The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is learnt to have given its go-ahead to Jamia Millia Islamia to confer an honorary doctorate on the Tibetan spiritual leader,the Dalai Lama. The university confirmed that it will now confer the doctorate on the Dalai Lama at its annual convocation scheduled for Tuesday. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal will preside over the function. Highly placed sources confirmed to Newsline that the MEA has approved the proposal and the Human Resource Development Ministry (MHRD) will soon be sending it to Rashtrapati Bhavan for final approval. The President,being Visitor to all Central Universities,gives the final approval to confer the doctorates. While Jamia originally planned to confer the doctorate at its annual convocation,the move was delayed as the MHRD and MEA had not finished consultations. The MEA did not give a final opinion as there were concerns about the timing of the move in view of the fact that the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was scheduled to visit India. With Chinas sensitivities on the Tibet issue well-known,the Indian government did not apparently want to ruffle any feathers ahead of Wens visit. As per procedure,Central Universities have to take their proposals on conferring honorary doctorates to the HRD Ministry with complete information about the candidates. And,Government of India rules stipulate that in the case of foreigners the details have to be sent to the Ministry of External Affairs and political clearance is also required. Once cleared by the MEA and HRD,the proposal is sent to the President for approval.
