Maddela Abel

Prof Maddela Abel in 2006, Hyderabad, India

Maddela Abel (30 December 1923 – 27 November 2012) was an Indian political scientist. He was a prominent educationist. He served as the Principal of Madras Christian College (1978-1981) and Vice Chancellor of Sri Krishnadevaraya University (1981–87).

Early life and education

Abel was born in Pedda Vangali, a village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh (AP). He studied BA in Andhra-Christian College (1945–48), and MA in Madras Christian College (1948–50). He attended the University of California, Los Angeles on a Fulbright/Smith-Mundt Scholarship after several years teaching in Madras Christian College (MCC), earning a PhD in international relations. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, he received the Danforth Foundation Fellowship in 1960 and was also named "best foreign student."

Career

Abel was Professor of Political Science in MCC from 1950, and Principal of MCC, 1978-81.^[1] The Government of AP then invited him to be the first Vice-Chancellor of Sri Krishnadevaraya University (1981–87). Thereafter, he served as the first Vice-Chairman of AP State Council of Higher Education (1987–88).

He was an Executive Member of National Council of Churches in India, Executive Member of the Church of South India (CSI) Synod, and the President of the Christian Literature Society (CLS). CSI commissioned Abel to study the life, service and witness of the church. The outcome was the report, The Church of South India after Thirty Years. Report of the Abel Commission (CLS, 1978). It spoke of several reforms the Church in India needed to undertake.^[2]

Abel was awarded DLitt by Sri Krishnadevaraya University in 2005.

Publications

Apart from several Endowment Lectures, Abel also published numerous articles and several books. His articles deal with the areas of political administration, ideologies, economic development, subaltern studies, Dalit concerns, Christian higher education, and church administration.

Notable among his books are:

• God and Government: Sermons on Society and Spirituality (CLS 2013)
• Remade in India: Political Modernization in the Indian Context (ICFAI 2006)
• Glimpses of Indian National Movement (ICFAI 2005)
• Ideas and Reality: Reflections on Higher Education (CLS 1995)

References