At the age of 75, many choose to take rest at home or spend time with their grandchildren. But a retired government college principal’s determination drove him to complete his PhD research and submit the thesis. His research work was accepted in the public viva-voce held on Thursday and the examiners’ committee has recommended it to Bharathiar University for the award of PhD degree to the elderly man.

N M Viswanathan from Nathakattu Valasu near Kavindapadi in Erode, born on July 15, 1939, pursued his BA in Economics at Chikkaiah Naicker College in Erode and completed his masters at National College, Tiruchy in 1962. He joined as a lecturer in Government Arts College, Ooty in 1964 and in the year 1996 he got promoted to the post of the principal of Government Arts College, Rasipuram. He then became the principal of Government Arts Colleges in Salem, Coimbatore, and retired from service in 1997.

After retirement, he planned to do PhD research and chose to work on ‘A study on the productivity of tea in Tamil Nadu with special reference to the Nilgiris district’. His thesis was evaluated by two foreign examiners and an Indian examiner. The pubic viva-voce was held at Government Arts College, Coimbatore, on Thursday, with Pudukottai Government Arts and Science College Principal J Govindadass as external examiner.

“I decided to get a PhD degree, not for any monetary benefit or career advancement, but because of interest. I chose this topic as I wanted to study the socio-economic condition of a large number of small tea growers in the Nilgiris,” Viswanathan told Express.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Education> Students / by Express News Service – Coimbatore / November 08th, 2013