New Delhi: IIT Delhi has established “Professors Narendra and Chandra Singhi Chair” endowed by its alumnus Mr Abheek Singhi in the honour of his academician parents.

Chairs endowed by alumni, philanthropic and corporate donations support the eminent Institute’s ability to attract and retain high-quality academic talent.

Speaking of the ‘Professors Narendra and Chandra Singhi Chair’, Prof. Ambuj Sagar, Founding Head, School of Public Policy at IIT Delhi said, "It is an honor for the School of Public Policy to be the home to the Professors Narendra and Chandra Singhi Chair. The School's mission is to strengthen public policy research and education to help better marshal scientific and technical knowledge to address major societal challenges, which perfectly aligns with Abheek Singhi's objective in establishing this Chair in his parents' memory. I am sure that the distinguished academic careers of his parents will also serve to inspire the faculty member who holds the Chair”.

Prof. Narendra Kumar Singhi had a long and distinguished career focusing on Sociological Theory, Sociology of Development, Education, Health and Gender. He was a Fulbright Scholar, a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University; Maison De Sciences, Paris; Indian Institute of Advances Studies, Shimla and a Visiting Professor at University of London and University of West Indies. He was the Head of Department of Sociology at University of Rajasthan and a Senior Fellow at Institute of Development Studies. Prof. Singhi has authored more than 10 books and numerous papers in international and Indian journals.

Prof. Chandralata Singhi taught Chemistry for nearly 35 years focusing on organic chemistry at Maharani College and Kanoria College, Jaipur. She did her PhD on Chemical studies on Indian medicinal plants and published several papers on the topic.

Speaking of his purpose in establishing the Chair, Mr Abheek Singhi (B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering, 1995 Batch) said, “The solutions to all the complex problems that the world faces today are going to come not from only Science / Engineering or only Liberal Arts / Humanities – the solution lies at the intersection of the two. I experienced the complementarity of the Arts and Sciences observing my parents – who were Professors of Sociology and Chemistry respectively. This belief got reinforced through my experience at IIT Delhi (and IIM A) and then my experience at BCG. The purpose of setting the chair is to promote excellence in teaching and research to solve complex problems like climate, health, education that require a multi-functional approach. The Chair is named after my parents Prof Narendra Kumar Singhi and Prof Chandralata Singhi who were academicians in Sociology and Chemistry respectively”.

Mr Abheek Singhi is a Senior Partner and Managing Director with The Boston Consulting Group and has led BCG’s Consumer and Retail practice in Asia-Pacific and is part of the Global Practice Leadership Team. He was nominated as a BCG Fellow in 2016 to explore innovation emerging from digital technologies in Asia.

He has also coauthored books titled The $10 Trillion Prize (published by Harvard Business Review Press) and Shaping India’s Future. He has written several reports on the Indian economy across sectors and is a frequent contributor to national /international publications and a speaker at leading business conferences and seminars.

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