Infosys' Narayana Murthy praises 'Super 30' founder Anand Kumar

MYSURU: Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy has appreciated the efforts of 'Super 30' founder and mathematician Anand Kumar for helping the talent from underprivileged sections climb up the ladder.

"He is giving voice to the youth by helping them academically," said Murthy, who also felicitated Kumar for his pioneering work for the poor and helping them join the mainstream in the "real sense."

Murthy was speaking at the foundation laying function of Learners Pre-University College here, founded by Murali Mohan Konareddy, who worked as head of education and research, Infosys Technologies (China), but came back to realise his long cherished dream by setting up the college.

"For the foundation laying function, we wanted two pioneers in their respective fields. While one of them was Murthy, another was Anand Kumar," said Murali, who has received Infosys excellence award for people development and honorary citizen award from Government of China.

Anand said it was a big thing to get appreciation from a personality like Narayan Murthy. "It is bigger than any award for me, as I feel overwhelmed with his kind words," he added.

Patna-based 'Super 30' has groomed 300 students who have qualified for the coveted IITs ever since Anand launched the initiative in 2002.

Under the programme, 30 students from the extremely poor families are coached free of cost to crack JEE to secure admission to IITs. The initiative had made its way to the list of 'Best of Asia - 2010', prepared by Time magazine of the US. Newsweek Magazine had also taken note of the initiative of Kumar's Super 30 and included his school in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.