Professor Bassett speaks on his book in India

Over spring break, Associate Professor Ross Bassett gave a series of talks in India on his book, The Technological Indian.  The book describes how a group of Indians, starting in the late 19th century and continuing after India’s independence, looked to MIT as a vehicle for India’s technological development.  Bassett spoke in Mumbai at the Godrej Culture Lab, and at the Indian Institute of Technology, in Ahmedabad at the Ahmedabad Management Association, at Bangalore at the Indian Institute of Science, and in Pune at the Pune International Centre.  At the Godrej talk, F. C. Kohli, a 1950 graduate of MIT widely considered the “father of the Indian Information Technology industry” for his decade-long leadership of Tata Consultancy Services, was in attendance. In Bangalore, Almitra Patel, the first Indian woman to earn an engineering degree from MIT (in 1958) was present. 

Recently India’s leading business newspaper, the Economic Times, ran a feature on Bassett’s work, noting especially the connection between Mahatma Gandhi and those who went to MIT.