Postponed convocation results in 2 PhDs conferred posthumously

Nagpur: The Nagpur University would be posthumously conferring Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) on two teachers during its 108th convocation on Friday.
Among its 870 recipients, Samir Hiwarkar and Chakradhar Thawkar would be honoured with the prestigious degree by chancellor BS Koshyari, who would be attending the ceremony online. But both the candidates had unfortunately expired during the second wave of Coronavirus. Now their family members would be handed over their degrees for which they worked hard for years, as per the NU officials.
Hiwarkar completed his PhD while working in a private job under guide Madhuri Lele. Though he had submitted his thesis, it couldn’t proceed ahead as the experts failed to check his research work. NU then appointed another panel of experts to go through his project which led to a delay of six months. On April 1, NU issued a notification in his name, but he succumbed to the virus on April 9.
Thawkar was working as a principal at Lal Bahadur College. He had completed his research under guidance of Rajendra Watane. NU was also going to felicitate him with a gold medal in the name of Mahant Nagraj Baba. Even his notification was out in February, but he expired on June 1.
According to NU officials, he would have himself received his degree if the convocation was held by the university during its earlier dates -- April 3 and then on April 11. But the event was deferred, due to the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
NU declares 685 results in a month
Infamous for an inordinate delay in results declaration a decade ago, NU has set a record of sorts by declaring 685 results of winter-2020 examinations in a month. According to NU media coordinator Rajendra Pathak, the university conducted 926 exams from February to June and had already announced 685 results in 24 working days of June, which comes to about 30 per day. NU had held the winter-2020 exams in three phases, but it was delayed due to Covid-19 second wave striking the nation. Out of 376 results in the first phase, 301 were declared, while 92/130 in the second phase and 292/420 in the third phase are already out.