Honorary doctorate to be conferred on Communist leader N. Sankaraiah

Context:

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced that veteran communist leader N. Sankaraiah will receive an Honorary Doctorate from Madurai Kamaraj University.

What’s in News?

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin announced to present an honorary doctorate to the veteran communist leader N. Sankaraiah who dedicated his life to the poor and needy.

Tamil Nadu government had received demands from various quarters to confer an honorary doctorate on freedom fighter and communist leader N. Sanakaraiah who dedicated his life for the poor and the needy and was a great martyr of the freedom struggle.

About N. Sanakaraiah

• Sanakaraiah, born on 15 July 1921, is an Indian Communist Party politician and independence activist. On 15^th July 2023 Sankaraiah has celebrated his 102^nd birthday. He is the last living freedom fighter of India. In 1931 when Sankaraiah was just nine years old attended a rally condemning the execution of Bhagat Singh- his first political activity.
• Sankaraiah studied history at the American College in Madurai. He was the secretary of the Madurai Student Organization, and in that capacity he had invited Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose to deliver a lecture. For that he was arrested in 1941, just 15 days before the exams of his undergraduate course.
• After spending 18 months in jail, Sankaraiah was released in June 1942. Following the release, he became a full-time communist party worker. The Tamil Nadu Government had honored N. Sankaraiah with the award of “Thagaisal Thamizhar” in 2021.

What is an honorary doctorate?

An honorary doctorate degree is one of the most significant awards in post-graduation education. It recognizes a recipient’s outstanding achievements despite not attending the awarding university.

Criteria for honorary doctorate:

• The recipient is not a staff member or appointed or elected government official.
• The recipient must accept the degree without receiving payments.
• The recipient may not have conflicts of interest with the universities.
• The recipient has a strong reputation in their field.

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