Braj Bihari Kumar to succeed economist S K Thorat as ICSSR chief

NEW DELHI: Braj Bihari Kumar, editor of quarterly journals Dialogue and Chintan Srijan, has been appointed as the chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research ( ICSSR), succeeding noted economist S K Thorat.

The HRD Ministry yesterday took the decision finalising his name for the top post for a period of three years.

"The ministry finalised his name from a shortlist prepared by a selection panel. Others in the shortlist were I K Bajaj and PM Kamath," a senior HRD Ministry official said. Thorat was heading the council since April 2011.

76-year-old Kumar has been serving as the editor of the two quarterly journals, published by a society called Astha Bharati, of which he is a founding member.

A former principal of Sao Change Government College in Tuensang (Nagaland) and Science College in Kohima, Kumar has written, edited and co-authored 136 books.