Pune: Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Pune Kendra and former secretary to Government of India, Padmabhushan Dr. P.R. Dubhasi passed away Monday morning after a brief illness. He was 90 and survived by wife, married son, daughter in law, daughter behind him.
Dr. Dubhashi after a brilliant academic career, joined Indian Administrative Service in 1953, from Karnataka Cadre and held senior positions in the higher positions in State as well as Central Government for more than three decades. He served as Vice-Chancellor of Goa University during 1990-1995, in its formative years. He has authored several government reports and also written 27 books, six of them in the Marathi language on several subjects relating to public administration, political science, economic thought, co-operation and Panchayati Raj. He has visited more than 30 countries on behalf of Government of India during his career.
He received many awards for his outstanding career in the field of IAS. In 1993 he was awarded “Shiromani Award”. In January 2010, he was conferred “Padmabhushan” at the hands of President of India and also Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, conferred on him prestigious ” Paul H. Applyby Award” for excellence in Public Administration in 2018, at the hands of Vice President of India, at New Delhi.
He was chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Pune Kendra for the last twelve years and guided all the educational institutions under Pune Kendra. On behalf of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Prof. Nandkumar Kakirde, director and honorary secretary, who has worked with him for the last 12 years very closely, expressed shock at the demise of Dr. Dubhashi and said Bhavan has lost a father figure, stalwart and a great personality, guide. It’s an irreparable loss to the country and Bhavan in particular, he said.
