The Prime Minister has called for more national leaders from the fields of science and engineering apart from politics, sports and cinema to lead the country in the path of development. He was addressing graduating students at the Golden Jubilee Convocation Ceremony of IIT Bombay on Saturday.

Reiterating Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision of IITs, he said these institutes were set up to provide scientists and technologists of the highest caliber to take the nation towards self reliance. But, India still lags behind many other countries in research and development due to a dearth of quality institutes of higher education.

Expressing concern over the limited seats available in premier institutes such as the IITs, Dr. Singh said government is committed to opening new premier institutions for advancing training, research and development in the sciences.

Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal expressed pride over the contributions of the IITs to the country and said that these institutes have always been centres of excellence. He also expressed concern over the critical shortage of quality faculty.

At the Golden Jubilee convocation the special Degree of ‘Doctor of Science – Honoris Causa’ was conferred upon noted industrialist Chairman of Wipro Ltd. Azim Premji. A total of 2006 degrees, including 175 Ph.Ds were awarded at the convocation ceremony held at IIT Bombay on Saturday.