Birth centenary of Padma Bhushan Prof Rais Ahmed observed at AMU
ALIGARH : To mark the birth centenary function of Padma Bhushan Prof Rais Ahmed (1923-1995), a one-day seminar on “Future Directions in Physics” was organized by the Department of Physics, Aligarh Muslim University.
Padma Bhushan Prof. Rais Ahmed had served as Head of the Department of Physics, and Director of Academic Programme at Aligarh Muslim University. Prof. M Sajjad Athar, Chairman, Department of Physics, while offering his tribute to him, highlighted the profile of the visionary institution builder and Physicist Prof. Rais Ahmed.
Born on February 1, 1923, in Gulawti, Bulandshahar district, adjacent to Aligarh, Prof. Rais Ahmed completed his M.Sc. degree from Calcutta University and later obtained a Master of Science and Engineering degree from Princeton University. He began his teaching career as a lecturer in the Department of Physics, at AMU in 1948. He pursued his Ph.D. in Electronics at Calcutta University, completing it in 1954. Subsequently, he embarked on a postdoctoral research stint at the University of London under the prestigious Nuffield Foundation Fellowship during 1957- 58.
Prof. Ahmed assumed the challenging role of Director at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in New Delhi, which he held until 1977. From 1978 to 1981, he served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir.
In 1982, he assumed the role of Vice-Chairman at the University Grants Commission (UGC), where he was instrumental in framing the Merit Promotion Scheme and the UGC NET scheme, which revolutionized research scholarships and university teaching posts across India.
During his UGC tenure, he advocated for a dedicated TV channel for education and played a pivotal role in the development of the New Education Policy in the early 1980s. He also served as a Consultant to the Ministry of Human Resource Development on the New Educational Policy from 1986 to 1988, and then as Chairman of Educational Consultants (India) Ltd. from 1988 to 1990. In these roles, he played a pivotal role in establishing the Indira Gandhi National Open University, serving the educational aspirations of millions of students in India and abroad.
The concept of opening a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in every district of India was born as a part of the National Policy on Education, 1986 with an aim of fostering and nurturing talent from underprivileged rural communities in every district.
The seminar was attended by Padma Bhushan Prof. Irfan Habib (CAS in History, AMU), Padma Shri Prof. P. I. John (Institute of Plasma Research, Ahmedabad), Prof. Siraj Hasan (Former Director, Indian Institute of Astrophysics), Prof. Naresh Dadhich (Former Director, Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics), Prof. Shyam Sundar Agrawal (F. Emeritus Scientist (CSIR), Prof. S. K. Singh (Former Vice-Chancellor, HNB Garhwal University), Prof. Wasi Haider, faculty members and students of the department.