India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval delivered the keynote address at the 62nd convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in Chennai on 11 July. Speaking to graduating students, Doval urged them to couple technical expertise with a commitment to nation-building, telling the audience they “belong to a civilisation which has been beleaguered, bled, dishonoured for a thousand years” and calling for renewed resolve to advance India’s interests. Doval highlighted IIT-Madras’s record of producing more than 48,000 graduates and said the institution’s alumni had served India across sectors worldwide. He cited the example of an IIT graduate who later took U.S. citizenship but regretted being unable to contribute fully to India, using the anecdote to stress the importance of retaining passion for the country. The ceremony, attended by faculty, students and their families, marked IIT-Madras’s first in-person full-capacity convocation since the pandemic. Degrees were conferred on undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral candidates across engineering, science and interdisciplinary programmes.