India gifts $4.5 mn to Harvard to set up fellowship fund

WASHINGTON: India has gifted $ 4.5 million to the Harvard University to establish a Fund in the honour of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, which would provide fellowships to deserving Indian students for pursuing studies at the premier American institution.

Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen and Drew Gilpin Faust, the President of the Harvard University, signed an agreement on the establishment of the Fund at a ceremony at the University yesterday in the presence of the noted economist Amartya Sen.

The gift of $ 4.5 million was made on the 75th birth anniversary of Amartya Sen, distinguished Lamont Professor at the University, in recognition of his "extraordinary accomplishments" and his much-acclaimed work for social and economic justice across the world.

The Fund, which will enable deserving Indian students to pursue studies at the University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, will be called 'India Fellowships Given in Honour of Amartya Sen'.



Consistent with the University's policy, the Fellowships will at a later date be formally designated as the Amartya Sen Fellowship Fund and the recipients of the fellowship as Amartya Sen Fellows.

Ambassador Sen thanked Harvard University for accepting the gift on the occasion of Professor Amartya Sen's 75th birth anniversary, the Indian embassy here said in a release.

He described Professor Sen, also the recipient of the Bharat Ratna, as a great son of India and one of the world's foremost contemporary thinkers.