JNU convocation held after 46 years
New Delhi, Aug 8: After keeping its convocation ceremony suspended for 46 years, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) revived the practice on Wednesday conferring Ph.D. degrees on more than 400 students.
It was in 1972 that the JNU had held its first convocation ceremony with renowned actor Balraj Sahni as the chief guest. Sahni had spoken in his address on Indian films, art, poetry and its people's habit of aping the West.
The ceremony was suspended thereafter allegedly because of an anti-establishment speech by student leader V.C. Koshy who is believed to have spoken at the same function.
At Wednesday's function held at the AICTE auditorium here, Space scientist and current Chancellor of the university V.K. Saraswat, who was the chief guest, gave away the degrees.
JNU Vice Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar in his address urged the students to become "discoverers and innovators" and use their ideas for the good of society.
"The best ideas are born when minds are free. JNU is committed to this freedom of thought and critical thinking with an emphasis on our fundamental responsibilities," Kumar said, according to a statement shared by his office.
He also said the convocation ceremony will be organised every year.
A group of students, however, criticised the ceremony, calling it a "publicity stunt" of the VC who, they accused, is hell-bent on destroying JNU.
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I am Sanjay but not Sanjay of Mahabharat who can predict rate cuts, says RBI guv
Mumbai (PTI): I am Sanjay but not Sanjay of Mahabharat who can predict future rate actions and at what level rate moderation will stop amid the ongoing global uncertainties, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday.
Malhotra's remarks came at a media briefing on being asked if more interest rate cuts are in the offing, after he delivered the second straight interest rate cut since taking over as the RBI governor.
According to the Mahabharat, Sanjay was blessed with divine vision and used his power to relay actions at the Kurushetra battlefield to blind King Dhritarashtra at his palace.
He further said monetary policy and fiscal policy are acting in tandem to meet the growth-inflation targets.
"It is a joint effort... the government has done its bit in the Budget recently by taking a large number of measures in terms of the increased capex, tax rebates and we have reduced repo rate and changed the stance going forward, which means that the direction of the policy repo rate is downwards.
"Where it will reach… we really don't know. I am Sanjay, but I am not Sanjay of Mahabharat to be able to foresee that far. I do not have the divine vision that he had," he said.
He further said "we will jointly (with the government) try to manage the growth and the inflation dynamics in our country".
Earlier in the day, Malhotra announced repo rate cut for the second consecutive time and signalled more easing ahead as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sought to bolster the economy in face of further pressure from damaging US tariffs.
Following the rate cut of 25 basis points, the key policy rate eased to 6 per cent. The move lowers borrowing costs to the lowest level since November 2022, amid easing inflation and a fall in oil prices.
Malhotra also assured that the RBI will maintain sufficient liquidity for speedier rate cut transmission.
We will provide sufficient liquidity for the purposes of monetary policy transmission.
