Two new buildings — a 13-floor hostel block named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and a five-floor academic block named after Mahatma Gandhi — constructed at a cost of ₹156 crore was dedicated by Indian Bank Managing Director and chief executive officer Padmaja Chunduru, as part of celebrations held to mark International Women’s Day in the presence of Founder and Chancellor of VIT G.Viswanathan. The hostel block has been built at a cost of ₹105 crore, while the academic block has been built at a cost of ₹51 crore.
Ms. Chunduru said that India possessed a better culture of encouraging women without judging them based on their looks and complexion. She pointed out 33% of Indian Bank employees were women. “Empowerment is something that is in us. It will be achieved through proper education, freedom and equality in thinking,” Ms. Chunduru said.
Ms. Chunduru distributed prizes to winners of various events conducted by VIT as part of Women’s Day celebrations. G. Muthazhagi, Vice President, Delivery and Support (ERP), Ramco Systems and a former student of VIT, appealed to the students to acquire the best of knowledge and enrich themselves with soft skills to achieve their dreams.
VIT Founder-Chancellor G. Viswanathan said that women formed 49% of India’s population and were the backbone of savings in the country. At present, they constituted only about 7 to 8 % in Legislative Assembly in the State, 10 % of the judiciary strength in High Courts and among legislators in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha – the lower and upper houses of Parliament, the number was only 12 and 11%. The Chancellor said that everyone in the country was talking about empowerment of women and though the Bill was introduced in 1996 to provide one-third representation to women in State Assemblies and Parliament, it has been pending for the past 22 years. Despite all parties extending their support to the Bill, it was yet to be passed, Mr. Viswanathan said, adding that it was time to honour the women of India and to give them their due place. To make this happen, it has to begin with women’s education, he added.
MoU signed
Meanwhile, Indian Bank, Vellore and VIT University have entered into an agreement for launching online fee collection for VIT University. The MoU was exchanged between the MD & CEO of Indian Bank, Padmaja Chunduru and Chancellor of VIT University G. Viswanathan during the Women's Day celebrations.
A total of 36,000 students from the Vellore campus of VIT pay their fees through branch counters at a higher cost and they will benefit from the move.
Sankar Viswanathan and Sekar Viswanathan, Vice Presidents of VIT, Anand A. Samuel, Vice Chancellor and Sandhya Pentareddy, Executive Director, S. Narayanan, Pro- Vice Chancellor were present on the occasion.