Bhubaneswar: Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pramod Kumar Mishra was among three eminent persons who were conferred with honorary doctorate by President Droupadi Murmu at the convocation of Utkal University in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.
The President, who graced the 53rd convocation of the university as chief guest, presented the three with honorary DLit degree. Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, who is also the Chancellor of Utkal University, and Higher Education Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak were also present at the ceremony.
Apart from Mishra, Director General (DG) of India Meteorological Department (IMD) Mrutyunjay Mohapatra and Managing Director (MD) of Hindalco Industries Ltd Satish Pai were conferred with the honorary doctorate at the ceremony.
Apart from them, a total of 166 scholars were awarded with PhD degree and 95 meritorious students with gold medals at the convocation ceremony.
Mishra, a 1972-batch retired IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, had taken charge as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, 2019.
Mishra was till then serving as the additional principal secretary in the PMO. On June 12, 2019, he was elevated to cabinet rank in the Modi 2.0 government.
Mishra took charge as the Principal Secretary after Nripendra Misra announced his decision to step down.
Born at Patnaikpada in Sambalpur town, Mishra did his schooling from Sambalpur District School and graduation from GM College.
Pai was conferred the honorary doctorate for his outstanding contribution in the growth of metal industry and for the sustainability and transformation of the industry. Satish Pai is the MD of Aditya Birla Group’s flagship metal company Hindalco, since 2016, and he has been instrumental in bringing lot of innovations and growth in metal industry.
In Odisha, Hindalco has a strong presence with many operational industries and investments of over Rs. 25,000 crores during the last 15 years.
Vice-Chancellor Sabita Acharya, faculty members and students attended the ceremony.
Utkal University is the oldest university in Odisha and the 17th oldest varsity in the country. The public university was established at the premises of erstwhile Ravenshaw College in Cuttack in 1943. The varsity later moved to its permanent campus in the Odisha capital here.
