Malcolm Adiseshiah
Encyclopedia
Malcolm Sathiyanathan Adiseshiah (April 18, 1910 – November 21, 1994), was an India
n development economist and educator. He was awarded Padma Bhushan
by the Government of
India
for his outstanding services to the country in 1976. UNESCO
has awarded ‘The Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize’ every year from 1998 in recognition of the outstanding contribution he made to education
and to literacy
in particular.
of philosophy
and the first Indian principal
of Voorhees College
, Vellore
, Tamil Nadu
State, India. His mother, a talented musician, had studied up to the Senior Cambridge
(High School) and was the first woman Councilor of the Vellore
Municipality. She taught all her children till they were ten years of age. All of them were highly accomplished, and four of her children obtained doctorate
s: William, the eldest, in philosophy at Cambridge; Malcolm in economics
at the London School of Economics
, Padmini in education
and Noble in medicine
.
Adiseshiah studied in Voorhees High School
, where he obtained two double promotions. He completed his secondary school
education at the age of thirteen to join Voorhees College for his ‘intermediate’ course (equivalent to +2 course now.) Then he shifted to Loyola College, Chennai
for his BA (Honours), where Ramaswamy Venkataraman, the former President of India
, was his classmate. There was a healthy competition between the two and Adiseshiah snatched the coveted first rank in the University examinations. Venkatraman later remembered that Adiseshiah was extremely punctual even during college days and was someone like a book worm with intense concentration. After a six year teaching interregnum
at St. Paul’s College in Calcutta (now Kolkata
), he proceeded to King's College, Cambridge
for his MA
(Banking) and then to the London School of Economics (1937–40) for pursuing his doctoral research with specialization in currency
. Late Dr. R.N. Poduval, who served in FAO and then was Chairman of Centre for Research in Economic and Social Development, Chennai was two years his junior in LSE.
In later life, after his retirement from UNESCO, Adiseshiah has fondly recalled his training and research;
in 1930 and continued till 1936. There he worked out plans for rural service programme in the college in cooperation with Sriniketan
and Shantiniketan.
He married Helen Paranjothi.
After obtaining his doctorate
, in 1940, he joined Madras Christian College
, Chennai
, when he was only thirty years of age, as its first professor
and head of the department of economics
. He remained there till 1946. Prof.K.N. Raj, founder of Centre for Developmental Studies, Tiruvananthapuram, and G. Jagathpathy, former Chief Secretary of the government of Madhya Pradesh
were his students in the 1941-44 batch of BA Honours course. Raj has recalled about
At a time when the Madras University was focused on Marshallian economics, Adiseshiah broke new ground by introducing study of imperfect - monopolistic competitions. He pioneered teaching Keynesian economics
to South Indian students. As books were not available on these subjects in the library at that time, Adiseshiah lent them from his personal collection. He conducted trial tests when he left students by themselves without any invigilation. He introduced seminar
as a pedagogical device in the college. It threw open the challenge, and the responsibility, of thinking, instructing and understanding to the group as a whole including the taught and the teacher. Jagathpathy has recalled that ‘the resulting sense of participation was indeed exhilarating.’ 3
Adiseshiah exhorted his students to visit the neighboring villages to Tambaram
, where the college was situated, to study and collect data about the living conditions of the inhabitants including their education, health, size of the family and other particulars. To break the aloofness of the villagers, he found an ingenious solution. He started a Rural Service League in the college, and led the members taking with them first aid kit
s containing medicines for common ailments such as ointments, eyedrops and laxative
s. K.N. Raj has asserted:
His belief in the necessity for integration between theory and practice of economics remained with him till the end. The last popular lecture which Adiseshiah delivered at Stella Maris College
on Sep. 8, 1994, published in the December issue of MIDS Bulletin, exhorted the teachers and students to test their theories and all their learning at the practical field level. He told them that the economics student should identify the people below poverty line in the village and help them to rise above it through various forms of self-employment
. He considered that this was part of the learning process for both the teacher and the taught.
He has recorded that his own views were shaped
His publications in 1940s included books on banking, rural development
and agricultural transformation. He was engaged, with his fellow economists in the Madras University, in work on planning the future industrialization of India and Madras State. Then he realized the curious dichotomy prevailing between thought and action, between theory and practice in the leadership of Indian Economic Association. As a measure to rectify the hiatus, he got himself elected to its executive board. However his teaching career at Madras Christian College came to an abrupt end due to private position he took in relation to that of the authorities regarding his marriage.
Helen Paranjothi bore him a son and a daughter. In 1946 his marriage fell apart. Adiseshiah fell in love with Elizabeth Pothen, who was then professor of history
at the Madras Women’s Christian College. The separation between Adiseshiah and Helen Paranjothi was bitter and prolonged. He turned a renegade. The annulment
of the marriage came only in 1956. Meanwhile Adiseshiah married Elizabeth Pothen.
during 1946-48. This association helped him later to support steps for the construction of World University Service Centre in Chennai
and women’s hostel
s in Delhi
and Rajasthan
. In that period, he was also connected with the World Student Christian Federation
and Student Volunteer Service.
A United Nations
Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization (ECO/CONF) was convened in London
from 1 to 16 November 1945 which decided to create a new organization to establish the “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” and, in so doing, prevent the outbreak of another world war
. Thirty-seven countries founded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Its Constitution to promote collaboration between member states in the fields of education
, science
and culture
was signed on 16 November 1945 and came into force on 4 November 1946. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
, former President of India
, was an old student of Adiseshiah’s father and knew the sterling qualities of Adiseshiah well. He made a referral to Sir Julian Huxley
, then Director-General of UNESCO, who invited Adiseshiah to the organization in 1948. He was posted as Deputy Director of the department of exchange of persons. In that capacity Adiseshiah signed the UNESCO Fellowship letter in 1949 to M. S. Swaminathan
, eminent scientist and administrator, to pursue research at the Agricultural University in Wageningen
, the Netherlands which turned out to be the starting point of his illustrious career.
In the early stages, UNESCO was acting as an international clearing house
in the areas of education and science, arranging exchange of educational and scientific documentation between countries and specialists and organizing seminar
s and conference
s. It helped to rebuild war-damaged educational institutions and libraries in Allied countries
. It acted as an effective medium in the training and exchange of scientists of Europe
and the USA. The first International Adult Education
Conference was held under UNESCO auspices at Elsinore
, Denmark
forging an international programme for continuing education
to workers.
On 14 August 1949, the Economic and Social Council
of the United Nations (ECOSOC) adopted Resolution 222 (IX) establishing the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for economic development of underdeveloped countries. This resolution could be read as a spelling out of ‘the common welfare of mankind’ proclaimed by the charter of the UN. It was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly
in Nov. 1949. Economic development was recognized to be the key to national progress and was implicitly linked to the creation of national capabilities through education, training and scientific advance. All UN agencies, including UNESCO, were to implement this resolution.
This marked the beginning of the second stage in the evolution of UNESCO. This was the period when many Asia
n countries became independent and joined UNESCO. The organization planned and began execution of an operational programme. It consisted roughly of four parts:
(a) continuation of the earlier clearing house activities;
(b) operation of demonstration centres such as the Fundamental Social Education Training Centres in India;
(c) major projects in specific countries such as the project for universal primary education in Latin America;
(d) programme of Technical Aid from UNESCO’s budget. Three fourths of UNESCO activities in the fifties consisted of the fourth part.
Adiseshiah’s exceptional abilities were quickly recognized in UNESCO and were rewarded by promotion to the post of Director of technical assistance department in Mar. 1950, when he was aged forty, thus turning out to be one of its six top executives. He was authorized to represent the Director-General at the technical assistance board set up by the UN.
Adiseshiah was compelled to jump into uncharted territory, with no compass
or guide. Transfer of knowledge, skill and technology from the developed to developing countries, which varied significantly in their size, variety, cultures and capacity to absorb was a very complicated task. He realized from the outset that education was the key instrument to achieve such a massive transfer. The number of member countries increased from less than sixty at the time when he joined UNESCO to one hundred and twenty seven when he left it.
Adiseshiah’s key contribution to UNESCO was to direct international and national funds to education as a crucial component for the promotion of socio-economic development of the developing countries. He played a prominent role in converting the organization from a cloistered club of developed nations into a global association concerned with science, culture, education and development of all nations. Most of the new entrants had gained their independence only then. They were most in need of the transfer but had the least capacity to attract, absorb and make full use of the resources, information, data and expertise. Adiseshiah and his team had to devise methods, techniques and means for transfer knowledge, skills, technology and science to suit each individual member country, and in many instances, each individual purpose within a country. They also had to scout for resources for these massive transfers.
About this period, Rene Ochs, a fellow member of staff, who later rose to be a Director at UNESCO, writes:
UNESCO's tentative proposals were submitted for Technical Assistance for Economic Development in 1950-51. Adiseshiah organized the new department, established area desks corresponding to UN geographical regions, instituted the procedures and methods of operation and set-up a ‘report and information unit’ which produced periodically a technical assistance bulletin.
In 1955, he was promoted as one among the three Assistant Directors General of UNESCO and put in charge of development.
The third stage of UNESCO’s activities dated from the early sixties when many Africa
n countries became independent and joined it. In 1962, he was promoted to the post of Deputy Director General of UNESCO. Then he was the sole incumbent to that office. The UNESCO began organizing important regional conferences of ministers of education or ministers of sciences along with ministries of economic development
. The first Asian Ministers of Education Conference was held in Karachi
in 1959 and the first conference for Africa in Addis Ababa
in 1960.
Sylvain Lourie, Assistant Director General of UNESCO, writing in 1991, has commented that
Adiseshiah was responsible for the development of the Karachi Plan for Universal Primary Education for Asia, the Addis Ababa
and Santiago
plans for the African and Latin America
n educational development and the corresponding science plans for Asia
, Africa
and Latin America. He worked in tandem with David Owen, Executive Chairman of the Technical Assistance Board to convince donor countries, since the financing of the expanded programme rested on voluntary contributions made by them at pledging conferences. He soon recognised the need for looking to additional sources and established relations with the International Development Association
(IDA), Inter-American Development Bank
and other regional development bank
s. UNESCO approached the World Bank
, also known as International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD) for medium trade credit
for funding a project in Tunisia
in 1962. The IBRD till then was concentrating on investments in physical capital. It needed the persuasive skills of Adiseshiah to shift IBRD’s focus exclusively from expansion of physical capital towards the development of human capital
as well, especially extension of education. He was chiefly instrumental in negotiating the memorandum of understanding between International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and UNESCO in 1964. He introduced flexibility in utilizing multilateral aid. For instance, he used a substantial part of USSR contribution for technical assistance for establishing IIT, Mumbai. The expanded technical assistance programme was merged with the United Nations Special Fund to form the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) which was launched in 1966. He was able to formulate in each country a programme of technical and financial assistance, which he started with a global outlay of $ 3 million per annum in 1950. When he retired from the organization, the outlay had increased to $ 300 million!
