IIT Kharagpur celebrates International Women's Day
Information provided by IIT Kharagpur's Facebook Page (March 9, 2022)
IIT Kharagpur held a panel discussion on 7th March 2022 on “Women’s Adolescent Health” on the eve of celebrating Women’s Day 2022.
Professor Gayatri Mukherjee, Assitant Professor, SMST welcomed the dignitaries and felicitated them. Dr. Chaitali Dutta Ray, an eminent gynaecologist, Professor & Head, Raigunj Government Medical College & Hospital was the Chief Guest for the occasion. Other dignitaries on the dais were Prof. Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, Dean Outreach, Prof. Debjani Chakroborty, Associate Dean, Outreach, Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Head of the Dept. of Agricultural and Food Engineering and the Chairperson of the International Women’s Day Organizing Committee, Prof. Koel Chaudhury.
Each dignitary spoke about gender bias, their own experiences, discrimination or the lack of it, and the need of the individual and society as a whole to break through these barriers. Ms. Devaki Nandana Kalam, Vice President of Technology Students Gymkhana spoke about her experiences as the First Lady Vice President of IIT KGP.
The second session started with welcoming and introducing the moderators and panellists on to the dais. The moderators were Dr. Parmeshwar Satpathy, Assistant Professor, Dr. B C Roy Multispeciality Medical Research Center, IIT Kharagpur and Dr. Tanisha Das, a Ph.D student of IIT Kharagpur. The panel members were Dr. Chaitali Dutta Ray, Professor Manas K Mandal, an eminent neuropsychologist and Distinguished Visiting Professor at IIT Kharagpur and Dr. Sumana Samanta, Assistant Professor, Dr. B C Roy Multispeciality Medical Research Center, IIT Kharagpur. Prof. Mandal discussed about stress and depression while Dr. Samanta spoke about the public health problem of adolescent anaemia while Prof Dutta Ray point out the long term hazards of this common health problem for women.
IIT Kharagpur celebrated the closing ceremony of the International Women’s Day on 8th March 2022 with on-the-spot competition including Rangoli, Alpana and Face Painting for all the campus residents, spreading the message #breakthebias. Later in the evening, the event began with lighting up the lamp followed by addresses from Prof V K Tewari, Director, Prof Amit Patra, Deputy Director and Registrar Shri Tamal Nath of IIT Kharagpur on breaking the gender bias. Prof V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur remarked that, “When you educate a man, you educate only a man but when you educate a women, you educate an entire generation, a society at large". Ms. Bhanu Kumar, Director (Commercial) of MSTC, India was the Chief Guest of the occasion and addressed the gathering by sharing her experiences of gender inequality and thoughts on women empowerment. The last day of the event concluded with a cultural program by faculties, campus women, children and students on a series of cultural events including songs, dance and drama. The winners of the various activities and events were recognised with a token of appreciation. (Facebook page)