Noted actor Shabana Azmi, Deutsche Bank Co-CEO Anshu Jain and Nobel laureate Yuan-Tseh Lee were among some of those who were today conferred with honorary doctorates at the sixth convocation of TERI University.
An honorary doctorate was also presented to DSP BlackRock Investment Chairman Hemendra Kothari at the function which was attended by, among others, Hardeep Singh Puri, the former Indian Permanent Representative at United Nations.
Speaking on the occasion, Azmi stressed on the need for sustainability and said, "We have to warn ourselves not to fall prey to the ubiquitous, unbridled market where 'want' is manufactured into becoming 'need' by messaging that is both direct and subliminal."
Yuan-Tseh Lee of Taiwan, Nobel prize winner for chemistry and the president of the International Council for Science, said that the honour was unique as it had come from a university which focuses on sustainable development and sustainable transformation, connecting knowledge to action and humanity to nature.
Puri, meanwhile, maintained that universities must bring about transformational change in society by assuming the responsibility of building skills and generating knowledge for sustainable development.
TERI University Chancellor RK Pachauri said that theirs was perhaps the only institution of higher learning in the world which focuses solely on the theme of sustainable development.