In his own words,
A resourceful, imaginative, creative and quick-witted person was required to master the multifarious activities and to co-ordinate them. Adiseshiah filled the bill in all respects.
Adiseshiah kindled efficiency by arousing team spirit
. He had mastered the art of training a team to fulfil the aspirations of the mission. He made two rounds of round the world trips each year which took him to as many as twenty five countries in succession, and yet he did not get tired out. He organized more than 120 projects in the various countries of the world for their economic and social development through education, science and culture. His amazing resilience surprised even his closest colleagues.
He had visited all the hundred and twenty seven member states of the UN several times and had used all forms of transport. He visited each one of the Third World
countries that was becoming member of the UNESCO, studied its economic situation first hand, assessed its need for literacy and education and made recommendations as to how those needs could be met in his ‘Mission Reports.’ He never wrote a Mission Report about any country before familiarizing himself with the features of each situation. Each of his ‘Mission Reports’ were reported to be pioneering contributions about the specific regions on which the reports focused to the emerging discipline of development economics.
The then Director-General, Rene Maheu
, was reluctant to let him retire in 1970, when he was 60. But Adiseshiah insisted on leaving. So Rene Maheu obtained the sanction of the Executive Board of UNESCO to replace Adiseshiah with two Deputy Director-Generals!
There are in the UNESCO archives 118 Adiseshiah files covering, even by a rough estimate, 48000 pages.
As UNESCO official, he had rendered lots of assistance to Indian projects. The publication of UNESCO Art Album on Ajantha
was mainly due to his yeomen efforts and was due to his vision that the heritage site
s of humankind must be preserved for all posterity.
UNESCO assisted in the setting up of National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT), New Delhi
: the establishment of first TV broadcasts in India; the reorganization of Films Division of India; the provision of twenty renowned Professors of engineering and science; the supply of $ 12 million worth of equipment to IITs of Bombay and Kharagpur; the expansion of aeronautical engineering in Madras Institute of Technology
; and the provision of experts and equipment to Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology
in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu
.
This is a modest catalogue of what he did to India. He was instrumental in rendering such assistance to all member nations of UNESCO with special emphasis to Asian, African and South American nations.
Even after his retirement from UNESCO, till 1991, he had visited countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia at their invitation three times a year to advise them on their development plans.
In January 1981, Adiseshiah was elected Chairman of the Governing Board of the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning
(IIEP) for a five year period. He was re-elected for a second term for five years from 1986. He was the Chairman of the jury for the selection of the international literacy prize winners in 1987, 1991 and 1992. He delivered the Presidential Address at the World Literacy Day
function in Paris in 1989.
With a lively interest in environmental science
, he was a member of the UN International Committee of Consultants on Environment. He was the co-coordinator of the UNESCO Working Group on the New International Economic Order. He reviewed India’s experience with the UN during the first forty years of its existence in a frank assessment of the role of the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the powerful interests working behind the scenes in shaping their policies in a book which he edited.9
well in advance. Just before his return to Madras (as Chennai was then named), in Sep. 1970, he and his wife Elizabeth registered in Paris
a trust fund for starting Madras Institute of Development Studies
(MIDS hereafter). MIDS was conceived to undertake studies and research on developmental issues on the economy, polity and society with special reference to Tamil Nadu
state. MIDS started functioning from Jan. 1971 in one of their properties in Gandhinagar, Adyar, a Chennai suburb, with Adiseshiah as its first Director. From its inception, Adiseshiah totally identified himself with the Institute and immersed himself completely with its activities. He started publication of ‘Bulletin – Madras Development Seminar Series’ from Feb. 1971 and wrote every month its editorial
s without a break for nearly a quarter century covering international, national and Tamil Nadu issues till it ceased publication after his demise in Dec. 1995. ‘This surely’ wrote, Prof.S. Subramanian, in the prolegomena of the special issue of the Bulletin bought out after his demise, ‘is the stuff of which archives are made’10
Soon the Institute became a beehive of academic activities. Annual inter-disciplinary research methodology workshops were conducted for the Ph.D.
scholars and guides; by an arrangement with Indian Council of Social Science Research
, (ICSSR) annual meeting of the scientists of southern universities was conducted; and annual compilation of the census
of social science research in the four southern states was undertaken. A monthly seminar series conducted in the Institute created a link between scholars and the general public. He was keen on bringing out quality research publications. Under his stewardship, the Institute’s research activities, documentation and publications established its creditable reputation in the country and abroad. He took a keen interest in the growth of MIDS library. The Adiseshiahs’ contributed liberally to it, and had the satisfaction of hearing scholars declare that it was one of the best source of reference on social sciences in Tamil Nadu State.
It was at the Sixtieth Anniversary Commemoration lecture of the economics department of the Madras University, delivered by K.N. Raj on Nov. 16, 1976 with Adiseshiah as Vice Chancellor presiding, that Raj recalled Prof. Gilbert Slater
, the first Professor, initiating village studies in the department in 1916 itself. Adiseshiah kept it in his memory. Soon this led to the resurvey of ‘Slater villages’ in MIDS and in other places. Because of the resurveys at different points of time, now we have a continuous record of changes in villages in South India over a period nearly ninety years!
J.P. Naik, then Secretary of Indian Council of Social Science Research, proposed in 1975 that MIDS should be reorganized as a national research centre within the framework of ICSSR. After negotiations, Adiseshiah accepted the proposal and in Mar. 1977, MIDS was reconstituted as a national institute under the joint sponsorship of ICSSR and the government of Tamil Nadu. The Adiseshiahs’ gifted the new national institute land, a building, a library, furniture, equipment and also a generous endowment. Adiseshiah relinquished Directorship of the institute in 1978 and handed it over to Prof. C.T. Kurien.
In that year, he was appointed Chairman of its Governing Council and continued in that position till his death. He devoted considerable time and effort to discharge his duties as Honorary Fellow and Chairman of MIDS. He made outstanding contribution in material, organizational and intellectual terms to its expansion and progress. He was immensely fulfilled by his association with MIDS as evidenced by his ‘biographical notes’ which began by avowing that he was Honorary Fellow and Chairman of MIDS. When he was in station in Chennai, he would never fail to visit his office in MIDS unless some other official duty (of which he had several) demanded his presence elsewhere. His presence in the monthly seminars was equally certain.
As Chairman, he evinced keen interest in all activities of the Institute. The way he conducted the meetings of the Governing Council, the meticulous care with which he handled the agenda
items, the intense attention he paid to every detail, the insistence that the minutes
of the meetings should be made available to the members within three days and the concern he had to attract highly qualified faculty to the Institute from all regions of India were all reflections of his exceptional caliber as an institution builder. At the same time, he never interfered in the day to day activities of the institute which were within the administrative province of the Director. The faculty and staff had easy access to him. But they had to finish their business with him as quickly as possible since he would signal his craving to return to his unfinished work the very next moment after their business was heard or resolved!
As Dr. Barbara Harris-White of IDC, Oxford University writes,
In early 1990s he apprehended that the Central and State governments might not fulfil their financial commitments to the Institute to the fullest extent necessary. It made him sad. With his wide contacts, he, who had succeeded in finding resources for UNESCO’s huge technical assistance programme, could have easily raised additional resources for the Institute had he solicited for it. But he was reluctant to ask. He who insisted that all departments of Madras University should combine both teaching and research programmes failed to introduce a teaching programme in his own institute. Nor was he successful in construction of accommodation
for the doctoral scholars of his institute.
. His attraction to planning continued throughout his UNESCO days since he had a hand in devising many plans for UN technical assistance. After his return from UNESCO to Chennai, Adiseshiah was appointed member of the Tamil Nadu Planning Commission from 1972 to 76. He was instrumental in the preparation of many perspective plans including the one on education. He was also a member of the Steering Committee to the Union Planning Commission in this period. From then on, he was associated with the planning process in various capacities both in Tamil Nadu and Centre. This stimulated him to present every year, the then much anticipated, renowned series of ‘mid-year reviews of economy’ in the seminar
at India International Centre
in New Delhi
from 1976 to 1993. They provided grist to the mills of academics, bureaucrats and news commentators about the prevailing state of the health of the economy and the prescription for remedies. Truly, they were gigantic single man initiatives. The India International Centre still carries on the practice of the seminar on the Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy, the proceedings of which are published.
Similarly, he provided a probing critique of the publication ‘Tamilnadu – An Economic Appraisal’ every year at MIDS making it imperative for the state to collect and present accurate and timely data about the economy of the state He used those occasions to highlight the achievements as well as the deficiencies in the planning process both in the Centre and in the Tamil Nadu
State. He, as its convener, was responsible for making the ‘Economic Affairs Group’ of the India International Centre an animated, rousing body which conducted panel discussions and seminars regularly on pressing economic issues which contributed enormously to refine the planning process.
He prepared a fifteen year perspective plan for the University. He decentralised its functions. He divested the university’s responsibility of preparing the syllabi
for matriculation course and conduct of the matriculation examinations. He was categorical that university should confine itself to higher education and that school education should not be part of its responsibilities. He centralised admission to PG courses in the university with instruction that the selections should be processed with merit as the chief criterion subject to the provisions for reservations for the under-privileged. He fashioned schools of science, arts and languages. The conveners of these schools were requested to give him weekly feed back of academic progress and the needs of the departments. He started new departments such as econometrics
, education, adult education
, area studies
, molecular biology
, polymer science
s and defense studies. The Institute of Basic Medical Sciences got its own building and the necessary laboratory facilities in his period.
Before he took over, most University departments were manned by a Professor and a Reader, and were exclusively concentrating on research. Till then most departments avoided undertaking teaching responsibility. He insisted that all university departments should combine both teaching and research programmes. His new policy meant more courses, more staff and more students in the University. The state government was reluctant to extend financial support. But he persuaded the UGC to grant additional funds to meet the immediate requirements. He initiated the system of rotation of the headship of departments once in every three years. He was keenly aware of the need for inter-disciplinary research. He set up an inter-departmental council consisting of all the heads of departments and senior professors. A committee of conveners of schools of cognate disciplines also was constituted. These bodies met regularly under the chairmanship of the VC. The minutes were circulated within 24 hours urging follow up action.
He gave autonomy to the two post-graduate centres of the university at Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore
and appointed directors to head them so that they need not have to depend on Chennai for every decision. This paved the way for their smooth transition into new universities at a later date. On the basis of the recommendation of the Kothari Commission, he gave autonomy to a few select colleges which had achieved reputation for their excellence.
He encouraged thorough updating of the courses. He regularly sent notes to Boards of Studies drawing attention to current relevancies and applied possibilities of the subjects concerned. He introduced the semester system in all the institutions falling within the jurisdiction of the University. Alongside, he introduced examination reform. He designed a system in which 40 percent of the marks allotted to a student in a subject were based on continuous assessment by the teacher concerned (through assignments, seminars, internal tests and the like) and 60 percent on external examinations. He constituted a monitoring cell to oversee the working of the system. A new format was adopted for the question papers. Three categories of questions – short ‘objective’, medium ‘concept’ and long ‘essay’ types were judiciously mixed to test the comprehension of the students at different levels. He arranged reorientation courses to the college teachers for adaptation of the new system. He introduced a rural reconstruction and community service scheme and made it part of the curriculum. It allowed its smooth substitution as the National Service Scheme.
