Indians going to the US for education need to be informed about the world-class institutions India has
My mind goes back to 1945 and 1946. I was a postgraduate student in pure mathematics. We were just six students. Shree Satyen Bose was our Professor. He used to wear Dhoti Kurta (snow-white). Our classes were on the 3rd floor and there were no lifts.
Bose and Einstein were collaborating on some research which resulted in the discovery of the Bose-Einstein (Bosen) theory. Bose used to love me and was keen that after finishing studies, I go to study astronomy at Mount Wilson observatory in America. He was disappointed when I did not continue my studies.
I came from a very poor family. My mother died of tuberculosis without proper treatment for want of funds in 1936. My family had great expectations from me, that I would earn money as I was brilliant in education. But I became brilliant in business. I started learning business from my uncle in 1946 side by side with studies.
I came into business full-fledged in 1946 and retired in 2000. I have been very close to the Ramakrishna Mission since 1951. The mission had a splendid educational institute at Narendrapur in the suburb of Calcutta with about 3,000 students. Of the top 10 students in Calcutta University, at least two students were from Narendrapur. I was dreaming of having something like Narendrapur but on a tiny scale run by the Ramakrishna Mission monks.
Shree Arjun Singh was the human resource development minister. He belonged to Madhya Pradesh where I had established a technologically challenging graphite electrode plant. I had become very close to him. He would attend lectures of Swami Atmanandaji, whom we used to invite to Bhopal for lectures.
The mission had a number of educational institutions but no university. They decided to establish one at Belur Math in their large compound on the banks of the Ganges. They decided to send a delegation of monks to meet Arjun Singh. Knowing my closeness with him, they asked me to accompany them. His response was good; the next meeting was fixed after a month.
The Ramakrishna Mission had three subjects in mind for the University: (i) disaster management whose practical experience they had in floods and famines; (ii) rural development; and (iii) poverty alleviation. I was keen that they included mathematics so that their performance could be compared internationally.
I met Arjun Singh alone and requested him, while interacting with them, to emphasise on mathematics. He was enthusiastic. The ministry did their homework. An additional secretary and other officers attended the meeting. Five senior monks of the mission and I attended the meeting. On Singh’s emphasis, mathematics was agreed upon.
He was highly impressed that the proposed vice-chancellor was a scholar of physics and was teaching it to graduates of the mission college and another monk, Mahan Maharaj, was a great scholar of mathematics and famous internationally.
The mission pointed out that the mathematics education would be expensive. Faculty will have to be paid liberally. As there are Nobel Laureates in other subjects, mathematics also has able laureates. The mission wanted a grant of Rs 40 crore and Singh agreed to that.
The mission started looking for a mathematics scholar to start this course. Fortunately, there was a Bengali mathematician, Abhijeet Dutt, at the Kyoto University who was engaged in research with Japanese students. He was keen to come to Bengal. With his coming back, the RK Mission University became a hub of mathematics in India. The board of governors included four monks of the mission and four officials of the Ministry. Singh nominated me on the board. He told the mission that I had vast experience in dealing with the bureaucracy and that I would be helpful. Thus I became a board member.
Unfortunately, Arjun Singh passed away in 2011. Dealing with the ministry became difficult.
The senior Sanyasinis of Sarda Math once came to visit the university. Abhijeet Dutt welcomed them in his half pants and a sports T-shirt. The Sanyasinis were not very comfortable. Nobody told anything to the professor but he started feeling uncomfortable. He resigned and went back to Kyoto. This was unfortunate. I wish the mission had handled the professor better.
After the demise of Arjun Singh, I found my name had disappeared from the board without my knowledge. I was not happy.
In 2020, I came across an IIT dean. I informed him that I have four thousand students studying for higher secondary at four places where we have schools. I requested his assistance. He visited one of our institutes and was highly impressed with our research activities. We were looking forward to some kind of association with IIT. But nothing came up.
Recently, my daughter became very enthusiastic for our schools. Therefore, I fixed a meeting with the Dean of an IIT. The Dean was warm and he briefed me about their activities in mathematics research done by postgraduate mathematicians.
Similarly, I am now associated with the Harish-Chandra Maths research institute at Allahabad. With my daughter’s involvement and my good health and alert mind, I am hopeful that I will be alive to see India produce an able laureate in mathematics.
I requested the Vice-Chancellor, Swami Atmapriyanadaji, to include artificial intelligence and I donated Rs 15 lakh for that. He was also thinking about artificial intelligence. One of his students is teaching artificial intelligence at the South African University; he has agreed to join soon. I hope something emerges.
I look across at my friends and my own family. My grandson went to the United States to study mathematics. After two years, he wanted to specialise in some branch of mathematics whose expertise was available at Cambridge; he moved to Cambridge. I was hopeful that he would make his mark internationally but he lost interest in mathematics.
It is difficult for me to evaluate whether his education abroad for five years did him some good. He took up music and joined Fayaaz Dagar, where I also joined him to renew my interest in vocal music. He lost interest in vocal music too and joined sarod, and moved to Bombay because his teacher was in Poona.
One of my grandsons from my daughter’s side did his graduation abroad and entered the business. It is difficult to conclude whether his foreign education was helpful.
Similarly, my granddaughter from my daughter's side did architecture in the US with great enthusiasm. On her return, she joined an architecture firm where she did well. But she is no longer in the field of architecture.
The younger generation of rich people is not accustomed to hard work for a livelihood.
They are guided by their temporary whims.
The US earns billions of dollars from students coming from China and India. India spends a large amount in foreign exchange on Indians studying abroad. Affluent families send them abroad even after higher secondary education. After graduation, the US is well equipped for studies in artificial intelligence, space travel, mathematics, etc. But what do we get?
The Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Atomic Research Institute are world-class. IITs are growing well. Indians going to the US for education need to be informed about the international status of some such institutions.
(The author is Emeritus Chairman, LNJ Bhilwara)
