Five Madras IITians get inducted into Navy

Dec. 24: At a time when numerous IITians are joining top corporate houses across the world to earn a handsome salary, five students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras will be joining the Indian Navy soon to serve their motherland. The Indian Navy recruited five students who pursued B.Tech (naval architecture) from IIT, Madras on Wednesday.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle on Thursday, Lt. Col. Jayakumar, deputy registrar (training and placement), Indian Institute of Technology, Madras said that when the Indian Navy approached IIT-M for recruitment eight students showed keen interest in attending the interview to join the coveted uniformed services.
“Of the eight students who sat for the interview, five students were selected. This year during the selection process they (Navy officers) did not conduct services selection board interview for these young naval architects. Usually to become a commissioned officer in armed forces one has to clear the five-day interview process, which includes psychological test, group task (physical test) and personal interview,” he said.
These young naval architects would be working at one of the naval design centres in the country as short serviced commissioned officers for a salary of Rs 66,000 per month under the special naval architects entry scheme designing Indian Navy’s new state of the art ships.
Mr Prithvi Prasad, one of the students who was selected by the Indian Navy said that he was elated when the Indian Navy recruited him to design its ships. “Four years back I had to take a call when I got orders from National Defence Academy and IIT-M to join the armed forces and naval architecture course respectively. I joined IIT-M to equip myself to join the armed forces later. Now my dream has come true with me being recruited as sub-lieutenant officer in the Indian Navy,” he added.