He launched the central valuation system to expedite publication of university examination results. He computerized the processes for conduct of the examinations and the publication of results. He permitted the revaluation of answer scripts on payment of prescribed fees to bring transparency in the procedure of examinations.
He initiated the steps for the construction of houses for the non-teaching staff of the University at the housing colony in Palavakkam
, Chennai.
He was accused with toeing the line of Ms. Indira Gandhi
during ‘the Emergency’ by inconsiderately suspending a few University faculties on instructions from the central government. However, Prof. C.T. Kurien has recalled an instance which shows quite the reverse. Kurien had then been invited by Adiseshiah to be the Director of MIDS which was being actively considered to be a constituent of ICSSR national institutes. Kurien informed Adiseshiah that he had a confrontation with the police in the second half of 1976 because he had taken a stand against the ‘emergency regime’. So he told Adiseshiah that he was free to withdraw his offer of directorship. Adiseshiah was reported to have replied:
“One of trustees of MIDS (M.S. Appa Rao) has been arrested and the director-to-be has been warned. If they want to withhold (national) recognition to the Institute, let them. But there will be no change in my decisions. And you do what you think is right.”12
He asserted the autonomy of the university by implementing the scales of pay recommended by University Grants Commission
to the University faculty even though the Tamil Nadu government had not taken a decision about it till then!
Another widely prevalent view among Tamil
teachers of those days was that Adiseshiah was trying to lessen the importance of Tamil by allowing the Board of Studies in Commerce to take away the hours allotted to Tamil teaching in B.Com course and transfer them to the teaching of commerce subjects. Adiseshiah’s inputs to the cause of Tamil language are given separately in a subsequent section. In reality Adiseshiah would not interfere in the decisions of the Boards of Studies.
. A major part of his UNESCO
service was spent in formulating educational programmes for the developing world.
The General Conference of UNESCO in its fifteenth session authorized the publication of a work designed to clarify the basic concepts concerning the contribution of education, science and culture to development. In the course of the discussions about the resolution, reference was made to the many speeches of Adiseshiah on related themes delivered in Oxford
, United Kingdom
in 1961; Cambridge
, UK and Tananarive, Madagascar
in 1962; Madras, India
in 1963; Toronto
, Canada
in 1964; Washington, DC, USA in 1968 and many others. He was requested to write a book based on the facts and ideas presented in those speeches About that book, U Thant
, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his ‘Foreword’ writes:
That was the respect which he commanded in UN as an educationalist of eminence.
He undertook a survey of the school education in Tamil Nadu
in the late 1970s and published an influential report
. His contributions to the growth dynamics of education are numerous. These include the devising of the curricula for primary
and secondary education
, vocationalisation, preparation of teaching material, introduction of science and technology at appropriate levels, preparation of syllabi for collegiate education, examination reform, giving a new thrust to the quality, content, direction and methodology of social science research, compilation and analysis of educational data and financing of education.
He was instrumental in the setting up of the Asian Social Science Research Council, New Delhi
and was its first President. He was a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education, the Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Council of Teacher Education. The ICSSR requested him to undertake a review of its work and to suggest the lines along which it should develop. His meticulously compiled two volume report, one on retrospect and the other on prospect, which had been an influential guide in the development of social science of research in India at that period.
He was the Chairman of the panel which reviewed the functioning of Tata Institute of Social Sciences
(TISS). Andhra University
entrusted to him the review of the working of the social science departments at Waltair
. He chaired the committee set up to recommend the establishment of Mother Teresa Women's University
in Kodaikanal
, Tamil Nadu.
s Functional Literacy Project of 1967 was among the earliest attempts in India. Adiseshiah founded the Tamil Nadu
Board of Continuing Education in 1976 and took all steps to sustain and advance its activities. He was its President for four terms. He chaired the Non-Formal Education Curriculum Preparation Committee in 1976. When the National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) was launched on October 2, 1978, Adiseshiah, then Vice-Chancellor of Madras University was appointed President of the Indian Adult Education Association. Soon he became a member of the Rajya Sabha
and used the opportunity to expand the adult education programme to cover all parts of the country.
He was president of the Viswayuvak Kendra. He was a member of the UGC Standing Committee on Adult Education
. When the country launched the National Literacy Mission on November 5, 1988, Adiseshiah was the natural choice for its leadership. The Mission searched for an alternative agency and a strategy to create a country wide churning for literacy and created the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS) in August 1989 and invited Adiseshiah to be its President. BGVS facilitated the shift of the adult education from a government controlled, government sponsored programme to acquire a status of a mass movement. Adiseshiah had the satisfaction of witnessing the declaration of Ernakulam district
in Kerala as having achieved the status of total literacy on February 4, 1990. The new premises of the State Resources Centre of the Tamil Nadu Board of Continuing Education was named after him and was declared open on his 83rd birthday on April 18, 1992.
, who was for long a cabinet minister in the DMK and AIADMK ministries in Tamil Nadu
, recalled in the memorial meeting held in the Centenary Hall of the Madras University in December 1995 that Adiseshiah refused to accept the offer of a Governorship of a state in 1977. He said that a central cabinet minister asked Adiseshiah’s consent for appointment as Governor of Goa. Adiseshiah immediately refused the offer stating that he was not willing to accept any task which would cause his long separation from his beloved MIDS. The central Cabinet minister, after consulting with the then Prime Minister of India
, offered Adiseshiah the Governorship of Tamil Nadu, knowing full well that it was against the prevailing convention that no person born in any state would be appointed Governor of that state.
Adiseshiah was in a tight corner. He requested for a day’s time to make up his mind. Next day, during the morning constitutional along the Marina beach, he asked Nedunchezhian, who was his walk companion for many years, for his opinion about the offer. Nedunchezhian replied that Adiseshiah was always a man of action and that the Governor of a state was more a ceremonial post which would only put fetters around his multi-pronged activities. Later in the day, Adiseshiah conveyed to the central cabinet minister that he was not accepting the offer of the Governorship of Tamil Nadu. Nedunchezhian also recalled that it was the only occasion when Adiseshiah consulted him about a ‘political’ decision in his more than two decades of friendship! Surprisingly, Adiseshiah had sought the opinion of his personal staff, including his car drivers, whether he should accept the governorship or not!!14
. His erudition and experience was appreciated and his speeches, mainly on economics and education, were listened to with respect. They were interspersed with homely proverbs and quotations. He urged quick redistribution of land. He recommended imposition of income tax
on rich peasants. He pleaded for a level playing field and opposed special concessions to non-resident Indians, when they invested in India. He longed for larger two-way traffic between the Central and State Planning Commissions. He advocated a national energy policy. He opposed the nationalization of sick mills in the private sector
. In education, he was opposed to haphazard expansion and steadfastly stood for consolidation. He provided a strong voice for teachers. As a humanist, he was deeply concerned with reduction of poverty, especially in the rural areas. He showed his courage to dissent when the occasion demanded. He provided a distinguished example of, a role model for, what a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha should be.
, adult education
, women's education, non-formal education, continuing education
, technical education, science education
, university education, research methods, and the like. Social sciences commanded a great deal of his attention. But he had a much wider perspective. He had written extensively on the environment
and edited a book on that theme. He was very concerned about nuclear energy
. Globalisation and new international economic order drew a lot of his notice. Rural
poverty
and inequality was another of his core topics. Next to education, these occupied his prime attention. Price policy, foreign trade, economic planning
, statistics
, panchayat raj and waste land development
are among the many areas on which he had written. His writings were marked by analytical rigour.
He employed all printed media such as book
s, report
s, journal
s, magazine
s and newspaper
s to carry his message. The final issue of MIDS Bulletin (Vol.XXV No.1, Nov. 1995) contains an incomplete list of his written material, classified into editorials, books, edited books, presidential addresses, convocation addresses, keynote addresses, inaugural addresses, valedictory addresses, journals/magazines, newspaper articles, papers for souvenirs/commemoration volumes /essays /surveys /books and miscellaneous papers /lectures. They cover a full 23 pages! They do not include his many volumes in the UNESCO
archives, the numerous reports of committees and commissions in which he was a member, his writings in the period 1930-48 and most of his writings as Vice Chancellor of Madras University.
, but was no chauvinist. He was instrumental in obtaining UNESCO
assistance to the programmes of translation of Tamil classics
. The Ayodhya canto of the Ramayana as told by Kamban translated from the Tamil by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was published in 1961 under UNESCO-sponsored programmes and publications. The Interior landscape: love poems from a classical Tamil anthology translated by A.K.Ramanujan was published in 1967 under the same programme.
He encouraged publication of research articles in Tamil. MIDS brought out, and still brings out, Tamil translations and Tamil books.
He brought out the Hindi
and Tamil versions of UNESCO’s journal
‘Courier’.
He lent a helping hand for the launching of the World University Centre in Spur Tank Road in Chennai
.
He desired the heritage site
s to be well preserved. So he arranged for UNESCO funding for renovation of Sri Rangam Ranganatha, Madurai Meenakshi, Thanjavur Brahadeeswara and seven other temple
s. He initiated a pioneering research work by a French scholar tracing the history and traditions of Sri Rangam temple in Tamil Nadu
.
He lent a helping hand in obtaining assistance from UNESCO and French government for organizing the Third World Tamil Conference in Paris
in 1969. As Acting Director-General of UNESCO, he inaugurated it, delivering his address in three languages, Tamil, English and French.
The speed with which he acted could be gauzed from the fact that the General Conference of UNESCO at its session in November 1968 accepted the recommendation of the Second International Conference on Tamil Studies held at Madras on 3-10, January 1968 and authorized the Director General of UNESCO to assist in the creation of an International Institute of Tamil Studies at Madras. In 1970, his last year in UNESCO, he had the satisfaction of witnessing the setting up of the Institute at Madras, Tamil Nadu.
Though it was personally inconvenient for him because he had lost touch with the language during his long sojourn in Europe, he still would write articles in Tamil whenever requested to do so. At a function to commemorate his 83rd birthday on April 18, 1992 when the new office premises of the Tamil Nadu Board of Continuing Education was named after him, he gave a stirring speech in chaste Tamil which was well appreciated.
He strove hard to reply in Tamil all letters addressed to him in Tamil.
He was also a member of the Royal Economic Society
.
He was a member of the Governing Body of Centre for Development Studies
(CDS) since 1980 and was its Chairman for six years 1986-92. It was under his chairmanship that the Centre entered into an agreement with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities and the Government of India
for conducting an international training programme in population and development.
Adisehsiah succeeded Prof. Lakdawala as Chairman of Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) and last presided over the Governing Body meeting on November 11, 1994. It was in the inaugural address to the seminar
on Panchayati Raj
in Karnataka
in October 1985 at ISS that Adiseshiah made the following often quoted comment:
Adiseshiah was ceaselessly working for the incorporation of elections to Panchayat institutions in the Constitution. He took the initiative to activate studies on the working of panchayat institutions both in MIDS and CDS.
