Malcolm Adiseshiah
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Malcolm Adiseshaiah | |
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British India | |
Died | 21 November 1994 | (aged 84)
Alma mater | Loyola College, Chennai, London School of Economics, University of Cambridge |
Occupation(s) | Development economist, educator |
Spouses |
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Parent(s) | Paul Varanasi Adiseshaiah, Grace Nesamma Adiseshaiah |
Member of Parliament, Nominated | |
Malcolm Sathiyanathan Adiseshiah (18 April 1910 – 21 November 1994),[1] was an Indian development economist and educator. In 1976 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award.[2] In 1998, UNESCO created the Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize in recognition of his contribution to education and literacy. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, in 1978.[3]
Early years and education
Adiseshiah was born on 18 April 1910 in
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. After a six-year teaching interregnum at the St. Paul's Cathedral Mission 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 recalled his training and research"
under the wise guidance of Father Basneck and Professor P.J. Thomas in Madras, Benoy Kumar and Nalini Ranjan Sarkar in Calcutta, Percy Barrat Whale and John Maynard Keynes in London and Cambridge.
Teaching career
In 1930 Adiseshiah joined as a lecturer in
In 1940, after obtaining his doctorate at the age of thirty, he joined Madras Christian College, Chennai,[4] as its first professor and head of the economics department. His role and support for the British government in the notorious and deadly Bengal famines of 1940s is controversial. He remained there until 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 recalled this experience:
in the villages of
adult literacyand curriculum reform. It was there that I found the testing ground for the many ideas and plans that I carried with me to UNESCO in Paris and from there to the four corners of the earth.
His publications in the 1940s included books on
Personal life
Adiseshiah married Helen Paranjothi, with whom he had a son and a daughter. The separation process with Helen Paranjothi started in 1946, and the annulment of the marriage came in 1956. Adiseshiah then married Elizabeth Pothen, a history professor he met at the Madras Women’s Christian College.
UNESCO and UN service
From 1946 to 1948, Adiseshiah served as Associate General Secretary of the World University Service in Geneva. This association later helped him to support steps for the construction of the World University Service Centre in Chennai and women’s hostels in Delhi and Rajasthan. During that period, he was also connected with the World Student Christian Federation and Student Volunteer Service.
From 1 to 16 November 1945, a
In March 1950, Adiseshiah was promoted to the Director of
Rene Ochs, a fellow member of staff, who later rose to be a Director at UNESCO, wrote about this period:
The stage was set for the beginning of a new era. Everything was possible; yet everything remained to be done with non-existent resources. It was done, though in a surprisingly short time, by very few people, among whom Malcolm Adiseshiah held a prominent, if not a unique place. Those who had the privilege of working with him from the early years of technical assistance, and the following years of growing success and achievements, witnessed the outstanding performance of man whose extraordinary vision immediately recognized the opportunity offered, projected its potentialities into the future and made the dream come true. This required no less than the towering quality of his intelligence, his rare organizational ability and resourcefulness, his uncommon physical stamina, his unrelenting pace of work and unflinching dedication to the task at hand and a faith coupled with realism which carried mountains.
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
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 dates from the early sixties, when many African 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 economic development ministries. The first Asian Ministers of Education Conference was held in Karachi in 1959 and the first conference for Africa in Addis Ababa in 1960.
In 1991, Sylvain Lourie, Assistant Director General of UNESCO, wrote:
Radical changes which had affected educational demand and supply are forcing a reconsideration of the very foundations of educational planning such as they prevailed in their heyday some 30 years ago, when Dr. Adiseshiah played a historical role, guiding UNESCO in setting regional targets for public spending on education throughout the world and in establishing UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning.
Adiseshiah was responsible for developing the Karachi Plan for Universal Primary Education for Asia, the
Adiseshiah said:
UNESCO has had a double responsibility. First it has had to coordinate the entire educational programmes of the United Nations family and give each part of the programme the expertise and help it needed. Secondly, for the UN system, it has had to act as the focal point and leader in all matters of education and science... there has been a continuing process by UNESCO of clarifying, refining and consolidating its own educational and scientific mandate. ... education and science also have wider connotations in their application to peace and understanding...
Adiseshiah kindled efficiency by arousing
Adiseshiah visited the hundred and twenty-seven
In 1970 the then Director-General,
There are in the UNESCO archives 118 Adiseshiah files covering approximately 48,000 pages.
As a UNESCO official, he rendered assistance to Indian projects. The publication of the UNESCO Art Album on
UNESCO assisted in the setting up of the 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.
He was instrumental in rendering such assistance to all member nations of UNESCO, emphasizing to Asian, African, and South American countries.
After his retirement from UNESCO until 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. In 1986 he was re-elected for a second term for five years. In 1987, 1991, and 1992 he was the chairman of the jury for the selection of the international literacy prize winners. In 1989 he delivered the Presidential Address at the World Literacy Day function in Paris.
