Update: The 34th Annual Convocation of Mangaluru University will be held on 30 March 2016 at 10:00 am, in the Mangala Auditorium at the University Campus. V K Saraswa Member, NIT1 Aayog, Govt of India and Former Director General of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) will deliver the Convocation Address, Minister for Higher Education. The government of Karnataka and Pro-Chancellor of the University T B Jayachandra will confer the degrees to all the candidates.
During this convocation, Mangaluru University will be conferring Honoris Causa to three eminent personalities.
Dr S L Bhyrappa is a renowned novelist in Kannada having written more than 25 novels which have been translated into several languages such as English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Marati, Urdu, Gujarati, Telugu, Bengali and Tamil. Some of his novels have the unique distinction of seeing as high as 48 reprints within a short span of time after publication. A few of his novels are also adopted for film making. Another distinctive feature of Dr Bhyrappa is undertaking a thorough research on the topic before writing a novel. His adventurous experiences through Artie and Antarctic expeditions have been used in bringing out a recent novel projecting scientific fantasies.
Dr Bhyarappa has been decorated with a large number of awards and recognitions from several Universities as well as the Padmashri by the President of India. He is one of the eight National Professor in the country appointed by the Government of India.
Dr C N Manjunath, Director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research at Bengaluru is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who has developed the institute into one of the largest heart care destinations in the world. He has expanded this heap care services to remote areas of Karnataka. Dr Manjunath, has the distinction of training American, British, Chinese and French Cardiologists on balloon valvuloplasty at his Institute.
Dr Manjunath has been instrumental in mobilizing an amount of Rs 25 crores from charitable and philanthropic organizations to establish a Poor Patients Corpus Fund. He is also instrumental in conducting about 1000 open heart surgeries for needy patients with the support of charitable and philanthropic organizations.
In recognition of the outstanding medical/public services, Dr Manjunath has been conferred with a large number of awards including Padma Shree by the President of India. He is a Fellow of American College of Cardiology. Recently Dr Manjunath has received the prestigious Millennium Plaque of Honour by the Prime Minister of India.
A J Shetty, Chairman, AJ Group of Institutions and President of Laxmi Memorial Education Trust, Mangaluru is a well-known entrepreneur who has established small scale industries to manufacture automobile spare parts, cashew products to cater to the local needs. These industries have helped in creating jobs to a large number of poor and needy persons of this area. Under the education trust, Sri A J Shetty is running many institutions especially in the field of medical sciences and allied fields. The hospitals established by him are providing medical treatment and medicines freely to a large number of poor patients every day. He has taken a lead in providing free healthcare services to the rural population in the neighbourhood. He is managing a few charitable organizations like orphanages and old age homes. Sri A J Shetty is also responsible for establishing cancer centre that treats about 100 patients per day at an affordable cost. He is also promoting the local cultural heritage by encouraging Yakshagana as President of Dakshina Kannada Yakshagana Association. A J Shetty is a recipient of many awards including National Corporate Excellence Award, New Delhi.
Mangaluru: The 34th annual convocation of Mangaluru University is being held this week.
The event will see the presence of state governor and ex-officio chancellor of the university, Vajubhai R Vala, NITI Ayog member V K Saraswat, who will also deliver the convocation lecture and higher education minister and ex-officio pro-chancellor T B Jayachandra.
Governor Vala will present, besides 55 doctorates to research scholars, gold medals to 39 and cash awards to 72 meritorious students. First 59 rank-holders among the total of 240, will receive certificates.
Among the 45,458 candidates that appeared for the final examinations, there have been 27,195 successful ones. Out of the 5,167 candidates who appeared for post-graduate examinations, 4,818 have passed.
Among the 40,233 who appeared for degree examinations, 22,319 have been successful, according to information available from the university.
As is the practice, a few achievers from different walks of life are being awarded PhD (honoris causa) by the university this year as well.
The choice of recipients in any university is always ridden with controversies. This is because often the honour is given because of considerations other than merit. Appeasement of the powers-that-be often works behind the scenes.
Bestowing this honour is sometimes taken to ridiculous levels by choosing politicians and movie stars.
Even as it is inching towards the date, the university has not made public the names of the recipients of this honour for this year.
It is likely that only the recipients, besides the top brass of the institution, have been informed of the details.
However, informed sources said that four names are making the rounds in the corridors in this connection. An achiever from the field of medical science and two from the art and literature sector are being shortlisted.
The names of A J Shetty of the A J group of institutions and Dr Manjunath from Bengaluru are being mentioned for their contribution to the field of medical science.
Other names prominently heard are of Basti Vaman Shenoy, who has made a significant contribution to the field of art and literature in Konkani language. Also, in the reckoning is the name of senior Kannada author Dr S L Byrappa.