He was Chairman of the Council for Social Development, Delhi; Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, (Now Mumbai); Tata- McGraw Hill Publishing Company, Bombay (Now Mumbai).
When he was in UNESCO
, he played a prime role in 1961 in getting affiliation to the India International Centre
(IIC) to that body and to grant recognition to it as one of the three major centres in the world for the appreciation of Eastern and Western structures. In 1976 he became a member of IIC. Soon after he became a member of its Council for Cultural Studies and was elevated to its Executive Committee. In 1978 he was elected a Life Trustee of IIC and Chairman of the Standing Finance Committee. In 1980 he chaired the committee which reviewed its functioning of it from its inception and made recommendations for its future. IIC was his hub when he was in Delhi. Till the end, he played a very major role in all its activities. He edited the proceedings of the seminar
s there on current economic problems for publication.
He was President of the Tamil Nadu Council for Science and Technology from 1984 till his death.
He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of ‘Reader's Digest
’ from 1978 to 1993.
He succeeded G. Ramanujam, the labour leader, as the President of the National Centre for Industrial Harmony, Chennai.
and heart
ailments. He was conscious till the last day. He died on 21 November 1994, aged 84 years.
Elizabeth Adiseshiah died in 1986 leaving all her property to her husband. In Dr. Adiseshiah’s will, he had bequeathed his valuable residential property to MIDS, and his remaining wealth for setting up of Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust (MEAT) for conducting programmes in the broad area of economics – teaching and research, both fundamental and applied.
In 1993 and 1994, UNESCO PROSPECTS: Quarterly review of comparative education published a series of profiles of 100 famous educators from around of the world. In the company of illustrious intellectuals like Aristotle
, Confucius
, Freud, Gramsci, Locke
, Plato
, and Rousseu, the list includes seven Indians. They are: Malcolm Adiseshiah; Sri Aurobindo
; Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; Jiddu Krishnamurti
; J.P. Naik; Rabindranath Tagore
and Vivekananda. These articles have subsequently been collected and published under the title “Thinkers on Education” in three volumes, edited by Tedesco, Juan Carlos and Morsy, Zaghloul, [Paris, UNESCO; New Delhi, Oxford & IBH Publishing, 1997].
s and endowed chairs. The annual Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize, (value US $15,000) is awarded by UNESCO
from 1998. The prize rewards organizations or individuals displaying outstanding merit and achieving particularly effective results in contributing to the fight for literacy in among the member countries of UNESCO.
A ‘Founder’s Day Lecture’ by a distinguished social scientist
is arranged annually in MIDS, Chennai
. To commemorate Professor Adiseshiah's cosmopolitanism
, a Visiting Professorial Chair has been instituted there whereby a scholar of distinction is invited to that position. The Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Ph.D. Merit Scholarship is created there to provide training and facilities for talented researchers to pursue high-quality academic research dedicated to development issues in Tamil Nadu
. An award for the best teacher in economics
in Tamil Nadu and prizes to winners of an essay-writing competition held for PG students of Chennai colleges are given annually at MIDS.
The Malcolm Adiseshiah Award carries a cash grant of 200,000 Rupees and a citation and is given every year to a mid career scholar who has made outstanding contributions to the field of Development Studies
. It is instituted by MEAT and presented in a special ceremony at Chennai.
Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Chair of Development Economics and Decentralised Planning is instituted by MEAT in the Institute for Social Sciences
, New Delhi
.
The "Emerald Jubilee Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Award" consisting of a gold medallion, a certificate and a shield, is given by the State Resource Centre, Chennai, every year to a district Collector who had made significant contribution for the rehabilitation of child labour and for imparting vocational education
to improve their lot. Adiseshiah was the first president of the centre (an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Human Resource) at its inception in 1973, and held the post for a decade. Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award by the Tamil Nadu Board of Continuing Education and State Resource Centre for Non-Formal Education is given to a person in recognition of his contribution to Adult Education
at a function in commemoration of the World Science Day. Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award of Honour is also given by them for outstanding community service
.
Voorhees College
, Vellore has instituted annual awards of Dr.Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Prize for Proficiency in History to the best III year student of the B.A.(History) Class; Dr. Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Prize for Proficiency in Chemistry to the best III Year Student of the B.Sc., (Chemistry) Class and The Adiseshiah Memorial Gold Medal for Proficiency in English to the best student of the III Year B.A./B.Sc., class. It is not clear whether the last mentioned prize is awarded in his honour or in honour of his illustrious father who was principal of that college.
Adiseshiah was truly a many splendid personality who toiled tirelessly till his last breath to build a modern India within a new international order.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n development economist and educator. He was awarded Padma Bhushan
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
by the Government of
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for his outstanding services to the country in 1976. UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
has awarded ‘The Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize’ every year from 1998 in recognition of the outstanding contribution he made to education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and to literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
in particular.
Early years and education
He was born on April 18, 1910, the second of the five children of Paul Varanasi Adiseshiah and Grace Nesamma Adiseshiah. His father was professorProfessor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and the first Indian principal
Principal (academia)
The Principal is the chief executive and the chief academic officer of a university or college in certain parts of the Commonwealth.-Canada:...
of Voorhees College
Voorhees College (India)
Voorhees College is a college in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1898 as Arcot Mission College, when Arcot Mission High School was amalgamated to the University of Madras. The college is named after its benefactors, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Voorhees of the Reformed Church in America. ...
, Vellore
Vellore District
Vellore district is one of the 32 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. Vellore City is the headquarters of this district. It had a population of 3,477,317 as of 2001. It is 37.62% urbanised...
, Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
State, India. His mother, a talented musician, had studied up to the Senior Cambridge
Senior Cambridge
The Senior Cambridge examinations were General Certificate of Education examinations held in Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Jamaica. They were preceded by the Junior Cambridge and Preliminary Cambridge examinations.-India:...
(High School) and was the first woman Councilor of the Vellore
Vellore
Vellore It is considered one of the oldest cities in South India and lies on the banks of the Palar river on the site of Vellore Fort. The city lies between Chennai and Bangalore and the Temple towns of Thiruvannamalai and Tirupati...
Municipality. She taught all her children till they were ten years of age. All of them were highly accomplished, and four of her children obtained doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
s: William, the eldest, in philosophy at Cambridge; Malcolm in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, Padmini in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and Noble in medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
.
Adiseshiah studied in Voorhees High School
Voorhees High School
Voorhees High School is a four-year public high school located in Lebanon Township, New Jersey. The school is named after Foster MacGowan Voorhees, the 30th Governor of New Jersey. It is one of two high schools in the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District, serving students from six...
, where he obtained two double promotions. He completed his secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
education at the age of thirteen to join Voorhees College for his ‘intermediate’ course (equivalent to +2 course now.) Then he shifted to Loyola College, Chennai
Loyola College, Chennai
Loyola College is a Jesuit institution in Chennai, India. The college admits undergraduates and post-graduates and offers degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and commerce. It is an autonomous institution affiliated with the University of Madras.-History:...
for his BA (Honours), where Ramaswamy Venkataraman, the former President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
, was his classmate. There was a healthy competition between the two and Adiseshiah snatched the coveted first rank in the University examinations. Venkatraman later remembered that Adiseshiah was extremely punctual even during college days and was someone like a book worm with intense concentration. After a six year teaching interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
at St. Paul’s College in Calcutta (now Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
), he proceeded to King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
for his MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
(Banking) and then to the London School of Economics (1937–40) for pursuing his doctoral research with specialization in currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
. Late Dr. R.N. Poduval, who served in FAO and then was Chairman of Centre for Research in Economic and Social Development, Chennai was two years his junior in LSE.
In later life, after his retirement from UNESCO, Adiseshiah has fondly recalled his training and research;
Teaching career
He joined as a lecturer in St. Paul’s College, an affiliate of the University of CalcuttaUniversity of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
in 1930 and continued till 1936. There he worked out plans for rural service programme in the college in cooperation with Sriniketan
Sriniketan
Sriniketan is a town in Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.-Geography:Sriniketan is located at . It has an average elevation of .-History:...
and Shantiniketan.
He married Helen Paranjothi.
After obtaining his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
, in 1940, he joined Madras Christian College
Madras Christian College
The Madras Christian College, commonly known as MCC, is a liberal arts and sciences college in Madras , India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. Currently, the college is affiliated to the University of Madras, but functions as an autonomous institution from its campus...
, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, when he was only thirty years of age, as its first professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
and head of the department of economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. He remained there till 1946. Prof.K.N. Raj, founder of Centre for Developmental Studies, Tiruvananthapuram, and G. Jagathpathy, former Chief Secretary of the government of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
were his students in the 1941-44 batch of BA Honours course. Raj has recalled about
At a time when the Madras University was focused on Marshallian economics, Adiseshiah broke new ground by introducing study of imperfect - monopolistic competitions. He pioneered teaching Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomic thought based on the ideas of 20th-century English economist John Maynard Keynes.Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and, therefore, advocates active policy responses by the...
to South Indian students. As books were not available on these subjects in the library at that time, Adiseshiah lent them from his personal collection. He conducted trial tests when he left students by themselves without any invigilation. He introduced seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
as a pedagogical device in the college. It threw open the challenge, and the responsibility, of thinking, instructing and understanding to the group as a whole including the taught and the teacher. Jagathpathy has recalled that ‘the resulting sense of participation was indeed exhilarating.’ 3
Adiseshiah exhorted his students to visit the neighboring villages to Tambaram
Tambaram
Tambaram is a suburb of Chennai situated 27 km south of the city in Tamil Nadu, India. It is an urban node. Tambaram is a hub to all major destinations in south Tamil Nadu as it lies on the busy Chennai–Trichy national highway. The highway and the railway line from Chennai Egmore to...
, where the college was situated, to study and collect data about the living conditions of the inhabitants including their education, health, size of the family and other particulars. To break the aloofness of the villagers, he found an ingenious solution. He started a Rural Service League in the college, and led the members taking with them first aid kit
First aid kit
A first aid kit is a collection of supplies and equipment for use in giving first aid, and can put together for the purpose , or purchased complete...
s containing medicines for common ailments such as ointments, eyedrops and laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
s. K.N. Raj has asserted:
His belief in the necessity for integration between theory and practice of economics remained with him till the end. The last popular lecture which Adiseshiah delivered at Stella Maris College
Stella Maris College (Chennai)
Stella Maris College is a Catholic institution of higher education for women in Chennai, India.It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Madras and is partly residential...
on Sep. 8, 1994, published in the December issue of MIDS Bulletin, exhorted the teachers and students to test their theories and all their learning at the practical field level. He told them that the economics student should identify the people below poverty line in the village and help them to rise above it through various forms of self-employment
Self-employment
Self-employment is working for one's self.Self-employed people can also be referred to as a person who works for himself/herself instead of an employer, but drawing income from a trade or business that they operate personally....
