When Manohar Parrikar, IIT-Bombay alumnus, enthused students at convocation

MUMBAI: When Manohar Parrikar addressed the 55th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2017, he told the graduates to take up jobs in social and development sectors.

An alumnus of the famed institute, Parrikar also asked students to join politics and the Army, said a former IIT-B student who was present at the convocation ceremony.

Over 2,600 students were awarded degrees at the ceremony and Parrikar sat through the event, with little sign of the serious ailment that would claim his life Sunday, he said.

"Why can't IIT graduates, who have had the best engineering education in the country, take up academics and run some of these colleges, and transform their quality?" Parrikar had then said.

The institute, in its condolence message, said: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's demise comes as a shock to all of us at IIT Bombay. He was the institute's distinguished alumnus and keenly involved with many initiatives at IIT Bombay. He was also deeply involved with the launch of IIT Goa.