Manipal: Dr TMA Pai Remembered - ‘Jaait-amma’ that’s all he Said...
Divvy Kant Upadhyay, Manipal
Manipal, May 29: ‘Smriti Divas’ - The death anniversaries of Dr TMA Pai, considered the ‘Founder of Manipal’ and his nephew, former Union Minister T A Pai were marked by the Manipal University on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, former Chairman of Prasar Bharati, Octogenarian, Prof M V Kamath recounted his association with both the stalwarts. Reminiscing old times, Kamath informed that it was on the request of his mother that Dr TMA Pai, then a young doctor graduated from Madras Medical College, stayed back to set up Udupi’s first Allopathic clinic. Dr TMA Pai had expressed a desire to go to Hong Kong when his mother advised him to set up a practice at Udupi. “Jait-amma”– that’s all he said. According to Prof Kamath , it is at this psychological point in time that Manipal was born. After setting up Udupi’s first allopathic clinic, he set up a school in 1942 followed by the MGM college in 1949. Not resting on his laurels, he went on to establish India’s first private and wholly self-financing medical and engineering colleges in 1953 and 1956 respectively.
'Founder of Manipal' Dr Tonse Madhav Ananth Pai (extreme left) and his nephew and former Union Minister T A Pai (extreme right) are seen in this photo believed to be taken in the early 60's when the then Home Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri had come to Manipal on a visit. Dr TMA Pai passed away on May 29, 1979 and co-incidentally two years later on the same day Shri T A Pai also passed away. May 29 is marked as Smriti Divas by the Manipal University, the Academy of General Education, Dr TMA Pai Foundation and TA Pai Foundation.
Dr TMA Pai passed away on May 29, 1979. Today apart from running a massive healthcare setup, the Manipal Group trains over 180,000 students at Manipal, Mangalore, Bangalore, Dubai, Sikkim, Malaysia and Nepal through on-campus as well as distance learning.
Dr TMA Pai and his nephew, TA Pai worked towards establishing the Syndicate Bank. T A Pai was known to be a banker par excellence. He was Chairman of Food Corporation of India (1965), Syndicate bank (1967) and Life Insurance Corporation of India – LIC (1970). In between 1972 and 1974, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and was a Union Minister in the Indira Gandhi government taking care of ministries like Railways, Heavy Industries, Steel and Mine. T A Pai passed away on 29 May in 1981. He is also remembered as the founder of TAPMI – one of India’s premier Management Institutes.
Several Heads of Institutions and officers of the Manipal University paid floral tributes to the portrait of Dr TMA Pai on his 30th Death Anniversary. Present at the occasion were Manipal University Pro Chancellor Dr HS Ballal, Vice Chancellor Dr Raj Warrier and Registrar Dr GK Prabhu. Dean of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Dr Sripathi Rao also spoke on the occasion. Later in the day, a formal function was held at MGM College in Udupi.
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