Bhubaneswar, Sept. 9: Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley today gave some valuable lessons of life to the graduating students of KIIT University.

Addressing the eighth annual convocation of the varsity, Thinley said humanity has pursued the wrong dreams and goals for a long time and the world is in desperate need for change. He stated that development lied in the pursuit of happiness.

“We have become less human and more of economic animals. Our finite, natural resources are rapidly depleting in the process of pursuing continuous, limitless growth. Our value has been reduced to that of consumers alone. We must contemplate what we are leaving to our future generations,” he said.

Emphasising on the need to reclaim the society from market forces, he said: “From global warming and climate change to weakening social ties, the world is marked by a multiplicity of calamities. If we continue to be obsessed with growth, then we can imagine what conflicts will arise in future, how the earth will be destroyed. You need to revitalise society.”

On the occasion, the university awarded honourary degrees of DLitt and DSc to eminent personalities.

The recipients included education minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ghulam Farooq Wardak, president of South Korea’s Hanseo University Kee Sun Ham and nonagenarian economist Baidyanath Mishra.

Cambodia secretary of state, ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Kao Kim Hourn, received the honour in absentia.

On the occasion, 2,216 students were awarded bachelors and masters degrees in various disciplines.

Saurav Prakash of BTech bagged the founder’s gold medal for securing the highest cumulative grade point average across all programmes.

Abhaya Kumar Sahoo of M Tech and Girish Kumar Ajmera of BTech were conferred the same honour for highest scores in postgraduate and undergraduate courses.

Twelve students were awarded the chancellor’s gold medal, while 15 others got the vice-chancellor’s gold medal. Eighteen research scholars were awarded PhD degrees.

Varsity chancellor N. L. Mitra said in the face of the present economic recession, focus on agriculture and agriculturists could help the country achieve a higher growth rate.

Vice-chancellor P.P. Mathur said the university in its effort to boost research activities has been successful in getting at least 14 research projects from various national- and international-funded agencies with a total budget outlay of over Rs 4 crore.