Upset with HRD ministry questioning his nationality, Anand refuses to accept doctorate

[SachDan]

World Chess champion Viswanathan Anand has declined to accept the honorary doctorate which was to have been conferred by the University of Hyderabad (UoH) at a special convocation during the ongoing International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) 2010. "There is no way he is going to take the award now and during this Congress as far as I know", Abraham Kuruvilla, Mr. Anand’s agent told reporters here on Tuesday soon after the executive committee of ICM and University of Hyderabad issued a strongly-worded statement criticising the "insensitive bureaucratic obstructions". In a statement, the executive committee and the UoH expressed sadness over the fact that the special convocation to confer an honorary degree on one of our greatest sports personalities Viswanathan Anand could not be held because of ‘insensitive bureaucratic obstructions’. The ICM Executive Committee conveyed its deep apology to the Grandmaster over this development. Rajat Tandon, Secretary, Executive Organisating Committee of the ICM, told reporters that Mr. Anand had agreed to accept the honorary doctorate but changed his mind as he did not want to enter into a controversy. Mr. Anand said "I have always played under the Indian flag, held an Indian passport, right from the time I took my first overseas trip. I do not understand the issue. I am in Hyderabad to play against the mathematicians and to enjoy the Congress. So let us leave it at that." :hatsoff: The idea of conferring the doctorate was mooted as early as October, 2009 and the University of Hyderabad did all the necessary background work. It was submitted for clearance to the appropriate department at the Ministry of Human Resources Development. Despite repeated follow up by the University, the Ministry did not forward the proposal for the President’s signature. Link Kapil Sibal did apologize to Anand and he might be "pushed" to accept the award but damage has been done (

[achilles]

Dignity personified.

[Roshanrocks]

bloody ministry personell... :mad:

[Clarke]

Here's the moronic part: The HRD ministry has to ask the Math Congress to establish whether he's a citizen or not ? Does the govt go around asking people all the time in spite of the terabytes of data it maintains in the name of national security ?

[punjabi_khota]

Galti se ek world champion produce kiya india ne, uski bhi nationality pe shak ho raha hai *********... :mad: :mad:

[The Outsider]

Galti se ek world champion produce kiya india ne' date=' uski bhi nationality pe shak ho raha hai *********... :mad: :mad:[/quote'] Isi liye to shak ho raha....gaundoos can't believe there can be an Indian world champion.

[Guest Hiten.]

Galti se ek world champion produce kiya india ne' date=' uski bhi nationality pe shak ho raha hai *********... :mad: :mad:[/quote'] oi what about your pind da 22, UV ? :icflove:

[seedhi]

This is slightly misleading - Anand DID NOT REFUSE to accept the doctorate. Rather he did not have time for a hastily arranged function to confer him the same on Tuesday due to other commitments. But asking for his nationality is just shameful. Not to mention that in this fracas, a mathematician David Mumford of Harvard Univ who was also to be awarded a doctorate with Anand, was also inconvenienced and had to leave without receiving it.

[asterix]

And Sania Malik being requested to lead the Indian contingent and carry the Indian flag in the CWG games..Huh!! Talk about having wrong priorities..

[yoda]

Galti se ek world champion produce kiya india ne' date=' uski bhi nationality pe shak ho raha hai *********... :mad: :mad:[/quote'] we are not used to handling world champions you see :giggle:

[DomainK]

What an effin shame. :wall:

[yoda]

And Sania Malik being requested to lead the Indian contingent and carry the Indian flag in the CWG games..Huh!! Talk about having wrong priorities..

that sounds equally ***ked up.

[DomainK]

This is slightly misleading - Anand DID NOT REFUSE to accept the doctorate. Rather he did not have time for a hastily arranged function to confer him the same on Tuesday due to other commitments. But asking for his nationality is just shameful. Not to mention that in this fracas, a mathematician David Mumford of Harvard Univ who was also to be awarded a doctorate with Anand, was also inconvenienced and had to leave without receiving it.

We are inviting great people from outside and humiliating them on the name of honor? How pathetic are we? :wall:

[Ram]

How do they manage to offend even ultra low-profile, totally non-controversial guys like Bindra, Anand? :dontknow:

[Karan114]

Disgraceful.