Dr Harnam Singh Shan was conferred D.Lit in Punjabi Studies and Sikh Studies for his critical and comparative study of "The romance of Sassi-Punnu", on the occasion.

In his convocation address, Gujral said the world had arrived at the threshold of the next millennium where there is a need for us and other new nation states to introspect ourselves critically. He said the need was to assess how far we have succeeded or failed to build our respective nations. He said: "I see the future of India in bright young faces of men and women who are venturing out for great adventure in life. May I say to them that their baptism is all the more remarkable because it begins with the new millennium," he said.

He said the 20th century was the most bloody and gory century which had witnessed two World Wars in a single generation. He narrated the "gory" tale of the country's Partition, which he said involved one of the largest displacement of humans in history and left millions dead. But, he added, the century was also the most creative century in human history as it saw personalities of colossal dimensions like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, who achieved what was once perceived as impossible.

He emphasised on the need for good governance in the country through impartial working of the rule of law. He said the governing bodies should focus on eradicating illiteracy, universalising basic education, improving the quality of education and taking affirmative steps to enable everybody to complete vocational and higher education. He asked the students and the faculty both to read Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen's book.

After the address, the students were awarded their degrees, medals and prizes by the V-C. Interestingly, out of 403 students who received their degrees, 233 were girls and again out of 120 medal winners, 85 were girl students. However, students after receiving their degrees were least interested to stay back to watch the others receive it. One after the other, they left the auditorium and only officials stayed back to watch the medal winners receive their medals.