Sometime back, UK’s University of Bedfordshire awarded Shah Rukh Khan an honorary doctorate. Not only SRK, but also Amitabh Bachchan, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi and even Shilpa Shetty have been conferred honorary doctorates. To me this is a serious insult of a PhD degree.
I possess a Masters Degree from an IIT. During my two year course there, I had to work one year on a research project, on which I was eventually graded. I know how much pain one has to go through while completing even such a short stint in the lab. For PhD scholars, it is even worse – they spend five years in a lab, if not more, to earn their degrees. Honorary doctorates belittle the tireless efforts of thousands of research scholars in our country who have toiled day and night for this coveted honour. The authorities better understand that doctorates are meant for great achievers and not entertainers.
I feel that awards should be reserved for the fields they are meant for, like the Oscars for good cinema. A few days back, Sachin Tendulkar was made honorary Group Captain of the Indian Air Force. We understand that he has done tremendous service to Indian cricket, but this act was certainly not justified. Sachin would never be able to inspire youth to join IAF, even though he may encourage them to take up cricket. In fact, when chess legend Viswanathan Anand declined his doctorate from the University of Hyderabad after his nationality was questioned, he was not supercilious. After all, isn’t being Anand good enough?
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