Why not distribute Doctorate titles like ration cards instead??

This issue has to do a lot with people like me, simply because it involves giving a title "Doctor" to a person who has excelled in a field like Sports.
I mean, why such a young person like Abhinav Bindra who has done nothing more in his life than winning an Olympic gold, that too just because his opponent messed up with the opportunity is so ridiculous and brings out the 'stupidity' of people offering the honorary title to him.
The fault lies not in SRM university but in us, as general public. The common man is so unaware of his daily dealings and how it affects the society as a whole. In the late nineties, there were not enough colleges to supply quality candidates for the software industry, which was witnessing a boom due to outsourcing. At this juncture, small colleges like SRM, Amity, etc took advantage of the situation and by way of good advertising, brand building techniques, emerged as successful money making universities charging exorbitant fees from prospective engineers and managers to build their infrastructure. Parents, who were lured by the software boom did not mind paying the fee demanded in anticipation of returns. Even banks offered loans easily and the system did meet the requirement of the industry.
The question to be asked after this background is "What authority do such universities have to confer a title", when these universities are not adding to any research value / quality output but only fulfilling the demand. IIT's, IIM's, IISc & regional universities have been there since ages and their decisions in conferring any title is subject to a lot of scrutiny being public institutions, but who will regulate the private owned & operated universities.
Even if these universities want to recognize talent, why dont they give titles to Sachin Tendulkar for his illustrious career, Dhoni for his achievement in T-20 cricket, Dhanraj Pillai for excellence in Hockey etc.
If this trend continues, we will surely see a day when titles are distributed like ration cards!!!