. He considered that this was part of the learning process for both the teacher and the taught.
He has recorded that his own views were shaped
His publications in 1940s included books on banking, rural development
Rural development
Rural development in general denotes economic development and community development actions and initiatives taken to improve the standard of living in non-urban neighbourhoods, remote villages and the countryside...
and agricultural transformation. He was engaged, with his fellow economists in the Madras University, in work on planning the future industrialization of India and Madras State. Then he realized the curious dichotomy prevailing between thought and action, between theory and practice in the leadership of Indian Economic Association. As a measure to rectify the hiatus, he got himself elected to its executive board. However his teaching career at Madras Christian College came to an abrupt end due to private position he took in relation to that of the authorities regarding his marriage.
Helen Paranjothi bore him a son and a daughter. In 1946 his marriage fell apart. Adiseshiah fell in love with Elizabeth Pothen, who was then professor of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at the Madras Women’s Christian College. The separation between Adiseshiah and Helen Paranjothi was bitter and prolonged. He turned a renegade. The annulment
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
of the marriage came only in 1956. Meanwhile Adiseshiah married Elizabeth Pothen.
UNESCO and UN service
Adiseshiah served as Associate General Secretary of the World University Service, GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
during 1946-48. This association helped him later to support steps for the construction of World University Service Centre in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
and women’s hostel
Hostel
Hostels provide budget oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, although private rooms may also be available...
s in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
. In that period, he was also connected with the World Student Christian Federation
World Student Christian Federation
The World Student Christian Federation is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement...
and Student Volunteer Service.
A United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization (ECO/CONF) was convened in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from 1 to 16 November 1945 which decided to create a new organization to establish the “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” and, in so doing, prevent the outbreak of another world war
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
. Thirty-seven countries founded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Its Constitution to promote collaboration between member states in the fields of education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
was signed on 16 November 1945 and came into force on 4 November 1946. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan , OM, FBA was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He was the first Vice President of India and subsequently the second President of India ....
, former President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
, was an old student of Adiseshiah’s father and knew the sterling qualities of Adiseshiah well. He made a referral to Sir Julian Huxley
Julian Huxley
Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS was an English evolutionary biologist, humanist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century evolutionary synthesis...
, then Director-General of UNESCO, who invited Adiseshiah to the organization in 1948. He was posted as Deputy Director of the department of exchange of persons. In that capacity Adiseshiah signed the UNESCO Fellowship letter in 1949 to M. S. Swaminathan
M. S. Swaminathan
Maankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is an Indian agriculture scientist in Kuttanad, kerala. He was the second of four sons of a doctor.He is known as the "Father of the Green Revolution in India", for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in...
, eminent scientist and administrator, to pursue research at the Agricultural University in Wageningen
Wageningen
' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...
, the Netherlands which turned out to be the starting point of his illustrious career.
In the early stages, UNESCO was acting as an international clearing house
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
in the areas of education and science, arranging exchange of educational and scientific documentation between countries and specialists and organizing seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
s and conference
Academic conference
An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...
s. It helped to rebuild war-damaged educational institutions and libraries in Allied countries
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. It acted as an effective medium in the training and exchange of scientists of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the USA. The first International Adult Education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
Conference was held under UNESCO auspices at Elsinore
Elsinore
Helsingør is a city and the municipal seat of Helsingør municipality on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Helsingør has a population of 46,279 including the southern suburbs of Snekkersten and Espergærde...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
forging an international programme for continuing education
Continuing education
Continuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada...
to workers.
On 14 August 1949, the Economic and Social Council
United Nations Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations constitutes one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and it is responsible for the coordination of the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, its functional commissions and five regional commissions...
of the United Nations (ECOSOC) adopted Resolution 222 (IX) establishing the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for economic development of underdeveloped countries. This resolution could be read as a spelling out of ‘the common welfare of mankind’ proclaimed by the charter of the UN. It was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
in Nov. 1949. Economic development was recognized to be the key to national progress and was implicitly linked to the creation of national capabilities through education, training and scientific advance. All UN agencies, including UNESCO, were to implement this resolution.
This marked the beginning of the second stage in the evolution of UNESCO. This was the period when many Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n countries became independent and joined UNESCO. The organization planned and began execution of an operational programme. It consisted roughly of four parts:
(a) continuation of the earlier clearing house activities;
(b) operation of demonstration centres such as the Fundamental Social Education Training Centres in India;
(c) major projects in specific countries such as the project for universal primary education in Latin America;
(d) programme of Technical Aid from UNESCO’s budget. Three fourths of UNESCO activities in the fifties consisted of the fourth part.
Adiseshiah’s exceptional abilities were quickly recognized in UNESCO and were rewarded by promotion to the post of Director of technical assistance department in Mar. 1950, when he was aged forty, thus turning out to be one of its six top executives. He was authorized to represent the Director-General at the technical assistance board set up by the UN.
Adiseshiah was compelled to jump into uncharted territory, with no compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
or guide. Transfer of knowledge, skill and technology from the developed to developing countries, which varied significantly in their size, variety, cultures and capacity to absorb was a very complicated task. He realized from the outset that education was the key instrument to achieve such a massive transfer. The number of member countries increased from less than sixty at the time when he joined UNESCO to one hundred and twenty seven when he left it.
Adiseshiah’s key contribution to UNESCO was to direct international and national funds to education as a crucial component for the promotion of socio-economic development of the developing countries. He played a prominent role in converting the organization from a cloistered club of developed nations into a global association concerned with science, culture, education and development of all nations. Most of the new entrants had gained their independence only then. They were most in need of the transfer but had the least capacity to attract, absorb and make full use of the resources, information, data and expertise. Adiseshiah and his team had to devise methods, techniques and means for transfer knowledge, skills, technology and science to suit each individual member country, and in many instances, each individual purpose within a country. They also had to scout for resources for these massive transfers.
About this period, Rene Ochs, a fellow member of staff, who later rose to be a Director at UNESCO, writes:
UNESCO's tentative proposals were submitted for Technical Assistance for Economic Development in 1950-51. Adiseshiah organized the new department, established area desks corresponding to UN geographical regions, instituted the procedures and methods of operation and set-up a ‘report and information unit’ which produced periodically a technical assistance bulletin.
In 1955, he was promoted as one among the three Assistant Directors General of UNESCO and put in charge of development.
The third stage of UNESCO’s activities dated from the early sixties when many Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n countries became independent and joined it. In 1962, he was promoted to the post of Deputy Director General of UNESCO. Then he was the sole incumbent to that office. The UNESCO began organizing important regional conferences of ministers of education or ministers of sciences along with ministries of economic development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
. The first Asian Ministers of Education Conference was held in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in 1959 and the first conference for Africa in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
in 1960.
Sylvain Lourie, Assistant Director General of UNESCO, writing in 1991, has commented that
Adiseshiah was responsible for the development of the Karachi Plan for Universal Primary Education for Asia, the Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
and Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
plans for the African and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n educational development and the corresponding science plans for Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Latin America. He worked in tandem with David Owen, Executive Chairman of the Technical Assistance Board to convince donor countries, since the financing of the expanded programme rested on voluntary contributions made by them at pledging conferences. He soon recognised the need for looking to additional sources and established relations with the International Development Association
International Development Association
The International Development Association , is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries. It complements the World Bank's other lending arm — the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development — which serves middle-income countries with capital investment and...
(IDA), Inter-American Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
and other regional development bank
Multilateral Development Bank
A multilateral development bank is an institution, created by a group of countries, that provides financing and professional advising for the purpose of development. MDBs have large memberships including both developed donor countries and developing borrower countries...
s. UNESCO approached the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, also known as International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is one of five institutions that compose the World Bank Group. The IBRD is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by World War II. Now, its mission has expanded to fight...
(IBRD) for medium trade credit
Trade credit
Trade credit is an arrangement between businesses to buy goods or services on account, that is, without making immediate cash payment. The supplier typically provides the customer with an agreement to bill them later, stipulating a fixed number of days or other date by which the customer should pay...
for funding a project in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
in 1962. The IBRD till then was concentrating on investments in physical capital. It needed the persuasive skills of Adiseshiah to shift IBRD’s focus exclusively from expansion of physical capital towards the development of human capital
Human capital
Human capitalis the stock of competencies, knowledge and personality attributes embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value. It is the attributes gained by a worker through education and experience...
as well, especially extension of education. He was chiefly instrumental in negotiating the memorandum of understanding between International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and UNESCO in 1964. He introduced flexibility in utilizing multilateral aid. For instance, he used a substantial part of USSR contribution for technical assistance for establishing IIT, Mumbai. The expanded technical assistance programme was merged with the United Nations Special Fund to form the United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...
(UNDP) which was launched in 1966. He was able to formulate in each country a programme of technical and financial assistance, which he started with a global outlay of $ 3 million per annum in 1950. When he retired from the organization, the outlay had increased to $ 300 million!
In his own words,
A resourceful, imaginative, creative and quick-witted person was required to master the multifarious activities and to co-ordinate them. Adiseshiah filled the bill in all respects.
Adiseshiah kindled efficiency by arousing team spirit
Team Spirit
Team Spirit was a joint military training exercise of United States Forces Korea and the Military of South Korea held between 1976 and 1993. The exercise was scheduled from 1994 to 1996 but cancelled in each year as part of diplomacy to encourage the Government of North Korea to disable the North...
. He had mastered the art of training a team to fulfil the aspirations of the mission. He made two rounds of round the world trips each year which took him to as many as twenty five countries in succession, and yet he did not get tired out. He organized more than 120 projects in the various countries of the world for their economic and social development through education, science and culture. His amazing resilience surprised even his closest colleagues.
He had visited all the hundred and twenty seven member states of the UN several times and had used all forms of transport. He visited each one of the Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
countries that was becoming member of the UNESCO, studied its economic situation first hand, assessed its need for literacy and education and made recommendations as to how those needs could be met in his ‘Mission Reports.’ He never wrote a Mission Report about any country before familiarizing himself with the features of each situation. Each of his ‘Mission Reports’ were reported to be pioneering contributions about the specific regions on which the reports focused to the emerging discipline of development economics.
The then Director-General, Rene Maheu
René Maheu
René Gabriel Eugene Maheu , a close friend of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, was a French professor of philosophy and the sixth Director-General of UNESCO....
, was reluctant to let him retire in 1970, when he was 60. But Adiseshiah insisted on leaving. So Rene Maheu obtained the sanction of the Executive Board of UNESCO to replace Adiseshiah with two Deputy Director-Generals!
There are in the UNESCO archives 118 Adiseshiah files covering, even by a rough estimate, 48000 pages.
As UNESCO official, he had rendered lots of assistance to Indian projects. The publication of UNESCO Art Album on Ajantha
Ajantha
Ajantha is a multilingual film shot in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. It was directed by Kataka Thirumavalavan and was released on October 30, 2009.-Cast:...
was mainly due to his yeomen efforts and was due to his vision that the heritage site
Heritage site
A Heritage Site is a location designated as important to the cultural heritage of a governing body such as a township, county, province, state, or country. It is a non-moveable object such as a historic site or national monument, but it may include several sites grouped together such as...
s of humankind must be preserved for all posterity.
