Latest news with #IIT-Kharagpur
News18
2 days ago
- News18
IIT Kharagpur forms fact-finding panel after BTech student's death
Kolkata, Jul 21 (PTI) A senior IIT-Kharagpur official on Monday said a 10-member fact-finding team has been formed by the premier institute to explore the circumstances and factors which led to the death of fourth-year BTech student Ritam Mondal who was found hanging in his hostel room on July 18. Institute director Suman Chakraborty, who recently took charge, said the panel would explore academic, social and psychological factors and is expected to submit its recommendations soon. While police are conducting a probe on its part, the institute has constituted a 10-member fact-finding committee internally, Chakraborty told PTI. 'He is our own child. We are saddened by his death. IIT Kharagpur does not exert pressure on students in a way that they feel stressed. We need to find out why such an incident happened," he added. Chakraborty had met the father of the deceased and interacted with him for about an hour after the grief-stricken parent arrived at the campus on hearing the news of his son's death. Mondal, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering student, had returned to campus on July 15, a day after the convocation, following a two-month vacation. His roommate had not yet returned to the hostel. 'We have to think if there are social factors involved in such incidents," he said. 'If someone comes to the help of such pupils during moments of extreme mental stress, certainly such situations can be averted," he reasoned. The committee will come up with certain recommendations by this month, he added. Mondal was found hanging in his room at Rajendra Prasad (RP) Hall hostel on July 18, the fourth unnatural death case on the campus since January. 'There were no recorded indicators of mental health concerns in the records of the SARTH Counselling Centre. Additionally, the departmental faculty advisor reported no apparent academic or personal issues," the institute noted. On January 12, Shaon Malik, a third-year electrical engineering student, died by suicide. On April 20, Aniket Walker, a final-year Ocean Engineering student from Maharashtra, was found hanging in JC Bose Hall. On May 4, Mohammad Asif Qamar, a third-year BTech student from Bihar, was found dead in his room at Madan Mohan Malviya Hall. Apart from installing bar codes on the gates of every hostel room where the helpline number of counselling services can be scanned by a student in emotional stress at any hour, the institute recently launched a 'Campus Mothers' programme, where women faculty and staff members serve as emotional mentors for students. PTI SUS MNB view comments First Published: July 21, 2025, 21:30 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Time of India
3 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
5 days ago
- Time of India
IIT-Kharagpur student found dead in hostel; 4th in 7 months
File photo KOLKATA/KHARAGPUR: A fourth-year mechanical engineering student of IIT-Kharagpur was found dead in his hostel room Friday morning, three days after he returned to the institute after a two-month summer break. Ritam Mondal, 21, from Kolkata was pursuing a five-year dual degree programme, and his classes had begun on Thursday. This is the fourth unnatural death at the institute in past seven months. Police have initiated an investigation and the IIT has set up a five-member panel to probe the incident. Police suspect Ritam died by suicide and preliminary inquiries suggest he might have had a tiff with his family. However, an official statement will only be issued after an autopsy at Midnapore Medical College Hospital on Saturday. 'The exact cause of death will be known after the autopsy,' a district police officer said. 'Ritam's father, Uttam Mondal, panicked after he did not pick his calls and contacted a hostel employee to check on his son. The employee found the student hanging,' said a source. The institute's security response and medical teams, director, senior administrative officials, and police officials reached the hostel. Ritam's parents arrived in the afternoon. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like AirSense 11 – Smart tech for deep sleep ResMed Buy Now Undo Another boarder said Ritam had returned to his room after dinner Thursday night and they had not noticed any abnormalities in his behaviour. He shared the hostel room with two other students, but they had not returned to the institute after the summer break. A statement issued by IIT-Kharagpur said as per records with the institute's Sarth counselling centre, there were no indicators of any mental health issue. The faculty adviser of his department also claimed there was no apparent academic or non-academic issue of concern. IIT-Kharagpur director Prof Suman Chakraborty said: 'I have asked a fact-finding panel to provide a concrete and detailed report on the incident after gathering information from the department, hostel, counselling centre and hospital. The committee will also speak to hostel employees and his friends.'
