The Hindu : National : Kalam's "no" to honorary degree

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Friday, Dec 30, 2005

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Kalam's "no" to honorary degree

PATNA: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has declined to accept the honorary Degree of Science which the Patna University had decided to confer on him at its convocation on Friday.

The Rashtrapati Bhawan has informed the university that the President does not accept honorary degrees of any university, Patna University Registrar V. K. Yadav said on Thursday.

To meet former colleague

Despite his busy schedule at Darbhanga on Friday, Mr. Kalam has planned to meet a former colleague, who worked under him in the Aeronautical Development Agency, Bangalore.

"Following a communication from the Rashtrapati Bhawan, expressing the President's desire to meet Manas Bihari Verma, we have arranged for a meeting between the two on the sidelines of the convocation of Lalit Narayan Mithila University," District Magistrate Upendra Sharma told PTI.

Mr. Verma served as the Light Combat Aircraft project director, when Mr. Kalam was the agency chief from 1991 to 1999. "The gesture shows the greatness of the man. The President is also a great human being," Mr. Verma said, who is living at his native Rasiyari Baura, spreading literacy among the poor.

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