UNESCO assisted in the setting up of National Council of Educational Research and Training
National Council of Educational Research and Training
The National Council of Educational Research and Training is an apex resource organization set up by the Government of India, with headquarters at New Delhi, to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on academic matters related to school education.it was Established in the year of...
(NCERT), New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
: the establishment of first TV broadcasts in India; the reorganization of Films Division of India; the provision of twenty renowned Professors of engineering and science; the supply of $ 12 million worth of equipment to IITs of Bombay and Kharagpur; the expansion of aeronautical engineering in Madras Institute of Technology
Madras Institute of Technology
The Madras Institute of Technology is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai , India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of Anna University. It was started in 1949 by Mr. C. Rajam as the first self-financing engineering institute in the country, and later it...
; and the provision of experts and equipment to Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology
Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology
Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology is an autonomous college of engineering in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1952, it is under the control of the government of the State...
in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
.
This is a modest catalogue of what he did to India. He was instrumental in rendering such assistance to all member nations of UNESCO with special emphasis to Asian, African and South American nations.
Even after his retirement from UNESCO, till 1991, he had visited countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia at their invitation three times a year to advise them on their development plans.
In January 1981, Adiseshiah was elected Chairman of the Governing Board of the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning
UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning
The International Institute for Educational Planning is an arm of UNESCO created in 1963 in Paris, France.- Mission :IIEP's mission is to strengthen the capacity of countries...
(IIEP) for a five year period. He was re-elected for a second term for five years from 1986. He was the Chairman of the jury for the selection of the international literacy prize winners in 1987, 1991 and 1992. He delivered the Presidential Address at the World Literacy Day
International Literacy Day
September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of...
function in Paris in 1989.
With a lively interest in environmental science
Environmental science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...
, he was a member of the UN International Committee of Consultants on Environment. He was the co-coordinator of the UNESCO Working Group on the New International Economic Order. He reviewed India’s experience with the UN during the first forty years of its existence in a frank assessment of the role of the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
(IMF) and the powerful interests working behind the scenes in shaping their policies in a book which he edited.9
MIDS
He had planned his life after retirementRetirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
well in advance. Just before his return to Madras (as Chennai was then named), in Sep. 1970, he and his wife Elizabeth registered in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
a trust fund for starting Madras Institute of Development Studies
Madras Institute of Development Studies
The Madras Institute of Development Studies is a research institute based in Chennai. It is a joint undertaking of the Governments of India and Tamil Nadu for conducting research on development problems in Tamil Nadu and the rest of India.-History:...
(MIDS hereafter). MIDS was conceived to undertake studies and research on developmental issues on the economy, polity and society with special reference to Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
state. MIDS started functioning from Jan. 1971 in one of their properties in Gandhinagar, Adyar, a Chennai suburb, with Adiseshiah as its first Director. From its inception, Adiseshiah totally identified himself with the Institute and immersed himself completely with its activities. He started publication of ‘Bulletin – Madras Development Seminar Series’ from Feb. 1971 and wrote every month its editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
s without a break for nearly a quarter century covering international, national and Tamil Nadu issues till it ceased publication after his demise in Dec. 1995. ‘This surely’ wrote, Prof.S. Subramanian, in the prolegomena of the special issue of the Bulletin bought out after his demise, ‘is the stuff of which archives are made’10
Soon the Institute became a beehive of academic activities. Annual inter-disciplinary research methodology workshops were conducted for the Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
scholars and guides; by an arrangement with Indian Council of Social Science Research
Indian Council of Social Science Research
Indian Council of Social Science Research was established in the year of 1969 by the Government of India to promote research in social sciences in the country...
, (ICSSR) annual meeting of the scientists of southern universities was conducted; and annual compilation of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of social science research in the four southern states was undertaken. A monthly seminar series conducted in the Institute created a link between scholars and the general public. He was keen on bringing out quality research publications. Under his stewardship, the Institute’s research activities, documentation and publications established its creditable reputation in the country and abroad. He took a keen interest in the growth of MIDS library. The Adiseshiahs’ contributed liberally to it, and had the satisfaction of hearing scholars declare that it was one of the best source of reference on social sciences in Tamil Nadu State.
It was at the Sixtieth Anniversary Commemoration lecture of the economics department of the Madras University, delivered by K.N. Raj on Nov. 16, 1976 with Adiseshiah as Vice Chancellor presiding, that Raj recalled Prof. Gilbert Slater
Gilbert Slater
Gilbert Slater was a British economist and social reformer of the early 20th century.Gilbert was born in Portsmouth in 1864. His father was a school teacher. Slater studied economics and worked as a professor. In 1909, he was appointed principal of Ruskin College and served from 1909 to 1915...
, the first Professor, initiating village studies in the department in 1916 itself. Adiseshiah kept it in his memory. Soon this led to the resurvey of ‘Slater villages’ in MIDS and in other places. Because of the resurveys at different points of time, now we have a continuous record of changes in villages in South India over a period nearly ninety years!
J.P. Naik, then Secretary of Indian Council of Social Science Research, proposed in 1975 that MIDS should be reorganized as a national research centre within the framework of ICSSR. After negotiations, Adiseshiah accepted the proposal and in Mar. 1977, MIDS was reconstituted as a national institute under the joint sponsorship of ICSSR and the government of Tamil Nadu. The Adiseshiahs’ gifted the new national institute land, a building, a library, furniture, equipment and also a generous endowment. Adiseshiah relinquished Directorship of the institute in 1978 and handed it over to Prof. C.T. Kurien.
In that year, he was appointed Chairman of its Governing Council and continued in that position till his death. He devoted considerable time and effort to discharge his duties as Honorary Fellow and Chairman of MIDS. He made outstanding contribution in material, organizational and intellectual terms to its expansion and progress. He was immensely fulfilled by his association with MIDS as evidenced by his ‘biographical notes’ which began by avowing that he was Honorary Fellow and Chairman of MIDS. When he was in station in Chennai, he would never fail to visit his office in MIDS unless some other official duty (of which he had several) demanded his presence elsewhere. His presence in the monthly seminars was equally certain.
As Chairman, he evinced keen interest in all activities of the Institute. The way he conducted the meetings of the Governing Council, the meticulous care with which he handled the agenda
Agenda (meeting)
An agenda is a list of meeting activities in the order in which they are to be taken up, by beginning with the call to order and ending with adjournment. It usually includes one or more specific items of business to be discussed. It may, but is not required to, include specific times for one or...
items, the intense attention he paid to every detail, the insistence that the minutes
Minutes
Minutes, also known as protocols, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting, starting with a list of attendees, a statement of the issues considered by the participants, and related responses or decisions for the issues.Minutes may be...
of the meetings should be made available to the members within three days and the concern he had to attract highly qualified faculty to the Institute from all regions of India were all reflections of his exceptional caliber as an institution builder. At the same time, he never interfered in the day to day activities of the institute which were within the administrative province of the Director. The faculty and staff had easy access to him. But they had to finish their business with him as quickly as possible since he would signal his craving to return to his unfinished work the very next moment after their business was heard or resolved!
As Dr. Barbara Harris-White of IDC, Oxford University writes,
In early 1990s he apprehended that the Central and State governments might not fulfil their financial commitments to the Institute to the fullest extent necessary. It made him sad. With his wide contacts, he, who had succeeded in finding resources for UNESCO’s huge technical assistance programme, could have easily raised additional resources for the Institute had he solicited for it. But he was reluctant to ask. He who insisted that all departments of Madras University should combine both teaching and research programmes failed to introduce a teaching programme in his own institute. Nor was he successful in construction of accommodation
Lodging
Lodging is a type of residential accommodation. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions.Lodgings may be self catering in which case no...
for the doctoral scholars of his institute.
Tamil Nadu and Indian planning commissions
Adiseshshiah was among the group of economists who developed a Ten Year Plan for the industrial investment in India before IndependenceIndian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
. His attraction to planning continued throughout his UNESCO days since he had a hand in devising many plans for UN technical assistance. After his return from UNESCO to Chennai, Adiseshiah was appointed member of the Tamil Nadu Planning Commission from 1972 to 76. He was instrumental in the preparation of many perspective plans including the one on education. He was also a member of the Steering Committee to the Union Planning Commission in this period. From then on, he was associated with the planning process in various capacities both in Tamil Nadu and Centre. This stimulated him to present every year, the then much anticipated, renowned series of ‘mid-year reviews of economy’ in the seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
at India International Centre
India International Centre
The India International Centre is a well known non-official organization situated in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1958, and inaugurated in 1968...
in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
from 1976 to 1993. They provided grist to the mills of academics, bureaucrats and news commentators about the prevailing state of the health of the economy and the prescription for remedies. Truly, they were gigantic single man initiatives. The India International Centre still carries on the practice of the seminar on the Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy, the proceedings of which are published.
Similarly, he provided a probing critique of the publication ‘Tamilnadu – An Economic Appraisal’ every year at MIDS making it imperative for the state to collect and present accurate and timely data about the economy of the state He used those occasions to highlight the achievements as well as the deficiencies in the planning process both in the Centre and in the Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
State. He, as its convener, was responsible for making the ‘Economic Affairs Group’ of the India International Centre an animated, rousing body which conducted panel discussions and seminars regularly on pressing economic issues which contributed enormously to refine the planning process.
Vice-chancellor of Madras University
On August 1, 1975 Adiseshiah assumed the duties of Vice Chancellor of the Madras University for one term. He was a man in a hurry to rejuvenate the then fast degenerating institution. He announced immediately after assuming office what he wanted to accomplish during his term. He did not forget to review what he had accomplished in the three years when he relinquished office in 1978.He prepared a fifteen year perspective plan for the University. He decentralised its functions. He divested the university’s responsibility of preparing the syllabi
Syllabus
A syllabus , is an outline and summary of topics to be covered in an education or training course. It is descriptive...
for matriculation course and conduct of the matriculation examinations. He was categorical that university should confine itself to higher education and that school education should not be part of its responsibilities. He centralised admission to PG courses in the university with instruction that the selections should be processed with merit as the chief criterion subject to the provisions for reservations for the under-privileged. He fashioned schools of science, arts and languages. The conveners of these schools were requested to give him weekly feed back of academic progress and the needs of the departments. He started new departments such as econometrics
Econometrics
Econometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...
, education, adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
, area studies
Area studies
Area studies are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing...
, molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
, polymer science
Polymer science
Polymer science or macromolecular science is the subfield of materials science concerned with polymers, primarily synthetic polymers such as plastics...
s and defense studies. The Institute of Basic Medical Sciences got its own building and the necessary laboratory facilities in his period.