Indian Express
15-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
‘We are pushing boundaries in AI, cyber security': IIT-Kharagpur director at 71st convocation
IIT-Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty on Tuesday said the institution was pushing boundaries in the areas of artificial intelligence, cyber security and cloud computing, and it has become a national leader in AI's responsible real-world applications in health care and climate. Speaking during the institute's 71st convocation, Chakraborty said their AI department has started offering BTech, MTech and interdisciplinary dual degree courses. 'Our research spans from virtual accident monitoring to waste water engineering to next-generation wireless communication. We have become a national leader in responsible and explainable AI in real-world applications in health care and climate with an emphasis on human-centric AI,' he said. 'We have taken decisive steps to enhance national defence capabilities through the DRDO Industry Academia Centres of Excellence (DIA-CoEs), IIT Kharagpur, focusing on underwater robotics and cyber physical defence systems. Our healthcare technologies are reaching rural India, AI models are being used for disaster response and precision agriculture,' he added. Tata Steel MD TV Narendran, who is also board of governors chairman at IIT-Kharagpur, said, 'India is on the rise to become a global leader in technology and manufacturing . Our stories are deeply intertwined with that of India's progress. IIT-Kharagpur is keeping pace with change and helping the future.' Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath, was the chief guest on the occasion. Anand Deshpande, founder and chairperson of Persistent Systems and Anuradha Acharya, CEO of Mapmygenome were among those present. As many as 3,731 degrees, including 277 PhD, 18 MS, 956 50 MCP, 142 MBA, 23 EMBA, 58 PGDBA, 5 MMST,28 MHRM, 18, 47 LLM, 31 LLB, 786 Dual Degree, 614 (Hons), 46 (Hons), 151 Four-Year B.S, 260 Five-year 214 Two-Year 3 3 Three-year and 1 CER including the President's Gold Medal, Prime Minister's Gold Medal, and others were awarded to the students. Also, 25 Distinguished Alumnus Awards were bestowed on the alumni for their outstanding contribution to science, academia, education, research and society.
The Hindu
10-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Google launches AI innovations to make agricultural practices more data-driven and efficient
Google on Thursday unveiled new open-source AI innovations and initiatives aimed at strengthening India's agriculture sector and making AI models more sensitive to the country's linguistic and cultural diversity. The company launched the Agricultural Monitoring and Event Detection (AMED) API that provides information on crops and field activity across India, empowering the ecosystem to build targeted solutions that support agricultural productivity and resilience. Researchers at Google DeepMind have also collaborated with IIT-Kharagpur to build localized datasets on India's rich cultural tapestry as part of Google's Amplify Initiative, aiming to help equip global Large Language Models with better linguistic and cultural context. Speaking at a roundtable in Ananta, Google's office in Bengaluru, Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director for India and APAC at Google DeepMind said, 'At Google, along with charting new frontiers in foundational AI, which forms the backbone of many of our launches in the Gemini era, we have continued advancing fundamental research that addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity.'' According to Alok Talekar, Lead, Agriculture and Sustainability Research Lead, Google DeepMind, with AI research and especially with AMED building on the foundation of ALU (Agricultural Landscape Understanding) , Google was working on accelerating crucial shifts, transforming broad insights to granular, real-time data, so that increasingly impactful solutions not only translate into benefit for India's farmers, but also bolster the nation against rising climate risks. Madhurima Maji, Lead Program Manager, Amplify Initiative for India at Google said, AI models could be even more helpful with a deeper understanding of the vastness and complexity of the lived human experience. ``Through the Amplify Initiative, we are meticulously building the rich, hyperlocal context and cultural understanding that transforms raw information into profound knowledge. So that any and every Large Language Model can be fundamentally helpful and genuinely relevant to diverse realities,'' he added. Dr. Mainack Mandal, Assistant Professor, IIT Kharagpur stated: 'We've been inspired by the results this initiative has achieved in Sub-Saharan Africa, and look forward to ensuring that the groundwork we lay here translates into AI which is more responsive to India's incredible plurality.' According to Google, Amplify Initiative was piloted in Sub-Saharan Africa and has created an annotated dataset of over 8000 queries in seven African languages authored collaboratively with 155 experts, addressing a range of topics from chronic disease to misinformation. In India, the local partner for the Amplify Initiative would begin building datasets related to specific issues, including in healthcare and safety, in multiple Indic languages, it added.
