IIT-Kharagpur gets director after a year

Giving in to protests by students,faculty and alumni,the government Saturday appointed Prof Partha Pratim Chakrabarti director of the Indian Institute of Technology,Kharagpur. His appointment was announced a day after the CVC cleared him of corruption charges.

The government had failed to name a director for more than a year,igniting protests against the delay in Chakrabartis appointment last month. Hundreds of alumni sat on a hunger strike July 17 and marched in Delhi,Bangalore and Kolkata on July 20. They also petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and HRD minister M M Pallam Raju. The alumni association was planning a nation-wide hunger strike when the government announced Chakrabartis appointment at the IIT convocation.