IIT-Kanpur makes him Dr. Viswanathan Anand!
The man who basically put India on the world chess map has a lot of awards and adulations to his credit — he is probably the only sportsperson from India to have a planet named after him! Now, add one more to the list: the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur is awarding Anand a Degree of Doctor of Science (Honorary Causa) on June 28, which effectively makes him Dr. Viswanathan Anand!
IIT-Kanpur makes him Dr. Viswanathan Anand!
The television news channels sounded aghast as they described, with considerable horror, how terribly the then government had blundered — the human resource development ministry had withheld the file sent by the University of Hyderabad to bestow Viswanathan Anand with a honourary doctorate. One official after another, even Anand's manager Aruna, spoke at length about the absurdity with which the ministry was delaying the clearance, forcing the University, too, to delay the function. Eventually, Anand had had enough of it and simply refused to accept the doctorate.
The problem seems to have stemmed from Vishy's natural move abroad — to Spain, that is — so he can participate in the European tournaments without too many travel hassles. Unfortunately, the move turned out to be too confusing for the ministry to handle. The Indian government, over the years, had had a strange belief in playing to the gallery rather than focusing on merit, and this has resulted in an often shoddy treatment of sportsmen not belonging to cricket.
The man who basically put India on the world chess map has a lot of awards and adulations to his credit — he is probably the only sportsperson from India to have a planet named after him! Now, add one more to the list: the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur is awarding Anand a Degree of Doctor of Science (Honorary Causa) on June 28, which effectively makes him Dr. Viswanathan Anand!
Anand's Indian citizenship questioned
IIT-K to confer honorary degree on Vishwanathan Anand