Mahendra P Lama as new Vice Chancellor of IGNOU

Prof Mahendra P Lama is presently the Pro Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi which is the world’s largest educational institution in the arena of Open and Distance Learning.

He was born in Darjeeling, the “Queen of the Hills” and grew up under the parentage of late Basantlata Lama and late RP Lama a widely known writer, social worker and an administrator. Prof Lama is the Founding Vice Chancellor of the newly established Central University of Sikkim in India created by an act of Parliament in 2007 and became the youngest Vice Chancellor of a National University in India. Sikkim University today is acclaimed as one of the best among the new set of central universities in India. He has been acclaimed for his vision, innovative management and designing of academic programmes and linking the local youth and human, natural and intellectual resources with national and global world.

Prof Lama was still very recently a Member of the prestigious National Security Advisory Board of Government of India. A product of Scots Mission Primary School and Turnbull High School in Darjeeling, he was Professor of South Asian Economies in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and also the Chairman of the Centre for South, Central, South East Asian and South West Pacific Studies in JNU. He was given the full Professorship by JNU at a relatively younger age of 39. He is presently nominated by the Government of India as a member of the Steering Committee of the coveted South Asian Forum set up by the Heads of the States and Governments in the 16th SAARC Summit in Thimphu in 2010.

Central to his intellectual pursuits is development and cooperation in South and South East Asia. While teaching economic cooperation and integration in South Asia and India’s Foreign Economic Policy, he does extensive research with distinct policy slants. He was nominated by the Government of 2India in the Independent Expert Group set up by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1997.

He has participated in over 260 Seminars /Conferences both in India and in 30 countries abroad. He has directed/supervised over 35 students for their M PHIL Dissertations and PH D Theses and his students today hold prestigious positions as professionals both in India and abroad.

He has also been a member of the prestigious Interviews Board for the all India Civil Services Examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and also at the state level in Public Service Commission of Sikkim. He is also a life member of a number of pioneering Nepali literary and cultural organizations in India. He has also served as the member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Hill and Mountain Development under the aegis of National Planning Commission.
A strong votary of and relentless fighter for a separate State consisting of Darjeeling District and Dooars in West Bengal, he has received a large number of awards and public felicitations including the prestigious Father Schokaert Gold Medal in 1979 and Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by St Joseph’s College in Darjeeling during its Centenary Celebration in 2007. In 2008, he was bestowed with “Ambassador for Peace” Award by United Peace Federation in the Global Peace Festival held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for his substantive and sustained contributions to promotion of cross border cooperation and integration in South Asia. He has also been in the jury of Sahitya Akademy Award and National Fellows Selection Committee of the Ministry of Culture.

He is married to Sabina and blessed with two daughters Kafal and Totola.

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Source: Purendra Kumar Behera, click4college Specialist