Governor confers 304 degrees on students at GNDU’S convocation
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit said what India needs today is incorruptible young men and women who will dedicate themselves to the service of society through individual pursuits.
Purohit, in his speech, on the occasion of the 48th annual convocation of the Guru Nanak Dev University at ‘The Golden Jubilee Convention Centre’, said, this will lead India to become ‘Vishwa Guru’ at the International level. On this occasion, two eminent personalities, Iqbal Singh Chahal, municipal commissioner and administrator of Brihanmumbai, Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra, and Prof Gagandeep Kang (FRS), department of gastrointestinal science at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, were honoured with honoris causa degrees. The duo were honoured in recognition of their contribution to their respective fields.
Chahal was conferred the honorary D Litt degree for his work during Covid-19 in Mumbai. “It is a sense of satisfaction for me. During the second deadly wave of the Covid, there was an acute shortage of oxygen in the country. Not a single death was witnessed in Mumbai in that period due to the issue of oxygen. Our oxygen supply model was even appreciated by the Supreme Court. And we ensured
a death rate of 0.08% in this wave, despite more than 4 lakh people suffering from Covid-19. It was the lowest death rate in comparison to any other city in the world. And national-international media, WHO, World Bank and other global bodies lauded our efforts. Credit goes to my team which worked in a vulnerable time and many of its members lost their lives. Thanks to the contribution of all, we could achieve what the rest of the cities in the world could not”, said Chahal while interacting with media on the sideline of the function. On this occasion, 136 PHD, two Mphil, 95 post-graduate and 71 undergraduate degrees and 177 medals were awarded to students from various faculties.
GNDU vice-chancellor professor Jaspal Singh Sandhu welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries. The governor said that the higher education system in India has undergone rapid expansion after Independence. Currently, India’s higher education system is the largest in the world, enrolling over 70 million students. “In less than two decades, India has managed to create additional capacity for over 40 million students. In the wake of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020), we must ensure that we impart quality education to our students and make them excellent citizens who would stand on their own in the global scene,” Purohit said.