Kharagpur: IIT Kharagpur has encouraged its students to participate "with full vigour" in an essay competition commemorating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 74th birthday on September 17. The contest, focusing on "How Prime Minister Narendra Modi Strengthened India's Global Relations," invites essays of 750-800 words in English or any of the 13 recognized Indian languages.
The Technology Students' Gymkhana, the institute's student body, shared the announcement, highlighting the director's desire for students to excel in the competition.
The Centre for Narendra Modi Studies, an independent trust promoting research and policy debates, initiated the contest and requested IITs across the country to inform their students.
A student voiced concerns about being compelled to participate in politically motivated events, while an IIT official explained that the initiative followed a directive from the Union Ministry of Education.
The essays must be submitted by August 30. This event follows a December UGC circular that controversially instructed universities to set up selfie points with images of Modi, which was later retracted.
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Thane (PTI): Three persons were killed and 15 others injured when an auto-rickshaw hit a bus and some other vehicles on a highway in Maharashtra's Thane district on Wednesday morning, police said.
The accident took place at 4.15 am on Mumbai-Agra highway near Khinavli bridge at Ghoteghar village in Shahapur taluka, they said.
The auto-rickshaw driver lost control over the wheels. As a result, the vehicle hit the road-divider, jumped the lane and collided with a private luxury bus, two cars and a tempo coming from the opposite direction, an official from Shahapur police station told PTI.
Three occupants of the bus died on the spot and 15 other persons, including the auto-rickshaw driver, were injured, he said.
The bus was on way from Nashik to Mumbai, the official said.
After being alerted, local police along with the emergency response teams rushed to the spot.
The injured persons were admitted to Shahapur sub-hospital and three of them were reported to be in a serious condition, the official said.
The bodies were sent to a government hospital for post-mortem, the police added.