BOSTON– Boston’s Dang family, in collaboration with Vision-Aid and Help The Blind Foundation, recently launched “Dr. Kamlesh Dang Academic Scholarship” for visually impaired students at Miranda House College in New Delhi.
The scholarship was launched in New Delhi on Dec. 19 when the five visually impaired students of Miranda House became proud recipients of the “Dr. Kamlesh Dang Academic Scholarship” to support their educational aspirations.
The scholarship was instituted through a financial contribution from the Dang Family and made possible through a joint collaboration between Vision-Aid and Help The Blind Foundation. These outstanding young girls are all enrolled in the first year of their studies, and come from different states in India.
“Education is the birthright for every child and adult,” said Puran Dang. “It gives our family a spiritual feeling by helping these brave, vision-impaired young women to study for a college degree from the renowned Miranda House College. God bless them in their studies so that they lead a dignified life.”
The awards ceremony at Miranda House College was attended by their daughter Rachna Dang Sharma, son-in-law Anupendra Sharma, and grand-daughter, Ria Dang Sharma who flew in from Boston, along with senior team members from Vision-Aid, HTBF, and Miranda House. Kamlesh Dang. Ph.D., and Puran Dang, along with their other daughter, Reena Dang Pichamuthu, and son-in-law, Joseph Lalit Pichamuthu joined the event via Zoom, along with several others from Vision-Aid and HTBF leadership teams.
The students, Sunita, Saloni, Archana, Niranjana and Reena spoke of their passions and interests – teaching, studying science, playing cricket and soccer (football), and singing. Ria, Dang’s granddaughter talked of the gifts she learned from her grandmother including the passion for baking and yoga.
Kamlesh Dang and her family moved to New India after the partition of British India in 1947. Kamlesh enjoyed learning and earned her B.Sc Honors degree from Miranda House, Delhi University in 1958. She completed her M.Sc Degree from Delhi University and joined the Indian Agricultural Institute (Pusa Institute) to commence her research work. She earned her Ph.D. Degree based on her work at Pusa Institute and continued her love for learning by completing her MBA from Western New England University in Boston. Kamlesh immigrated to the United States with her husband, Puran Dang, in 1971.
Kamlesh worked at the renowned McLaine Hospital in the United States where she pursued her passion for research. Kamlesh researched the effects of neurological drugs on the brain. Later she was appointed as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Her exemplary performance during her fellowship led to an offer of a faculty position as an Assistant Professor at Harvard University.
After success in the research field, Kamlesh co-founded a startup with her husband, Puran, to fulfill their entrepreneurial aspirations, which they both shared. The business was focused on staffing and consulting services for leading research centers and for Fortune 500 companies in the areas of engineering, technology, and finance. Kamlesh led the Operations and Finance efforts in the company. She brought the same deep rigor making the transition from academia to business seamless and successful by showcasing her adaptability and skill in diverse professional arenas.
Kamlesh has had a stellar career but what makes her exceptional is that she has been just as successful as a dedicated wife, mother, grandmother and community leader. The manner in which she balanced her career and family is exemplary. In addition, despite her busy life she managed to always find time to help the elderly and promote female causes. Kamlesh is deeply spiritual and practices yoga and meditation regularly. She has led her life with humility, grace and kindness.
Puran Dang has founded and held key roles in fifteen organizations in Greater Boston. These organizations provide technical jobs for thousands of local personnel and immigrants, raise funds to eliminate hunger and illiteracy, reskill the blind, educate entrepreneurs, and promote South Asian Arts. In addition to being Chairman Emeritus of Vision-Aid USA, he has held Chairmanships at many organizations, and been rewarded with several awards including the Distinguished Service Award from IIT Kharagpur, Life Fellow of IIT Kharagpur, Community Catalyst by the New England Choice Awards. He holds a BTech Hons from IIT Kharagpur, BS Hons in Physics from Delhi University, and an MBA from Western New England University.
Vision-Aid and HTBF are non-profit organizations operating at scale to serve the visually impaired in India. Vision-Aid is a leader in the field of Vision Rehabilitation in India, operating resource centers in 31 locations across India, and offering services and innovative technology-driven devices and training programs to the visually impaired. HTBF supports visually impaired students in a network of 200+ colleges across India. Recently, Vision-Aid and HTBF collaborated to distribute 400 AI-powered Smart Vision Glasses to 400 college students from underprivileged backgrounds across India, with a matching grant from Cognizant. The scholarship program at Miranda is a pilot program in a new area of partnership, aiming to support visually impaired college students from underprivileged backgrounds with their college. expense and is the first such scholarship jointly offered by both Vision-Aid and HTBF. Based on the success of the pilot, both organizations are looking to grow and scale up the scholarship in coming months.
Reena Dang and her husband Lalit Pichamuthu said: “We feel so blessed to have had an exceptional woman like our dear Mom in our lives who is so selfless, intelligent, compassionate and always devoted to making the lives of others better. She is an inspiration to us and we are delighted that these fabulous young students are getting an opportunity to follow in her footsteps at Miranda House College.”
Added Rachna and Anupendra Sharma: “It was wonderful to meet the five recipients of the scholarship and learn about their aspirations. We are very happy that they are being given a chance to fulfill those dreams and wish them the very best as they embark on this exciting journey. We hope they will hold our Mom’s traits of hard work, empathy, grace and humility with them always. It was also amazing to walk the halls of Miranda House as our Mom did many years ago as a student.”
