At the 79th annual convocation of Annamalai University at Chidambaram on Wednesday, Governor K.Rosaiah gave away degree certificates to candidates who passed out of various programmes during 2010-2011.
A total number of 1,14,511 candidates, including 46 M. Phils and 251 Ph.Ds, passed out. They included 8,193 on-campus candidates and 1,06,318 off-campus (distance education mode) candidates.
On the occasion, Pro-Chancellor M.A.M. Ramaswamy created two endowments by donating Rs.1.50 lakh — one in the name of the Governor (Rs.1 lakh) and another in the name of Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (Rs.50,000), who delivered the convocation address.
Mr. Nayak said that the greatest challenge of the 21st century was climate change that was wreaking havoc on humanity and civilization.
It was believed that the Harappan civilization was lost owing to the weakening of monsoon that changed the course of rivers, leading to scarcity of food and large-scale migration of people.
The most recent example was the Sahel region of Africa that suffered scanty rainfall from the 1960s resulting in prolonged drought. Climate variables caused by the El Nino and La Nina phenomena caused either excessive rainfall or drought in India, impacting food production.
Mr. Nayak said that with increase in population fresh water availability was stressed. He called for suitable policy intervention for ameliorating the adverse effects of climate change. All technologies should be harnessed to reduce the risks from climate change and variability. However, the technological gap between the developed and developing countries had been a major constraint in monitoring global climate.
He hailed Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar as a visionary whose philanthropy, farsightedness and nobility transformed the once backward region into a citadel of learning. Later, Rajah Sir Muthiah Chettiar and Mr Ramaswamy developed the university into one of the best institutions in the country.
