AWARD -- 8:

US HONOUR FOR NILGIRIS SCIENTIST 

OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY IN VETHA UNIVERSITY IN USA

BY P S SUNDAR

Dr Shanmugamurthy Lakshmanan, a scientist hailing from a tea growing family in a small hamlet Jagathala near Coonoor, has done his village, the Nilgiris district and India proud by bagging the coveted ‘Star of the Universe’ honour.

This honour was conferred on him at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA, by the Society for Universal Oneness, an intellectuals’ organisation of scientists, researchers, engineers and doctors, working to use technology to create eco-friendly and peaceful world.

The citation said that the award was to hail Dr Shanmugamurthy’s initiatives to bridge the gap between ancient and modern science.

“My endeavour is to make available for the benefit of mankind the best of Eastern and Western sciences through the Vetha Centre for Trans-disciplinary Studies.    This is a unique educational facility offering comprehensive curriculum based on fundamental axioms found in Ayurveda, Siddha, Yoga and similar scientific traditions of the East which will be used with modern western scientific approaches”, he told me.

“This award hails my initiatives to establish a Vetha University in the USA with global partnership to facilitate students from all over the world study courses.  For the Indians, this is a great honour as most of their traditional sciences will now be learnt by foreigners”, said Dr Shanmugamurthy Lakshman, who holds Ph.D. in Applied Physics.

He said that this will open new doors for children to study life-oriented courses covering healthcare, lifestyle management, architecture, agriculture, and the arts, to name a few.  He said that they can contact the Vetha University for admissions.

“Ours is a traditional tea growing family.  We are also into vegetable cultivation.   I had the dream of making Shanmugham a popular personality in the USA so as to help ventilation of India’s supreme ethos.  He has now done that and this recognition is a credit to the entire tea growing families in the Nilgiris”, his father J B Lakshmanan told me.  But, Lakshmanan was also in Government service .. retired Deputy Collector...

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