Amritsar cultural, spiritual soul of India: President Droupadi Murmu

President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday described Amritsar as the cultural and spiritual soul of India. She was presiding over the golden jubilee convocation of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) here.

“Amritsar has Golden Temple, Durgiana Mandir and Jallianwala Bagh, which are cultural and spiritual symbols of India. The city is special in that sense,” the President said.

Addressing students and scholars, she described Guru Nanak Dev’s wisdom as a collective legacy for humanity. She said his teachings continue to guide society towards harmony and universal well-being. “Guru Nanak Dev gave the world a mantra for social harmony — ‘Naam jappo, kirt karo, vand chhako’. These principles, when practised, present a solution to most of our social problems,” she said.

The President conferred honorary doctorate degrees on Rajya Sabha member Vikramjit Singh Sahney and tech giant Jasvir Gill. She also awarded degrees and medals to meritorious students and scholars. In a lighter moment, Murmu said GNDU deserved additional credit in its NAAC accreditation as 99 per cent of award recipients at the convocation were women, calling it “a true sign of women empowerment through education”.

Punjab Governor and GNDU Chancellor Gulab Chand Kataria, Punjab Education Minister Harjot Bains and Vice-Chancellor Prof Karamjeet Singh were present at the ceremony.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Karamjeet Singh highlighted the university’s focus on AI-based and job-oriented programmes, skill development, entrepreneurship education and innovation, noting that GNDU had helped incubate over 50 startups.

Dr Lalit Jain, IAS, on central deputation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, was also awarded a PhD degree in Law.