Cambridge honours PM with doctorate

Nearly 50 years after he graduated from Cambridge, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned to the campus today to be honoured with a Doctorate of Law by the prestigious university.

It was a trip down memory lane as the former student of economics at St John's College revisited the campus as the Prime Minister of the largest democracy, recalling his days in Cambridge which "made" him.

As he awaited the conferment of the doctorate at a ceremony, Singh appeared to be in deep thought, possibly recalling his days in the campus.

Wearing a red robe, Singh humbly acknowledged the honour amidst loud cheers. "I am deeply conscious of the honour that you have bestowed upon me," he said after receiving the doctorate from Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and Chancellor of the varsity.

The citation described him as a scholar and a public servant of great distinction. "He is in the words of the Greek poet Simonides cool, calm, well aware of justice that serves the state and a man of healing virtue," it said.

It noted that it was "very rare indeed for the position of prime minister to be entrusted to one who is not a professional politician".

Singh said, "In many important ways, the University of Cambridge made me."

Considered a pioneer of India's economic reforms 15 years ago, Singh obtained a first class honours degree in economics from the university in 1957.

"My teachers and my peers in Cambridge taught me to be open to argument and to be fearless and lucid in the expression of one's opinions. These virtues and a relentless desire to pursue intellectual truth were inculcated in me at Cambridge," Singh said.

"The colour light blue is one of my favourites and is often seen on my head," he said, referring to his turban. The significance of light blue was highlighted by Singh as it is the colour of the university.

"My memories of my days in Cambridge are deep," he said and referred to his teachers like Nicholas Kaldor, Joan Robinson, Maurice Dobb and professor R C O Mathews.

Singh also recalled his association at Cambridge with economists Pierro Srafa, Amartya Sen, Jagdish Bhagwati, Mehbub-ul-Haq and Rehman Shobhan.

"All renowned economists from South Asia who became and remained life-long friends," he said.

The citation noted that Singh was a brilliant student of economics, and was awarded the Adam Smith Prize for standing first in his first year. "One of his teachers says of him, 'He was the best student I ever had'," the citation said.

Singh is the third alumni of Cambridge University after Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi to become the prime minister of India.

While noting this, Singh said the university had also produced greats like Jagdish Chandra Bose, a pioneer in the study of radiowaves and the life of plants, renowned mathematician Srinivasan Ramanujan, famous statistician P C Mahalanobis, nuclear physicist Homi Bhabha and agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan.

A highlight of the impressive ceremony was choral music played to tunes composed by Rabindranath Tagore in his collection of poems "Geetanjali".

The citation referred to Singh's "still valid classic work" "" India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self Sustained Growth "" and said, "You will find argued in it many of the basic ideas which have realised so dramatically the potential of the Indian economy".

Referring to Singh's tenure as finance minister between 1991 and 1996, the citation said, "By undoing red tape and removing petty regulations, he liberated his fellow citizens' talent for entrepreneurship".