Jamia confers Doctor of Letters on Amartya

Updated on: Saturday, December 17, 2011

Honouring the genius of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, the prestigious Jamia Milia Islamia today conferred the degree of 'Doctor of Letters' on him for his contribution to the domain of knowledge.

Sen, whose work on welfare economics, particularly on the causes of famine, won him a Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998, was honoured at a special convocation here. Though Sen is not new to such honours, and has also been awarded India's highest civilian honour the Bharat Ratna in 1999, he said he was proud to be associated with the university which is an admixture of South Asian Muslim
History, National Heritage, and a Global Academic Institution.

He batted for promotion of higher education, and referred to great names like Mahatma Gandhi, Karl Marx, Nelson Mandela and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad to press in his point that higher education was important in providing a strong foundation for future successes.

He said the highest contribution of any higher education is "the cultivation of questioning and doubt". The citation presented to him with the honour said the varsity "acknowledges his seminal contribution to the domain of knowledge, scholarship and critical thought".

Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung said Prof Sen has been Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, President of the American Economic Association, Professor at Harvard "without once ceasing to be an engaged Indian".

This, he said, was linked to the Nobel Laureate's attachment to Bengal, his socialisation is Santiniketan, his immersion in the history of the sub-continent, and "his conviction that cosmopolitanism and Indianness are functions of one's values, not one's location".

Last year, the University had chosen to honour another Nobel laureate in the Dalai Lama.

Jamia confers Doctor of Letters on Amartya

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