GSKTC Charitable Trust

The idea of creating this trust is a result of the convergence of two streams of thought. To specify the first stream, we start with the observation that India, unlike other countries such as China, Iran, and Japan, lacks places where mathematical talent is discovered and nurtured among school children at a relatively young age. Why is that important, one might ask. Well, mathematics, while important in its own right, underpins the study of engineering and the sciences -- not only the traditional ones like physics and chemistry but also biology, computer science, economics, finance, etc. In the case of computer science, for example, India has a large workforce engaged in digital technology, but most of the people working in the area do not have a strong background in mathematics. In the face of increasing automation and severe competition, they can keep their jobs and do sophisticated tasks required of them only by improving their knowledge and skills, and that involves mathematics in areas like machine learning and artificial intelligence. Retraining programs for such people, though essential, are not what we have in mind. Instead, we propose to work with young students whose attitudes and habits are still forming. Now, there exist many institutes in the country, including the admirable Super Thirty program initiated and run by Mr. Anand Kumar in Patna, which train students specifically for the IIT entrance exams. What we intend doing, however, is identify talent through a competitive examination (a continuation, in a strengthened form, of the talent test mentioned in the section on activities, which has been held once a year since 2004, free of cost to the students) and stimulate and encourage it through a mentoring program, letting the students choose their own fields of study in college and university. It is expected, of course, that some of them will be attracted to the study of higher mathematics, whether pure or applied, for once one gets even a glimpse of the beauty, grandeur, and usefulness of mathematics, one just cannot stay away from it. Both the competitive examination and the mentoring program will be free of cost and accessible to all students irrespective of caste, creed, gender, race or religion.

Another observation, easy to make, is that across the country, especially in small towns and the rural areas, the percentage of girls attending school is lower than that of boys. It is a truism that a nation's progress depends crucially on the education and welfare of girls. We are aware that there exist programs like the ones sponsored by Mr. Azim Premji to address the problem, but we would like to contribute our mite too to the cause.

The second line of thinking referred to earlier concerns our desire to honor the memory of two remarkable individuals in our family, namely Gummuluru Sri Krishnaveni (1923-2000) and Thyagaraju Chelluri (1977-2004), by carrying out activities that respect the values they held dear and lived by. One thing they had in common was kindness and a spirit of generosity. (See their biographical sketches below.)

Considering the limited funds at our disposal and the complexities of organizing activities on a big scale, we have decided, at least for the present, to address the two problems described on a small scale by focusing on Chodavaram (Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh) and surroundings. This is because it happens to be our hometown. Also, the activities we are planning to carry out dovetail nicely with work needed to be done on a national scale to meet the two needs mentioned. We hope other groups and organizations will start similar programs in other parts of the country. We will of course be happy to share our experiences with them. We ourselves have been inspired by Mr. Anand Kumar's program, which gives a chance to students from the most disadvantaged and poorest families and lifts them up.