Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Jatin Das to be honoured with D.Litt

Kolkata, April 27 (IANS) Veteran Indian writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen and renowned painter Jatin Das will be conferred an honorary Doctor of Literature degree by the Rabindra Bharati University at its convocation next month, the varsity announced here on Friday.

Indian classical vocalist Pandit Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay will also be honoured with the D.Litt.

"Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Pandit Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay and Jatin Das will be conferred with D.Litt (honoris causa) on May 8, on the occasion of the university's 43rd annual convocation," Vice Chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury told reporters here.

"The convocation address will be delivered by the Secretary General of Association of Indian Universities, Furqan Qamar, who will also preside as the chief guest in the event," he said.

The university had initially planned to honour iconic Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan with the D.Litt but had to scrap the idea after the Bollywood superstar's shooting schedule clashed with the timing of the convocation.

"Bachchan expressed his gratitude to the university for considering his name for the D.Litt, but he has recently informed us that he would unfortunately be busy shooting for his films at the time of the convocation," Ray Chowdhury said.

The varsity, that is planning to celebrate the 157th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, will also confer the Akademy Award to a number of illustrious personalities associated with art and culture including theater personality Pankaj Kumar Munshi and singer-actor Ruma Guha Thakurta during the convocation.

A total of 95 university scholars would be awarded the Ph.D degree, with 99 others receiving M. Phil.

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