Malcolm Adiseshiah - in His Honour

In His Honour

Adiseshiah is remembered by a few significant awards, prizes scholarships and endowed chairs. The annual Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize, (value US $15,000) is awarded by UNESCO from 1998. The prize rewards organizations or individuals displaying outstanding merit and achieving particularly effective results in contributing to the fight for literacy in among the member countries of UNESCO.

A ‘Founder’s Day Lecture’ by a distinguished social scientist is arranged annually in MIDS, Chennai. To commemorate Professor Adiseshiah's cosmopolitanism, a Visiting Professorial Chair has been instituted there whereby a scholar of distinction is invited to that position. The Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Ph.D. Merit Scholarship is created there to provide training and facilities for talented researchers to pursue high-quality academic research dedicated to development issues in Tamil Nadu. An award for the best teacher in economics in Tamil Nadu and prizes to winners of an essay-writing competition held for PG students of Chennai colleges are given annually at MIDS.

The Malcolm Adiseshiah Award carries a cash grant of 200,000 Rupees and a citation and is given every year to a mid career scholar who has made outstanding contributions to the field of Development Studies. It is instituted by MEAT and presented in a special ceremony at Chennai.

Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Chair of Development Economics and Decentralised Planning is instituted by MEAT in the Institute for Social Sciences, New Delhi.

The "Emerald Jubilee Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Award" consisting of a gold medallion, a certificate and a shield, is given by the State Resource Centre, Chennai, every year to a district Collector who had made significant contribution for the rehabilitation of child labour and for imparting vocational education to improve their lot. Adiseshiah was the first president of the centre (an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Human Resource) at its inception in 1973, and held the post for a decade. Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award by the Tamil Nadu Board of Continuing Education and State Resource Centre for Non-Formal Education is given to a person in recognition of his contribution to Adult Education at a function in commemoration of the World Science Day. Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah Award of Honour is also given by them for outstanding community service.

Voorhees College, Vellore has instituted annual awards of Dr.Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Prize for Proficiency in History to the best III year student of the B.A.(History) Class; Dr. Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Prize for Proficiency in Chemistry to the best III Year Student of the B.Sc., (Chemistry) Class and The Adiseshiah Memorial Gold Medal for Proficiency in English to the best student of the III Year B.A./B.Sc., class. It is not clear whether the last mentioned prize is awarded in his honour or in honour of his illustrious father who was principal of that college.

Adiseshiah was truly a many splendid personality who toiled tirelessly till his last breath to build a modern India within a new international order.