Before he took over, most University departments were manned by a Professor and a Reader, and were exclusively concentrating on research. Till then most departments avoided undertaking teaching responsibility. He insisted that all university departments should combine both teaching and research programmes. His new policy meant more courses, more staff and more students in the University. The state government was reluctant to extend financial support. But he persuaded the UGC to grant additional funds to meet the immediate requirements. He initiated the system of rotation of the headship of departments once in every three years. He was keenly aware of the need for inter-disciplinary research. He set up an inter-departmental council consisting of all the heads of departments and senior professors. A committee of conveners of schools of cognate disciplines also was constituted. These bodies met regularly under the chairmanship of the VC. The minutes were circulated within 24 hours urging follow up action.
He gave autonomy to the two post-graduate centres of the university at Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
and appointed directors to head them so that they need not have to depend on Chennai for every decision. This paved the way for their smooth transition into new universities at a later date. On the basis of the recommendation of the Kothari Commission, he gave autonomy to a few select colleges which had achieved reputation for their excellence.
He encouraged thorough updating of the courses. He regularly sent notes to Boards of Studies drawing attention to current relevancies and applied possibilities of the subjects concerned. He introduced the semester system in all the institutions falling within the jurisdiction of the University. Alongside, he introduced examination reform. He designed a system in which 40 percent of the marks allotted to a student in a subject were based on continuous assessment by the teacher concerned (through assignments, seminars, internal tests and the like) and 60 percent on external examinations. He constituted a monitoring cell to oversee the working of the system. A new format was adopted for the question papers. Three categories of questions – short ‘objective’, medium ‘concept’ and long ‘essay’ types were judiciously mixed to test the comprehension of the students at different levels. He arranged reorientation courses to the college teachers for adaptation of the new system. He introduced a rural reconstruction and community service scheme and made it part of the curriculum. It allowed its smooth substitution as the National Service Scheme.
He launched the central valuation system to expedite publication of university examination results. He computerized the processes for conduct of the examinations and the publication of results. He permitted the revaluation of answer scripts on payment of prescribed fees to bring transparency in the procedure of examinations.
He initiated the steps for the construction of houses for the non-teaching staff of the University at the housing colony in Palavakkam
Palavakkam
Palavakkam is a census town in Kancheepuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.It is located on the East Coast Road about 6 km south of Adyar.-Demographics:...
, Chennai.
He was accused with toeing the line of Ms. Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
during ‘the Emergency’ by inconsiderately suspending a few University faculties on instructions from the central government. However, Prof. C.T. Kurien has recalled an instance which shows quite the reverse. Kurien had then been invited by Adiseshiah to be the Director of MIDS which was being actively considered to be a constituent of ICSSR national institutes. Kurien informed Adiseshiah that he had a confrontation with the police in the second half of 1976 because he had taken a stand against the ‘emergency regime’. So he told Adiseshiah that he was free to withdraw his offer of directorship. Adiseshiah was reported to have replied:
“One of trustees of MIDS (M.S. Appa Rao) has been arrested and the director-to-be has been warned. If they want to withhold (national) recognition to the Institute, let them. But there will be no change in my decisions. And you do what you think is right.”12
He asserted the autonomy of the university by implementing the scales of pay recommended by University Grants Commission
University Grants Commission (India)
The University Grants Commission of India is a statutory organisation set up by Union government in 1956, for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education. It provides recognition for universities in India, and provides funds for government-recognised...
to the University faculty even though the Tamil Nadu government had not taken a decision about it till then!
Another widely prevalent view among Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
teachers of those days was that Adiseshiah was trying to lessen the importance of Tamil by allowing the Board of Studies in Commerce to take away the hours allotted to Tamil teaching in B.Com course and transfer them to the teaching of commerce subjects. Adiseshiah’s inputs to the cause of Tamil language are given separately in a subsequent section. In reality Adiseshiah would not interfere in the decisions of the Boards of Studies.
Educationalist
His early teaching career, his Vice Chancellorship of the Madras University and his various activities in his entire life had their focal point in educationEducation
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. A major part of his UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
service was spent in formulating educational programmes for the developing world.
The General Conference of UNESCO in its fifteenth session authorized the publication of a work designed to clarify the basic concepts concerning the contribution of education, science and culture to development. In the course of the discussions about the resolution, reference was made to the many speeches of Adiseshiah on related themes delivered in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1961; Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, UK and Tananarive, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
in 1962; Madras, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1963; Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1964; Washington, DC, USA in 1968 and many others. He was requested to write a book based on the facts and ideas presented in those speeches About that book, U Thant
U Thant
U Thant was a Burmese diplomat and the third Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 1961 to 1971. He was chosen for the post when his predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in September 1961....
, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his ‘Foreword’ writes:
That was the respect which he commanded in UN as an educationalist of eminence.
He undertook a survey of the school education in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
in the late 1970s and published an influential report
Report
A report is a textual work made with the specific intention of relaying information or recounting certain events in a widely presentable form....
. His contributions to the growth dynamics of education are numerous. These include the devising of the curricula for primary
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
and secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
, vocationalisation, preparation of teaching material, introduction of science and technology at appropriate levels, preparation of syllabi for collegiate education, examination reform, giving a new thrust to the quality, content, direction and methodology of social science research, compilation and analysis of educational data and financing of education.
He was instrumental in the setting up of the Asian Social Science Research Council, New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
and was its first President. He was a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education, the Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Council of Teacher Education. The ICSSR requested him to undertake a review of its work and to suggest the lines along which it should develop. His meticulously compiled two volume report, one on retrospect and the other on prospect, which had been an influential guide in the development of social science of research in India at that period.
He was the Chairman of the panel which reviewed the functioning of Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Tata Institute of Social Sciences is a social sciences institute based in Deonar, Mumbai, India.-History:TISS was established in 1936, as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work, the first school of social work in India. In 1944 the school was renamed to its current name...
(TISS). Andhra University
Andhra University
Andhra University or Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad , located in Visakhapatnam, north east coastal Andhra Pradesh, is one of the older premier universities in India with a broad focus...
entrusted to him the review of the working of the social science departments at Waltair
WaltAir
WaltAir is a Swedish taxi airline. Waltair was established in 1997 and has bases in Stockholm, Norrköping and Växjö.-Fleet:*Cessna 550 Citation II*Beechcraft King Air 300...
. He chaired the committee set up to recommend the establishment of Mother Teresa Women's University
Mother Teresa Women's University
Mother Teresa Women's University is a public university located at Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established in 1984 by the enactment of Tamil Nadu Act 15. It monitors and offers consultancy services and research in Women's Studies. The university offers courses by the distance mode...
in Kodaikanal
Kodaikanal
-Climate:Kodaikanal has a monsoon-influenced subtropical highland climate . The temperatures are cool throughout the year due to the high elevation of the city.-Economy:...
, Tamil Nadu.
Non-formal education
Non-formal education to cover the vast multitudes that were denied a chance to join formal educational institutions was attempted in various forms in India. The FarmerFarmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s Functional Literacy Project of 1967 was among the earliest attempts in India. Adiseshiah founded the Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
Board of Continuing Education in 1976 and took all steps to sustain and advance its activities. He was its President for four terms. He chaired the Non-Formal Education Curriculum Preparation Committee in 1976. When the National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) was launched on October 2, 1978, Adiseshiah, then Vice-Chancellor of Madras University was appointed President of the Indian Adult Education Association. Soon he became a member of the Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
and used the opportunity to expand the adult education programme to cover all parts of the country.
He was president of the Viswayuvak Kendra. He was a member of the UGC Standing Committee on Adult Education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
. When the country launched the National Literacy Mission on November 5, 1988, Adiseshiah was the natural choice for its leadership. The Mission searched for an alternative agency and a strategy to create a country wide churning for literacy and created the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS) in August 1989 and invited Adiseshiah to be its President. BGVS facilitated the shift of the adult education from a government controlled, government sponsored programme to acquire a status of a mass movement. Adiseshiah had the satisfaction of witnessing the declaration of Ernakulam district
Ernakulam district
-Economy:Agriculture constitutes the most important segment of the district’s economy and it is the biggest source of employment. Of the geographical 235319 hectares, crops are grown in 0 hectares. Coconut is the principal crop followed by rubber, paddy, and tapioca...
in Kerala as having achieved the status of total literacy on February 4, 1990. The new premises of the State Resources Centre of the Tamil Nadu Board of Continuing Education was named after him and was declared open on his 83rd birthday on April 18, 1992.
Offer of Governorship
Late V. R. NedunchezhiyanV. R. Nedunchezhiyan
V.R. Nedunchezhiyan was a former finance minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He was also the acting chief minister of Tamil Nadu in two tenures .He was born at Thirukkannapuram in a Hindu Mudaliar family...
, who was for long a cabinet minister in the DMK and AIADMK ministries in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, recalled in the memorial meeting held in the Centenary Hall of the Madras University in December 1995 that Adiseshiah refused to accept the offer of a Governorship of a state in 1977. He said that a central cabinet minister asked Adiseshiah’s consent for appointment as Governor of Goa. Adiseshiah immediately refused the offer stating that he was not willing to accept any task which would cause his long separation from his beloved MIDS. The central Cabinet minister, after consulting with the then Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
, offered Adiseshiah the Governorship of Tamil Nadu, knowing full well that it was against the prevailing convention that no person born in any state would be appointed Governor of that state.
Adiseshiah was in a tight corner. He requested for a day’s time to make up his mind. Next day, during the morning constitutional along the Marina beach, he asked Nedunchezhian, who was his walk companion for many years, for his opinion about the offer. Nedunchezhian replied that Adiseshiah was always a man of action and that the Governor of a state was more a ceremonial post which would only put fetters around his multi-pronged activities. Later in the day, Adiseshiah conveyed to the central cabinet minister that he was not accepting the offer of the Governorship of Tamil Nadu. Nedunchezhian also recalled that it was the only occasion when Adiseshiah consulted him about a ‘political’ decision in his more than two decades of friendship! Surprisingly, Adiseshiah had sought the opinion of his personal staff, including his car drivers, whether he should accept the governorship or not!!14
Parliamentarian
Adiseshiah was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in April 1978 for a six year term as one of the twelve persons under the category of those having special knowledge and practical experience in literature, science, art and social service. There were rapid changes in the composition of the central government during his term. He eschewed party politicsParty Politics
Party Politics is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Political Science. The journal's editors are David M Farrell and Paul Webb...
. His erudition and experience was appreciated and his speeches, mainly on economics and education, were listened to with respect. They were interspersed with homely proverbs and quotations. He urged quick redistribution of land. He recommended imposition of income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
on rich peasants. He pleaded for a level playing field and opposed special concessions to non-resident Indians, when they invested in India. He longed for larger two-way traffic between the Central and State Planning Commissions. He advocated a national energy policy. He opposed the nationalization of sick mills in the private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
. In education, he was opposed to haphazard expansion and steadfastly stood for consolidation. He provided a strong voice for teachers. As a humanist, he was deeply concerned with reduction of poverty, especially in the rural areas. He showed his courage to dissent when the occasion demanded. He provided a distinguished example of, a role model for, what a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha should be.
