Dr. B. D. Nag Chaudhary
(1914-2006)

Students, faculty and staff of Jawaharlal University express grief and offer heart felt condolences on the sad demise of Dr. B. D. Nag Chaudhary, an eminent Nuclear Scientist and former Vice-Chancellor of our University who passed away on 25 June, 2006 in Kolkata at the age of 89 years.

Dr. Nag Chaudhary joined our University on 1 July, 1974 and he relinquished the charge of the office of the Vice-Chancellor on 1 January, 1979.

Dr. Nag Chaudhary had been the Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata and then became a Member of the Planning Commission, Government of India. He worked as Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, Government of India, prior to his appointment as Vice-Chancellor of our University. His passing away has created a void in the scientific world.

The University conveys its heart felt condolences to the bereaved family.

May his soul rest in peace.

We are sad to inform that Prof. Dawa T. Norbu, Centre for South, Central, Southeast Asian & South West Pacific Studies, School of International Studies expired on 28 May, 2006 we extend our condolence to the bereaved family.

Prof. Aijazuddin Ahmad was an academic with rare talents, humble yet committed for the investigation of “wide scale disparities and continuous human suffering”.

Prof. Ahamd, born on 12 January 1932 at Firozabad, developed an early enthusiasm to learn about and investigate the world. He started his career at the Department of Geography at Aligarh Muslim University and developed a fervour to delve into the causes of wide scale social disparities. While vigorous intellectual debates and discussions kindled the forays into geographical thought, it is in his most private moments that human emotions gave birth to poetry and prose. Consequently, Geography inevitably transcended the narrow lanes and by-lanes of facts and figures to an art of intense literary fervour in describing the earth as the abode of man. Geographical literature and Urdu publications were therefore amalgamated and became the true academic companion for him, later years.

Soon after his doctorate in 1962, Prof. Ahmad was offered a lecturership at the university at Aligarh. In 1972, the more “ socially relevant” geographical research made him shift to The Centre for the Study of  Regional Development in Jawaharlal Nehru University. The core of his interest that mesmerized students at the Centre revolved around Social Geography, Geography of  Thougth and also reflected his critical perspectives on Historical Geography; Regional Development and Planning being the central edifice.

Prof, Ahmad is credited with the authorship of an array of books like Social Structure and Regional Development 1993, Muslims in India 1993, Tribal Atlas of India 1990 , Social Geography of India 1999; along with over sixty five research articles in various national and international journals that reflected various social dimensions of Indian ethos and culture. His exceptional literary skills and command over languages had a profound impact on his writings and consequently resulted in his being the recipient of a number of fellowships like that from USSR, Academy of Science and the Full bright, USA. Prof. Ahmad accomplished the task of holding various editorial offices for an outstanding time period for leading journals like The Geographer (1964-1972); and of the Journal of Abstracts and Reviews : Geography (1982-1994) by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, he became the President of it in 1998.

Prof. Ahmad has deeply inspired the entire geography fraternity by comprehending multifaceted social dynamics and social complexity. According to him, “ The new agenda for Geography is to throw a force of dedicated researchers in the field to generate knowledge and thus helping the emancipation of the deprived, the down-trodden and the underprivileged section of our people.” His vision was to make Geography “ an instrument of social awakening and tool for social reconstruction”. He reiterated again and again that “intellectual and epistemic development in any discipline is rooted in social theory cannot be divorced from social experience”

His untimely demise on June 8, 2006 leves an unfulfillable void among academic fraternity.  Prof. Ahmad passed away in Londan were he had to attend conference. He had retired from the University in 1997.