National Institute of Technology to confer DLitt on Dipa Karmakar

AGARTALA: The National Institute of Technology (NIT) has announced that it will accord an honorary DLitt degree to Dipa Karmakar, the first woman gymnast to represent the nation at the Olympics, at its 10th convocation on November 11.

Besides Dipa, NIT Agartala will also accord honorary DSc degrees to Goutam Biswas, director of IIT Guwahati and B Ghosh (Electrical Engineering) of Jadavpur University for contributions in their respective fields.

NIT officials said the decision to honour Dipa Karmakar was taken by the institute's highest decision making body in recognition of her talent and her contribution to gymnastics at a global level.

Karmakar finished fourth in the artistic gymnastics vault event at Rio 2016, just missing out on a medal place in what was the first ever appearance for an Indian female gymnast at the final of the Olympics.

Overwhelmed with the honour, Dipa Karmakar, who is currently undergoing treatment on her injured leg outside the state until the end of this month, said, "This initiative by NIT Agartala increases responsibility on me to meet the expectations of my countrymen and uphold the prestige and dignity of India."

"I am preparing for the Asian Games to be held at Jakarta from August 18 to September 2 next year and the team performance for India to start from the last part of December. Before getting engaged in this next challenge, this honour will certainly boost me to perform the best for my country," Dipa added.

Karmakar's coach Bisweswar Nandi expressed his gratitude to NIT. "Dipa plans to participate in the next Commonwealth Games scheduled for April 4-15 next year on Australia's Gold Coast," he said. "Everything depends on her health and preparation," he added.

Chairman of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and internationally acclaimed electronic engineer Surendra Prasad has accepted an invitation to deliver the convocation speech at the NIT Agartala, which will be held at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhawan here, officials stated.