Author
Adiseshiah wrote elegant prose, lucid and precise. He was a prolific writer. He edited MIDS Bulletin for twenty four years. Predictably a very major portion of his writings was on education in all its dimensions – literacy, school and higher educationHigher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
, adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
, women's education, non-formal education, continuing education
Continuing education
Continuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada...
, technical education, science education
Science education
Science education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. The target individuals may be children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education comprises...
, university education, research methods, and the like. Social sciences commanded a great deal of his attention. But he had a much wider perspective. He had written extensively on the environment
Environmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...
and edited a book on that theme. He was very concerned about nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. Globalisation and new international economic order drew a lot of his notice. Rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and inequality was another of his core topics. Next to education, these occupied his prime attention. Price policy, foreign trade, economic planning
Economic planning
Economic planning refers to any directing or planning of economic activity outside the mechanisisms of the market, in an attempt to achieve specific economic or social outcomes. Planning is an economic mechanism for resource allocation and decision-making in contrast with the market mechanism...
, statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
, panchayat raj and waste land development
Brownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
are among the many areas on which he had written. His writings were marked by analytical rigour.
He employed all printed media such as book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s, report
Report
A report is a textual work made with the specific intention of relaying information or recounting certain events in a widely presentable form....
s, journal
Journal
__FORCETOC__A journal has several related meanings:* a daily record of events or business; a private journal is usually referred to as a diary....
s, magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s and newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s to carry his message. The final issue of MIDS Bulletin (Vol.XXV No.1, Nov. 1995) contains an incomplete list of his written material, classified into editorials, books, edited books, presidential addresses, convocation addresses, keynote addresses, inaugural addresses, valedictory addresses, journals/magazines, newspaper articles, papers for souvenirs/commemoration volumes /essays /surveys /books and miscellaneous papers /lectures. They cover a full 23 pages! They do not include his many volumes in the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
archives, the numerous reports of committees and commissions in which he was a member, his writings in the period 1930-48 and most of his writings as Vice Chancellor of Madras University.
In the cause of Tamil and Tamil Nadu
Adiseshiah loved TamilTamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
, but was no chauvinist. He was instrumental in obtaining UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
assistance to the programmes of translation of Tamil classics
Tamil literature
Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...
. The Ayodhya canto of the Ramayana as told by Kamban translated from the Tamil by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was published in 1961 under UNESCO-sponsored programmes and publications. The Interior landscape: love poems from a classical Tamil anthology translated by A.K.Ramanujan was published in 1967 under the same programme.
He encouraged publication of research articles in Tamil. MIDS brought out, and still brings out, Tamil translations and Tamil books.
He brought out the Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
and Tamil versions of UNESCO’s journal
Journal
__FORCETOC__A journal has several related meanings:* a daily record of events or business; a private journal is usually referred to as a diary....
‘Courier’.
He lent a helping hand for the launching of the World University Centre in Spur Tank Road in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
.
He desired the heritage site
Heritage site
A Heritage Site is a location designated as important to the cultural heritage of a governing body such as a township, county, province, state, or country. It is a non-moveable object such as a historic site or national monument, but it may include several sites grouped together such as...
s to be well preserved. So he arranged for UNESCO funding for renovation of Sri Rangam Ranganatha, Madurai Meenakshi, Thanjavur Brahadeeswara and seven other temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s. He initiated a pioneering research work by a French scholar tracing the history and traditions of Sri Rangam temple in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
.
He lent a helping hand in obtaining assistance from UNESCO and French government for organizing the Third World Tamil Conference in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1969. As Acting Director-General of UNESCO, he inaugurated it, delivering his address in three languages, Tamil, English and French.
The speed with which he acted could be gauzed from the fact that the General Conference of UNESCO at its session in November 1968 accepted the recommendation of the Second International Conference on Tamil Studies held at Madras on 3-10, January 1968 and authorized the Director General of UNESCO to assist in the creation of an International Institute of Tamil Studies at Madras. In 1970, his last year in UNESCO, he had the satisfaction of witnessing the setting up of the Institute at Madras, Tamil Nadu.
Though it was personally inconvenient for him because he had lost touch with the language during his long sojourn in Europe, he still would write articles in Tamil whenever requested to do so. At a function to commemorate his 83rd birthday on April 18, 1992 when the new office premises of the Tamil Nadu Board of Continuing Education was named after him, he gave a stirring speech in chaste Tamil which was well appreciated.
He strove hard to reply in Tamil all letters addressed to him in Tamil.
Other activities
Adiseshiah was President of Indian Economic Association in 1973-74 and presided over the Waltair session of its Annual Conference of in 1974. Subsequently, as a past President he evinced keen interest in putting the association’s finances in sound order. He took steps to advance its publishing record.He was also a member of the Royal Economic Society
Royal Economic Society
The Royal Economic Society is incorporated by a Royal Charter dated 2 December 1902. It is one of the oldest economic associations in the world. Currently it has over 3,300 individual members, of whom 60% live outside the United Kingdom...
.
He was a member of the Governing Body of Centre for Development Studies
Centre for Development Studies
The Centre for Development Studies , Trivandrum, Kerala, India is a premier social science research institution. Over the years it has established a tradition of interdisciplinary research on development problems in India. Its main objective is to promote research, teaching and training in...
(CDS) since 1980 and was its Chairman for six years 1986-92. It was under his chairmanship that the Centre entered into an agreement with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities and the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
for conducting an international training programme in population and development.
Adisehsiah succeeded Prof. Lakdawala as Chairman of Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) and last presided over the Governing Body meeting on November 11, 1994. It was in the inaugural address to the seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
on Panchayati Raj
Panchayati Raj
The panchayat raj is a South Asian political system mainly in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. "Panchayat" literally means assembly of five wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the local community. Traditionally, these assemblies settled disputes between individuals and villages...
in Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
in October 1985 at ISS that Adiseshiah made the following often quoted comment:
Adiseshiah was ceaselessly working for the incorporation of elections to Panchayat institutions in the Constitution. He took the initiative to activate studies on the working of panchayat institutions both in MIDS and CDS.
He was Chairman of the Council for Social Development, Delhi; Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, (Now Mumbai); Tata- McGraw Hill Publishing Company, Bombay (Now Mumbai).
When he was in UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, he played a prime role in 1961 in getting affiliation to the India International Centre
India International Centre
The India International Centre is a well known non-official organization situated in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1958, and inaugurated in 1968...
(IIC) to that body and to grant recognition to it as one of the three major centres in the world for the appreciation of Eastern and Western structures. In 1976 he became a member of IIC. Soon after he became a member of its Council for Cultural Studies and was elevated to its Executive Committee. In 1978 he was elected a Life Trustee of IIC and Chairman of the Standing Finance Committee. In 1980 he chaired the committee which reviewed its functioning of it from its inception and made recommendations for its future. IIC was his hub when he was in Delhi. Till the end, he played a very major role in all its activities. He edited the proceedings of the seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
s there on current economic problems for publication.
He was President of the Tamil Nadu Council for Science and Technology from 1984 till his death.
He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of ‘Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
’ from 1978 to 1993.
He succeeded G. Ramanujam, the labour leader, as the President of the National Centre for Industrial Harmony, Chennai.
Death
His life came to a quick end. He was hospitalized for less than a week with kidneyKidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
and heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
ailments. He was conscious till the last day. He died on 21 November 1994, aged 84 years.
Elizabeth Adiseshiah died in 1986 leaving all her property to her husband. In Dr. Adiseshiah’s will, he had bequeathed his valuable residential property to MIDS, and his remaining wealth for setting up of Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust (MEAT) for conducting programmes in the broad area of economics – teaching and research, both fundamental and applied.
In 1993 and 1994, UNESCO PROSPECTS: Quarterly review of comparative education published a series of profiles of 100 famous educators from around of the world. In the company of illustrious intellectuals like Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
, Freud, Gramsci, Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, and Rousseu, the list includes seven Indians. They are: Malcolm Adiseshiah; Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
; Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
; J.P. Naik; Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
and Vivekananda. These articles have subsequently been collected and published under the title “Thinkers on Education” in three volumes, edited by Tedesco, Juan Carlos and Morsy, Zaghloul, [Paris, UNESCO; New Delhi, Oxford & IBH Publishing, 1997].
In his honour
Adiseshiah is remembered by a few significant awards, prizes scholarshipScholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s and endowed chairs. The annual Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize, (value US $15,000) is awarded by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
from 1998. The prize rewards organizations or individuals displaying outstanding merit and achieving particularly effective results in contributing to the fight for literacy in among the member countries of UNESCO.
A ‘Founder’s Day Lecture’ by a distinguished social scientist
Social Scientist
Social Scientist is a New Delhi based journal in social sciences and humanities published since 1972....
is arranged annually in MIDS, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
. To commemorate Professor Adiseshiah's cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
, a Visiting Professorial Chair has been instituted there whereby a scholar of distinction is invited to that position. The Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Ph.D. Merit Scholarship is created there to provide training and facilities for talented researchers to pursue high-quality academic research dedicated to development issues in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. An award for the best teacher in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
in Tamil Nadu and prizes to winners of an essay-writing competition held for PG students of Chennai colleges are given annually at MIDS.
The Malcolm Adiseshiah Award carries a cash grant of 200,000 Rupees and a citation and is given every year to a mid career scholar who has made outstanding contributions to the field of Development Studies
Development studies
Development studies is a multidisciplinary branch of social science which addresses issues of concern to developing countries. It has historically placed a particular focus on issues related to social and economic development, and its relevance may therefore extend to communities and regions...
. It is instituted by MEAT and presented in a special ceremony at Chennai.
Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Chair of Development Economics and Decentralised Planning is instituted by MEAT in the Institute for Social Sciences
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Tata Institute of Social Sciences is a social sciences institute based in Deonar, Mumbai, India.-History:TISS was established in 1936, as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work, the first school of social work in India. In 1944 the school was renamed to its current name...
, New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
.
The "Emerald Jubilee Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Award" consisting of a gold medallion, a certificate and a shield, is given by the State Resource Centre, Chennai, every year to a district Collector who had made significant contribution for the rehabilitation of child labour and for imparting vocational education
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...
to improve their lot. Adiseshiah was the first president of the centre (an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Human Resource) at its inception in 1973, and held the post for a decade. Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award by the Tamil Nadu Board of Continuing Education and State Resource Centre for Non-Formal Education is given to a person in recognition of his contribution to Adult Education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
at a function in commemoration of the World Science Day. Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award of Honour is also given by them for outstanding community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
.
Voorhees College
Voorhees College
Voorhees College is a private, historically black college in Denmark, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Voorhees College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
, Vellore has instituted annual awards of Dr.Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Prize for Proficiency in History to the best III year student of the B.A.(History) Class; Dr. Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Prize for Proficiency in Chemistry to the best III Year Student of the B.Sc., (Chemistry) Class and The Adiseshiah Memorial Gold Medal for Proficiency in English to the best student of the III Year B.A./B.Sc., class. It is not clear whether the last mentioned prize is awarded in his honour or in honour of his illustrious father who was principal of that college.
Adiseshiah was truly a many splendid personality who toiled tirelessly till his last breath to build a modern India within a new international order.