No Dr Laloo. No Dr Anand too

PATNA: Amid controversy over awarding honoris causa doctorate to RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav, Patna University decided against awarding the degree to NHRC chairman and former Chief Justice of India A S Anand also even as it went ahead with its convocation at which altogether 718 scholars were awarded degrees here on Sunday.
The PU syndicate had earlier decided to award the honoris causa doctorate degrees to Yadav and Anand, the chief guest at the convocation.
Yadav had subsequently refused to accept the honorary degree. The convocation saw girls outshining boys this year again as they walked away with 15 of the 28 gold medals awarded to PG toppers.
The gold medal awardees included Soni Prasad (Hindi), Minu Manjari (English), Sanjay Kumar (Sanskrit), Raghib Anwar (Urdu), Faiyaz Mustakim (Persian), Kalimuddin (Arabic), Biplab Mandal (Bengali), Dimpi Kumari (philosophy), Manju Kumari (Maithili), Sarita Pratap (geography), Reeti (psychology), Rakhi (home science), Uday Kumar (sociology), Hemant Kumar (economics), Ashok Kumar (AIH), Nutan Kumari (political science), Priyanka Sinha (history), Swati Sharma (LSW), Sanjay Bharti (geology), Ragini Mishra (zoology), Neerupam Singh (botany), Rajesh Ranjan (chemistry), Mona Priya (physics), Santosh (statistics), Meenakshi (commerce) and Babita and Rajeev Ranjan (MEd).
One scholar, Hrishikesh Mishra, was conferred upon the DLitt degree and 63 others were awarded PhDs.
Delivering the convocation address, chief guest Anand said universities are the training centres for leadership in all walks of life and they would fail in their duties if they do not achieve the twin objectives of instilling character and providing their students with an efficient mental apparatus.
Governor M Rama Jois and PU VC K K Jha also addressed the convocation.