Professor Nageshvar Prasad is no more

Professor Nageshwar Prasad, a close associate and co-worker of Loknayak Jayaparakash Narayan passed away in a Fremont, California hospital. He was 88. Prof Prasad was unwell for the past four months. As a young man he participated in India's freedom struggle against the British Raj and was jailed. As a student in Allahabad he associated himself with the youth wing of Socialist Party. Later he worked with many luminaries of the socialist party, like Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, Acharya Narendra Dev and Achyut Patwardhan. Former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar was his class mate and associate in the socialist party. When JP decided to leave the mainstream party politics, he accompanied him and together they established the Gandhian Institute of Studies in Varanasi. The object of the Institute was to build a bridge between various social movements and social studies. Later he served the institute as its Director for many years. He authored several works, amongst them are, A comparative  study of Decentralisation in Yugoslavia and India, Looking afresh at Hind Swaraj and On JP's idea of People's Government (Janata Sarkar). His commitment to Gandhian values inspired him to regularly visit various libraries and search for the latest Gandhian and social justice related litrature. He was always eager to participate in programs organized by Gandhian and Socialist groups and provided guidance to young activists.
 He is survived by his wife, Jyotsna Prasad and three sons, Himanshu Kumar, Sudhanshu Kumar and Sitanshu Kumar of California, USA.