Tuesday, February 09, 2010
60th annual convocation of Karnatak University held in Dharwad

• Honorary doctorates conferred on S.L. Bhyrappa, M.I. Savadatti and M.M. Joshi
• 340 degrees conferred in person while 24,359 were conferred in-absentia

Dharwad: “Universities have an enormous and a decisive role to play in re-building India”, said the former Chief Justice of India, M.N. Venkatachalaiah. Delivering the key-note address at the 60th annual convocation of Karnatak University in Dharwad on Monday, Mr. Venkatachalaiah said that universities were cradles of knowledge and provided ethical guideposts for practical application of knowledge. He stressed on the need to have good faculty members to train students to develop scientific temper and become strong individuals to take on the challenges of the world.

Mr. Venkatachalaiah said: “The twentieth century saw the end of European dominance on global politics and economics. The twenty-first century will see the end of American dominance. New powers, including China, India, and Brazil, will continue to grow and will make their voices increasingly heard on the world stage”.

He said: “In India, people are yet to realise the blessings of freedom and democracy and the assurance that they live under the protection of an adequate legal system. The judicial system is on the verge of collapse not because of increasing number of cases but because of lack of vision in managing judicial business.Ethical Standards in our political behaviour and administrative culture are in shambles. So is our healthcare delivery system”. At such a critical time, universities have a crucial role to play, he added.

He said we must understand the aspirations of our youth and learn about the present generation’s challenges and hopes. There must be a purpose in human endeavour and it should be for advancement of human welfare.

“The present generation has the knowledge and resources to alleviate human suffering. We have the means of overcome the curse of poverty, hunger and decease. We have the knowledge as to how we can arrest and even reverse the damage to environment. We have the knowledge and ability to achieve all these. But then increase of knowledge alone without a corresponding increase of wisdom will only be a source of sorrow. If knowledge is not inspired by wisdom, it can bring disaster”, he said. At the convocation, 340 undergraduate, postgraduate degrees, M.Phils and Ph.Ds were conferred in person and 24,359 degrees were conferred in-absentia.

Three honorary doctorate degrees were conferred on S.L. Bhyrappa, M.I. Savadatti and M.M. Joshi. In their acceptance speech, they said that it was a great honour to have been felicitated with a doctoral degree from a university which represents the State in its essence and character.

Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade who was to receive honorary doctorate could not attend the convocation.

In the absence of Governor Hans Raj Bharadwaj and Higher Education Minister Aravind Limbavali, Vice-Chancellor of the university S.K. Saidapur presided over the convocation.

Registrar S.B. Hinchigeri presented the university report.

Registrar (Evaluation) C. Rajashekhar read out the list of gold medal winners.

As many as 164 gold medals were presented to 95 candidates during the convocation.