Former VC of Assam Univ, Prof. Somnath Dasgupta conferred Asiatic Society Lectureship Award

August 5: Former Vice Chancellor of Assam University, Prof. Somnath Dasgupta was conferred the prestigious Asiatic Society ‘Lecturership Award.’ Prof. Dasgupta was selected for the award by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata in the category of GSI Sesquicentennial Commemorative Lecture for his valuable contribution in the field of Earth Science.

Expressing his initial reaction to way2barak, Prof. Somnath Dasgupta said, “Actually this year, there will be no function, so the charm is gone. If you see the list, people from various fields are acknowledged by the Asiatic Society- literature, history, philosophy, science etc. Barring one or two awards, which are for younger people, all others are for senior people in different fields. Recognition comes in the form of Lectureship (where one has to give a lecture) with citations, medals or plaques. This year (2019) they included Amitabh Ghosh, Suranjan Das, JV Narlikar, Sumit Sarkar, Rajmohan Gandhi , Aloke Ranjan Dasgupta and others.”

“I shall miss out the day long function, where good interactions take place. This year it will be drab online programme, I believe. I have not so far heard about the date, but it should be this year only. The Asiatic Society selects people through several committees in different subjects. My specific award was instituted by the Society after the Geological Survey of India reached 150 years. When there is a talk, people are expected to say in simple language about what they have done,” added Prof. Dasgupta.

Speaking about his stint at Silchar, Prof. Dasgupta said, “I have done research and teaching at many places, but the stint at Assam University, Silchar taught me more about running a big show, hence completed the circle. And, of course, in that context, nothing would have been possible without the cooperation of AUS people and those of Barak Valley.”

A scholar of international repute, Prof. Somnath Dasgupta was the Vice Chacellor of Assam University, Silchar during 25 June, 2012 to November 2015. Prior to that, he worked at IISER Kolkata, Geologist at Geological Survey of India (GSI) from January (1978 to September 1981), Faculty in University of Allahabad (August 2010 to July 2011). After leaving Silchar, Prof. Dasgupta worked at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi (1 December 2015 to 31 December 2017). At present, he is working as a Professor in Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata.

Apart from Prof. Somnath Dasgupta, other scholars who too were conferred the prestigious title by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata are Ms. Ela Gandhi (Humanities), Prof. Malavika Karlekar (Indological Studies), Prof. Ramohan Gandhi (National Integration), Prof. Ramkrishna Bhattacharjee (Comparative Philosophy of Language), Prof. Nirmala Banerjee (Economic Development & Women), Prof. Achinta Kumar Biswas (Social Development), Prof. Amitendranath Thakur (Human Culture), Prof. Suranjan Das (History), Prof. Sumit Sarkar (History), Prof. Alok Ranjan Dasgupta (Bengali Poet), Prof. Ravindra K. Jain (Anthropology in Asia), Prof. Pradyot Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Philosophy), Amitav Ghosh (Literature & History), Dr. Asim Dasgupta (Economics) and Dr. Anungla Iyer (Anthropology).