Adiseshiah 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 an 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.
MIDS
In September 1970, Adiseshiah and his wife Elizabeth registered in
As Chairman, he evinced a 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,
It is more accurate to say that he enabled MIDS to be built. He created a place where motivated scholars could work at their projects with a minimum of direction or regulation. This kind of scholarly environment is now extremely rare anywhere in the world.
In the early 1990s, he apprehended that the Central and State governments might not fulfill 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 massive technical assistance program, 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 programs, failed to introduce a teaching program in his institute. Nor was he successful in the construction of accommodation for the doctoral scholars of his institute.
Educationalist
His early teaching career, his
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 develop. In the course of the discussions about the resolution, reference was made to the many speeches of Adiseshiah on related themes delivered in
In his humanistic approach to the role of education, science and culture in the development process, Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah has reviewed the past in order to seek improvement in the future. The philosophy of development set forth in this volume is a bright beacon which should help guide UNESCO successfully into the Second Development Decade.
That was the respect he commanded in the UN as an educationalist of eminence.
He undertook a survey of the school education in
He was instrumental in setting up 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 suggest the lines it should develop. His meticulously compiled two-volume report, one on a retrospect and the other on the prospect, 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 the
Non-formal education
He was president of the
Offer of Governorship
Late
Adiseshiah was in a tight corner. He requested a day to make up his mind. The 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. The state governor was more a ceremonial post that 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 staff, including his car drivers, whether he should accept the governorship or not!
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
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
He employed all printed media such as
In the cause of Tamil and Tamil Nadu
Adiseshiah loved
He encouraged the 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 in launching the World University Centre in Spur Tank Road in Chennai.
He desired the
He lent a helping hand in obtaining assistance from UNESCO and the
The speed with which he acted could be gauged 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
Though it was personally inconvenient for him because he had lost touch with the language during his long vacation in Europe, he still would write articles in Tamil whenever requested to do so. At a function to commemorate his 83rd birthday on 18 April 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 the Indian Economic Association in 1973-74 and presided over the Waltair session of its Annual Conference 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.
He was a member of the Governing Body of
Adisehsiah succeeded Prof. Lakdawala as Chairman of the Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) and last presided over the Governing Body meeting on 11 November 1994. It was in the inaugural address to the
Tamil Nadu, for instance, has had no panchayat elections for the last 15 years since 1971. In these fifteen years, the Tamil Nadu Government has put forward 20 reasons for the postponement of local elections. It announced election 20 times and postponed it as many times. The reasons given were: drought, flood, cyclone, villagers being busy with agricultural operations, revision of electoral rolls, delay in printing electoral rolls, lowering the age limit, reservations, court stay on reservations, appeals against those reservations in the Supreme Court, school examinations, student unrest, by-elections, mid-term elections, general elections, delimitation of wards, issue of identity cards to voters and Census operations. In addition to these 18 reasons, we have now had four postponements.
Death
His life came to a quick end. He was hospitalized for less than a week with kidney 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 Adiseshiah’s will, he had bequeathed his valuable residential property to MIDS, and his remaining wealth for setting up Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah (M&EA) Trust 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 the world. In the company of intellectuals like
In his honour
Adiseshiah is remembered for significant awards, prizes, scholarships, and endowed chairs. The annual Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize (value US $15,000) was awarded by UNESCO in 1998. The prize rewards organizations or individuals who displayed outstanding merit and achieved with particularly effective results in contributing to the fight for literacy among the member countries of UNESCO.
The National Council of Applied Economic Research[5] (NCAER]), New Delhi, in partnership with the Indian International Centre,[6] New Delhi, and support of the Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust, has organized the Malcolm Adiseshiah Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy since 2011.NCAER prepares the annual review, and the proceedings are jointly published.[7][8][9][10]
A Founder’s Day Lecture by a distinguished
The Malcolm Adiseshiah Award carries a cash grant of 200,000
Malcolm S. Adiseshiah, Chair of Development Economics and Decentralised Planning, is instituted by M&EA Trust in the Institute for Social Sciences, New Delhi.
The Emerald Jubilee Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Award, consisting of a
References
- ISBN 0837902258.
- ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ "RAJYA SABHA MEMBERS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 1952-2019" (PDF). Rajya Sabha. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ a b c "Malcolm Adiseshiah" (PDF). UNCESCO. 1995.
- ^ National Council of Applied Economic Research
- ^ Indian International Centre
- ^ "Publications". www.ncaer.org. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
- ^ "Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy 2013-14". www.ncaer.org. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
- ^ "Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy 2014-15". www.ncaer.org. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
- ^ "Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy 2015-16". www.ncaer.org. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
- ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 July 2021.