A graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), who won the Governor’s prize at the 61st convocation on July 19, called for action against the ongoing genocide in Palestine saying that STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] had historically been used to help imperial powers, such as Israel. The Governor’s Prize is, each year, awarded to a student with all-round proficiency in curricular and extracurricular activities. Dhananjay Balakrishnan, who completed a dual degree in Mechanical Engineering, won the prize for the year 2024.
After thanking his parents, professors and fellow students in his acceptance speech, Dhananjay said, “I feel like I would be doing myself, and everything I believe in, a great injustice if I do not use the stage I am presented with to say something very important. This is a call for action. There is a mass genocide going on in Palestine. People are dying in vast numbers, and there is no visible end in sight.”
He continued: “Why should we be bothered, you ask? Because STEM as a field in itself has historically been used to advance the ulterior motives of imperial powers such as Israel. As engineering students, we work hard to get top-level jobs at tech giants which offer very lucrative pay and great benefits. However, these tech giants control various aspects of our lives today, as you know better than anyone. Many of these prestigious companies are directly or indirectly implicated in the war against Palestine by providing the state of Israel with technology; technology that’s used to kill. There are no easy solutions and I don’t have all the answers but I do know this: as engineers graduating into the real world, it is our job to be aware of the consequences of the work we do. And also to interrogate our own position in these complex systems of power imbalance. I hope that we can incorporate this awareness more into our daily lives, attempting to understand what we can do to liberate the oppressed on lines of caste, class, creed and gender. I believe that is the first step to curb the never-ending cycle of suffering.”
Dhananjay ended his speech by quoting Isaac Newton, who said that “he stood on the shoulders of giants to take him where he wanted to go. I want to say this, I am here rather, we are here, by standing on the shoulders of the magnanimous Indian populace and we owe it to them to lift every single person out of their misery. Inaction is complicity and I hope that you and I and all of us can take action to make the right decisions however hard they might be.”
A total of 2,636 students graduated during the 61st convocation of IIT-M, which was held on the campus on July 19. As many as 3,016 degrees (including joint and dual degrees) were awarded to the students on the occasion. The chief guest of the event was Brian K Kobilka, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2012. It is to be noted that Kobilka was one of the signatories in a letter that was recently written by 51 Nobel Laureates to religious leaders, United Nations and other world leaders calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and Gaza.
Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, following which Israel has been launching massive airstrikes and punitive measures, including a siege on the enclave with supplies of water, electricity, fuel, and other necessities being cut off. The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict has so far killed at least 38,848 Palestinians and wounded 89,459. On July 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest UN body, ruled that Israel’s continued presence in Palestine was “unlawful.”
Earlier, on May 24, the ICJ ordered that Israel must stop its offensive operations in Rafah, which was a designated safe zone. Despite the court ruling, Israel continued its attack in Rafah.