Latest news with #IIT-Kgp
Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
Expert panel to interact with IIT-Kg students today
1 2 Kolkata: The external expert committee formed by IIT-Kharagpur to investigate the spate in suicide deaths on the campus will be arriving on Monday to interact with students. The expert committee, according to an internal IIT-Kgp student communication, "will be visiting our campus tomorrow and has expressed interest in directly engaging with students to gain deeper insights. They are specifically looking to interact with two groups: Students who have held or currently hold leadership roles, and students who are not currently in any official positions of responsibility." The interaction is scheduled to begin in the Senate Hall in IIT-Kgp at 9.30 am on Monday. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata A fourth-year mechanical engineering student, Ritam Mondal (21), was found hanging in his room at Rajendra Prasad Hall of Residence on Friday morning. This marks the fourth death in seven months and the fifth in a year that the premier institute has witnessed. The expert committee comprising psychologists, legal and police professionals, counsellors, educationists and alumni was formed after mother and brother of Aniket Walkar, the IIT fourth-year ocean engineering and naval architecture student who was found hanging in his room at J C Bose Hostel on April 20, had written to the IIT acting director Amit Patra, seeking an independent probe into the circumstances leading to his death and also urged authorities to find the reasons behind the large number of suicides at IIT-Kharagpur. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo IIT-Kharagpur's decision to form an independent experts' panel gains significance following the Supreme Court's March 24 directive to set up a National Task Force to examine the rising number of suicides at education institutes. A senior official said, "The director wanted the expert committee to interact with the students and identify the key challenges and recommend measures to bolster the mental health eco-system of the campus." In a press statement on May 10, the institute said that the committee will identify the key challenges such as inadequate resources, administrative shortfalls, academic environment and other factors that hinder the resolution of mental health issues in the campus and will recommend measures in addition to the existing ones to strengthen it. Bracing back-to-back suicides on the campus, the institute has already taken several measures. TOI has reported that IIT-Kharagpur authorities have decided to set up a student-led task force at the wing level of every hostel. This initiative aims to ensure that students themselves remain vigilant about their peers and can report any noticeable behavioural changes to the hall council and hall management committee for prompt action. The institute is scheduled to roll out a holistic intervention program combining cutting-edge Technology, super-specialized expert support, highly personalized interaction for the well-being of all students, with a mission of ensuring that such an incident never occurs again.
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
IIT-Kgp gets full-time director after 6 months
Kolkata: Suman Chakraborty, institute chair professor in mechanical engineering at IIT-Kharagpur, was appointed the institute's full-time director on Thursday. A winner of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Chakraborty is currently a J C Bose National fellow. He was awarded the 2026 TWAS Award in Engineering and Computer Sciences by Unesco for his work in micro- and nanoscale flows, enabling innovations in diagnostic technologies and improving rural livelihood and healthcare access. Chakraborty confirmed he had received the appointment letter for the IIT-Kgp director's post. "The institute needs a cultural transformation. A healthy environment with positive thinking and free flow of ideas should prevail and the environment of intimidation should be eliminated. Young students lost their lives. Despite the institute's efforts, we have not been able to address the matter. If we can collectively work, things will change for the better," he said. "My biggest happiness will be to work for IIT-Kgp's academic progress." After V K Tewari's retirement in Dec 2024, the campus was being run by IIT-Varanasi director Amit Patra. Chakraborty graduated from JU in mechanical engineering in 1996 and did his ME at IISc. He joined JU as a lecturer. He received his PhD from IISc in 2002. He joined IIT-Kgp in 2002 as an assistant professor.
Time of India
10-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
IIT-Kharagpur forms expert panel to assess mental health challenges on campus
Kolkata: A 10-member external independent committee comprising psychiatrists, educationists, counsellors, alumni, legal experts, and police professionals will assess the factors affecting the mental health and well-being of IIT-Kharagpur students, faculty, and staff. It will also identify challenges such as inadequate resources, administrative shortfalls, the academic environment, and other areas that hinder the resolution of mental health issues on campus. The committee will suggest measures to improve the mental health ecosystem of the reported on April 29 that the mother and brother of Aniket Walkar wrote to acting director Amit Patra, seeking an independent probe into the circumstances leading to Aniket's death. They urged authorities to find out the reasons behind the large number of suicides on the IIT-Kgp campus. Following this, the authorities decided to form an expert independent committee, which will submit its report within three of student affairs Bhargab Maitra said: "An associate dean of students welfare will be the convenor of the committee. At first, we thought of keeping representatives from all stakeholders, like faculty members and students, in the committee, but the committee was becoming too large to work effectively. Therefore, we kept the external members in the committee who will interact with all the stakeholders of the Institute and take their inputs and views in specific areas."In a press statement issued on Saturday, the institute said, "The committee will assess the factors (primary, secondary, or tertiary) that are affecting the mental health and well-being of students, faculty, and staff of the institute. The committee will also identify the key challenges (such as inadequate resources, administrative shortfalls, academic environment, but not limited to) that hinder the resolution of mental health issues on campus. The committee will take stock of initiatives that are in place to address such issues and recommend further measures that can bolster the mental health ecosystem of students, staff, and faculty in the IIT Kharagpur campus," read the Director Amit Patra earlier said that the committee will be formed on the lines of IIT-Delhi. "At the level of the institution, we are taking steps to contain the situation. But there could be shortcomings in our institutional mechanism. So we want the 10-member committee to give its report containing the suggestions that we can work on to prevent the loss of lives," Patra said on witnessed two back-to-back deaths in a fortnight. Fourth-year ocean engineering and naval architecture student Aniket Walkar was found hanging in his room at J C Bose Hostel on April 20, and another third-year civil engineering student, Mohammad Asif Qamar, was found hanging in his room in the Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall on May 4. Qamar's death is also the third death in a semester, the fourth death in less than a year, and the ninth death in five years that the premier institute decision to form an independent experts' panel gains significance following the Supreme Court's March 24 directive to set up a National Task Force to examine the rising number of suicides at education institutes. Founder of Global IIT Alumni Support Group Dheeraj Singh, an alumnus of the Kanpur campus, said, "We welcome the Committee constitution, though sadly there is no mention of recent suicides and terms are vaguely defined. A committee is only as strong as its willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. IIT Kharagpur's move is long overdue, but without student voices, transparent processes, and urgent interim measures, this risks becoming another bureaucratic exercise. Key findings must be transparently shared as a public good."
