Mumbai, August 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the graduating students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay at the 56th annual convocation on Saturday and congratulated them on being awarded their degrees. He began by lauding the students on their hard work and also mentioned the 'Institute of Eminence' tag given by the Government to IIT-Bombay.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that while the world knows IIT as Indian Institute of Technology, there was much more than technology and called IIT 'India’s Instrument of Transformation'. He added that the IITs had a major contribution in making India a hub for Start-ups.

"The confidence I can see on your face confirms that we are moving in the right direction. IIT Bombay will get a financial aid of Rs 1000 Crore. It was a large number of IIT students who built the IT sector of India, brick by brick," PM Modi said.

Urging the students to keep innovating, Modi said, "My appeal to youngsters is - Innovate in India, Innovate for humanity, from mitigating climate change to ensuring better agricultural productivity, from cleaner energy to water conservation, from combating malnutrition to effective waste management."

PM Modi said that while the students have worked hard to achieve what they have today, the real challenge lied ahead after they graduate and enter the field.

The Prime Minister also inaugurated the new building of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering and Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay. Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar, Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao and state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were also present on the occasion.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 11, 2018 12:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).