Tech boss 50 Cr gift
By Bala Shah

Infosys co-founder and current UID boss Nandan and his wife Rohini Nilekani have announced a generous gift of Rs. 50 crore ($ 11 million) to the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) to fund the establishment of its School of Environment and Sustainability. They issued a joint statement, saying that "IIHS is at the convergence of both our interests in education, urbanisation and sustainability. We are excited about contributing to an institution which will help people engage with new challenges in an innovative and interdisciplinary manner."

This is one of the largest gifts in India's history for a new School at a prospective national University.

This is a major step in a Rs. 300 crore ($ 67 million) IIHS resource mobilisation campaign to fund five interdisciplinary Schools, one of South Asia's largest reference and digital libraries and other facilities for its Bangalore campus. An additional Rs. 100 crore ($ 22 million) will be raised for chair professorships.

The IIHS is nurtured and led by a group of eminent Indians who include: Xerxes Desai, Jamshyd Godrej, Cyrus Guzder, Renana Jhabvala, Vijay Kelkar, Keshub Mahindra, Kishore Mariwala, Rahul Mehrotra, Bansi Mehta, Rakesh Mohan, Nandan Nilekani, Nasser Munjee, Deepak Parekh, Shirish Patel and Deepak Satwalekar.

Aromar Revi, an international development consultant, researcher and academic is the first Director of IIHS.

The IIHS is a national educational institution committed to the equitable, sustainable and efficient transformation of Indian settlements. It is a prospective National University for Innovation focused on the multiple challenges and opportunities of urbanisation.

Wonder which of the 5 Schools at IIHS will be named after Mr. Nilekani!