The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Honorary doctorate conferred on Chile’s President

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Honorary doctorate conferred on Chile’s President

Special Correspondent

In recognition of her faith in creative individualism

Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Honour: Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s President (second from right), receives honorary doctorate degree from Governor and Chancellor Surjit Singh Barnala, at a special convocation in Chennai on Friday. S. Ramachandran, Vice-Chancellor of Madras University (left), and K. Ponmudy, Pro-Chancellor and Higher Education Minister, are in the picture. —

CHENNAI: The Madras University on Friday conferred the honorary doctorate degree on Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet in recognition of her faith in creative individualism and assertive humanism.

The citation stated that the honour was given also for her “caring ethic towards inclusive democracy and institutional arrangements in Chile; for her move beyond democratic survival towards international relations in Latin America and elsewhere and for her zestful endeavours for harmonious India-Chile relations.”

Governor-Chancellor Surjit Singh Barnala presented the degree to Dr. Bachelet at a special convocation held at the historic Senate House in the presence of Pro-Chancellor and State Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy.

The citation also said that as President of Chile, she appointed half of the Cabinet with women and worked quickly to implement 36 campaign pledges that concerned children, old aged, education, environment, employment and social security. She did a balancing act between welfare and frugality, democratic survival and democratic growth, and political expediency and socio-economic output.

In her acceptance speech, Dr. Bachelet referred to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed earlier between the University of Madras and the University of Talca and expressed the hope that this would create better understanding of cultures of the two countries. Adverting to the global economic crisis, she said the self-regulated markets were no longer sustainable and this called for creating a framework for economic growth. In such a framework, there should be emphasis on social rights and investing in culture, education and science.

S. Ramachandran, Vice-Chancellor of the University, read out the citation. Later, he told reporters that the university had, in the past, given the honorary doctorate degree to two other top foreign dignitaries - Queen Elizabeth and Italy’s former Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

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