Eminent scientist and academician Yash Pal died at his Noida residence yesterday night. He was an educator and educationist, well known for his contributions to the study of cosmic rays. Reportedly he had recovered from lung cancer a few years ago.
Indian scientist Yashpal was born on 26th July 1926 in Jhang. He graduated physics from Punjab University in 1949 and 1958 PhD. Professor Yashpal has been President of the University Grants Commission from 1984 to 1986 Furthermore also was the Chief Advisor to the Planning Commission from 1963 to 1984. He was also drawn to an advisory board of science programs titled Turning Point, highly viewed on Doordarshan.
He has been awarded and honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2013, i.e., the third and second highest Indian civilian Honours.
Yashpal’s participation in school education dates back to the early on the 1970s, with the path breaking Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme. Ministry of Human Resource development i.e. MHRD in 1993 made up a National Advisory Committee, with Professor Yash Pal as chairman, to go into the subject of overburdening of school children. The report of the committee, named as “Learning without Burden”, is at present regarded as a seminal document in Indian education.
MHRD set up a Committee based on Higher Education In 2009, (Yashpal Committee) with Pal as the chairman, for probing reform of higher education in India. In its description, the Committee laid stress on the scheme of a university and advocated a number of chief structural transformations. Though, it is not apparent whether the Government intends to acquire any action on the basis of the report.
While the reason of death was not at once known, he had supposedly recovered from cancer a few years ago. Professor Yashpal’s last rites will take place at 3 pm today.
