"This is a rather special and indeed a sentimental moment for me. I am deeply touched by the initiative that has been taken by the Master and Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge to institute these scholarships in my name. It is a rare privilege and a warm gesture. I am truly grateful to all those who have done me this unique honour.

I must, however, offer my deepest and abiding gratitude to those teachers and tutors at Cambridge who accepted me as a student more than half-a-century ago. I must mention the names of R.F. Kahn, Lord Nicholas Kaldor, Ms. Joan Robinson, Prof. Maurice Dobb, Prof. R.C.O. Mathews and Sir F.H. Hinsley who was my tutor. I must also thank my colleagues and superiors at the University of Punjab who made it possible for me to take a scholarship and go to Cambridge. As I said at St. John's last year, "Cambridge made me". The values, the ideas and the discipline instilled in me at Cambridge have lasted through my life.

The University of Cambridge has a special place in the hearts and minds of our people. Jawaharlal Nehru studied there and so did Rajiv Gandhi. Sarojini Naidu studied there and so did Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis. J.C. Bose studied there and so did Homi Bhaba. And I have my friend Milan Banerjee also at Cambridge and if I am not mistaken our greatest living scientist Prof. Swaminathan also is a former student of Cambridge. I had the pleasure of the company of such distinguished fellow students as Amartya Sen, Jagdish Bhagwati, Rehman Subhan, Lal Jayawardena and the late Mehboob-Ul-Haq from Pakistan.

To be honoured in this manner by such a great institution is more than what I can ask for and certainly more than what I had ever dreamt of.

Scholarships are an important means of making education available to all sections of society. My life is a living example of what scholarships can do for those who come from less privileged sections of society. I spent the first ten years of my life in a village without electricity, without any modern infrastructure. That a person like me, with my modest background and means, was able to study at all, not to mention at Cambridge, is testimony to the role scholarships can play in social and economic empowerment of individual and society.

That is why our government has paid special attention to increasing scholarships, especially for children and youth from the less privileged sections of society. It is my sincere hope that every young person who has a burning desire to secure education is never denied the light of education for want of the means to finance it.

Scholarships extended to students from different countries are also an important means of strengthening relations between people across nations and societies. Thousands of Indian students travel abroad for education.

I would like to see a similar inflow of students from our region and across the world into India. We are a knowledge-based society and we should be open to the free flow of knowledge across national borders and boundaries.

I hope more institutions and corporations will step forward to fund educational scholarships for our students, both at home and abroad. I once again thank St. John's College, Rolls Royce India, BP India and Tata Sons, specially my friend, Ratan, for supporting this Scholarship Programme. I hope these scholarships will reinforce the enduring bond between India and Cambridge."