A journey from daily wage earner to VC

Mohit Khanna

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 8

While the story of Narendra Modi — from being a ‘chaiwala’ to the Prime Minister — has inspired young politicians, Dr Prem Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of GNA University, Phagwara, has a similar tale to tell.

Dr Prem Kumar, an alumnus of SCD Government College, used to work as a daily wager — Rs 5 per day at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) — to fund his studies.

“We had a family of seven with meager income. In 1971, at the age of 18, I worked as a daily wager for Rs 5 per day. Besides funding my studies, I used to contribute a bit in the household expenses,” said Dr Prem Kumar while addressing students at SCD Government College here today.

He said during those days, there was a paucity of stenographers in the PAU. He said he cracked the exam and got the job as a stenographer. He left the job to complete his graduation and topped the university in MA (Economics).

Before doing his PhD, he worked in two private firms and later worked in a bank for a few years. He did his MPhil from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

He has served as the Vice-Chancellor of Bahra University, Shimla, and BML Munjal University, Gurgaon, and served as a faculty at University Business School.

Besides he did his M Phil from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He has attended various faculty development programmes/ management development programmes conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, IIM-Calcutta, XLRI and Harvard Business School.

He had been Vice Chancellor of Bahra University, Shimla and BML Munjal University, Gurgaon and has served as faculty at University Business School.

Kumar has worked with the state and the Central Government. As a member of CII, he was a part of the team which assisted the Government of India in policy reforms for the Textile Industry (2000-2004). Kumar has also worked with leading consulting firms of the US, Europe and India. He has written several books and research papers.