received their degrees. S. Aparna, IAS, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceutical (DoP) attended the 4th Convocation as the Guest of Eminence while Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, Director CSIR-IICT joined virtually as the Guest of Honour. This has been the first convocation on the new campus. Dr. USN Murty, Director NIPER Guwahati virtually presented the gold medals to the toppers.

The students of batch 2018-20 who secured gold medals included Meka Soumya (Pharmacy Practice), Bishal Rajdev (Pharmacology and toxicology), Sudiptokr Paul (Biotechnology), Pannuru Supraja and Pr Hemanth Vikram (Pharmaceutical analysis), and Oli Katari (Pharmaceutics).

The students of the 2019-21 batch who have been awarded the gold medals are Aishwarya TS (Pharmacy Practice), M Navya (Biotechnology), Aparajita Ghosh (Pharmacology and toxicology), Purosottam Bhaskarrao (Pharmaceutics), and Vijay Shivaji (Pharmaceutical analysis).

During the ceremony, Dr USN Murty pointed out the recent achievements of NIPER Guwahati while addressing the attending guests and audience. He mentioned the various educational and research centers that have been established at NIPER Guwahati with sponsorships from various central ministries over the last couple of years. He also expressed happiness over the fact that among the graduates 60% are women as it highlights the progress of women in the pharmaceutical field also.

He lauded the efforts of its faculty members and staff as well as various stakeholders who ensured support and dedication which helped NIPER Guwahati to achieve 11th NIRF-2020 Ranking under Pharmacy category as declared by the Union Ministry of Education.

After the salutation, Chief Guest Mukhi addressed the students. While congratulating the students for graduating from the reputed institute, he also appreciated the vision and dedication of Dr. USN Murty, Director NIPER Guwahati which helped the institute to flourish more and more.

While addressing the students, Governor Mukhi said, " You are commencing your journey of translating your education for the benefit of the nation. May all of you flourish fully to make the country a better place for all of us. Lack of understanding of the differences and similarities between the theoretical doctrines of the systems of medication is a hurdle now. Traditional methods of medicines should also be explored."

He further added, "Knowledge of systems from different ethnic origins would bring about the interchange of knowledge and increase the understanding of different systems, and this can ultimately contribute to integration and advancement of herbal drug research when accompanied by collaborative work of researchers from different countries." "These futuristic goals can be accomplished when one gains insights about the systems, the principles and histories, and works upon the strengthening aspects common between the various traditional systems of medicine," Mukhi said.

S. Aparna, Secretary, Dept. of Pharmaceuticals who also shared her valuable thoughts with the students and esteemed faculty members, guests lauded the institution for providing help in handling COVID in the northeast region. She also urged students to explore natural resources to strengthen the drug discovery pipeline of the country to differentiate it from the rest of the world. Antiviral compounds are already found by NIPER. She also pointed out that central government has also came put with schemes that will ensure more job opportunities for the youths in the pharmaceutical field.

"You have today graduated from one of the finest NIPERs of the country and tomorrow you will become innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and pharmaceutical professionals. India is trying to reach its full potential in the still-developing medical device sector. The pharmaceutical industry should gain from the education that you got in NIPER", added S. Aparna.

Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, Director, CSIR-IICT, and Chairman of Board of Governors of NIPER Guwahati congratulated the students for their achievements and extended best wishes for their future.