Marine cadets get diplomas

kolkata: one hundred and twelve of the most handsome men in uniform stood shoulder to shoulder as they received their pass out diploma from the marine engineering and research institute in kolkata on wednesday. with dreams unlimited, the men wait to take on their challenges at sea. viren shah, governor of west bengal was the chief guest at the campus and encouraged young cadres to cull out a promising career for themselves.i am given to understand that, there is a shortfall of marine engineers and officers in our country. shipping companies and institutes should perhaps take proactive steps to popularise these courses to attract bright and courageous youngsters, he said after distributing the awards. the president's award was given to senior cadet, tamal kr pal for outstanding performance and the president's runner up award was received by senior cadet captain u. hemant rao. shah added, i am glad that more and more women are opting for this field in recent times. sonali banerjee was the first women cadet to graduate from marine engineering and research institute in 1995. since then there have been a few young women who have dared to be a part of this daring and courageous field. rupa kujur, a iind year student of the institute said, initially i was feeling awkward since i have never studied in a co educational institute. but my batch mates are extremely helpful and i am really enjoying myself. an iit student rupa chose this particular field because she firmly believes that women are no less than their male counter part. at present there are four women in the institute. the job prospects in our institute are promising. there is immense scope and most of our students are absorbed in good foreign as well as indian companies, said s. mukhopadhyay, director of the institute. according to mukhopadhyay, the demand for mariners is quite pronounced and the government is india is trying to build more institutes to produce more marine engineers.