In memory of Prof C.T.Kurein

Anna and I received the news of the home call of Prof C.T.Kurien at the age of 91 years, on 23 rd July 2024, from the news paper today morning. We took time to remember our years of association with him during our time at Chennai. We have had about three years  of contact with him from 1988. He moved on to live in Bangalore following which our contacts became infrequent. 

Anna and I personally met Prof Kurien in January 1988, after the Sunday morning service at St Andrew's church at Egmore, Chennai. 

We heard him a few times from the pulpit in the church. I was looking for an opportunity to meet him personally sometime, as his sermon from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth  carried a freshness that touched me. He brought a new consciousness about 'the others' who are denied opportunities to move on in life. He made us feel that life is a vocation to make difference in the lives of those who get left behind as they are unevenly positioned due to disadvantages socially, economically and developmentally. 

On one Sunday, he came to greet me after the service to appreciate something I mentioned in the sermon.  He referred to a comment I made, about 'four men' who carried the paralysed man to Jesus in the healing story, mentioned in the gospel of  Mark, chapter 2. I referred to them as those were engaged in 'taking sides' of a man who had no where to turn to in his helpless sate. Prof Kurien mentioned that an opportunity to think and do something for those who live reduced lives  is a gift of service. He enquired about our background and hearing 

that we were involved in offering service for developmentally challenged children at the ASHIRVAD Child Development, Centre, he got enthused about what we were doing.  He listened with interest and stayed on to hear more. 

This conversation took place while standing outside, facing the tall edifice of The Kirk, a building unique in its architecture and history. The building itself is an architectural wonder, with a history of its congregation involved in sharing its goodwill and care towards disadvantaged people living in its vicinity and elsewhere. It was a congregation which had close connection with the Church of Scotland. Rev. Peter Miller was the last Scottish vicar of the church, whom we had an opportunity to know closely. In fact, he gifted us his dog, Dingido to take care, when the family finally returned after fifteen years of service in India.

Prof Kurien was in a conversational mood and enquired more  about. Child Development centre. He also discovered that we were involved in helping the ASHA project of the church to develop a Day Care Centre for attending to the developmental needs of children, living around the church. 

He referring to the miracle of Jesus, feeding the five thousand people from the gift of a boy, who gave the five barley loaves and two fish, said that it was the poor in jewish families who used barley for a meal. This boy hailing from a poor family had more food than what he needed because his parents wanted him to share his meal with others around. He referred to this as 'redistribution of resources'. He mentioned that there were people around us, who were looking for people who would 'take their sides'. 

Another aspect of that first conversation, which stayed with me, was his view, on the material resources as an economist.  He mentioned about 'distributive justice', where those who were disadvantaged ought to receive support to recover from their deprivation. He referred to birds having to find their 'daily bread', which is the plight of about 25 percent of the people in India,  who were at the bottom of the population pyramid. 

I remembered how Dr L B.M. Joseph and Dr Benjamin Pulimood used to refer to the principle of distributive justice, during their presentations in the governing council meetings, highlighting the economic policy of the Christian Medical College, Vellore.  They referred to it as 'both and' philosophy, where those who were well to do gave higher fees for the services and those who had economic constrains were charged the subsidised fees.  This social consciousness was the foundation for the fees structure at CMC, Vellore, with regard to fees for students in different training programmes. The students studying for M.B.B.S paid three thousand rupees annually in 1987 which was less than what was charged in the government medical colleges at that time. This meant that students at the completion of their course would feel motivated to serve without carrying the burden of having to earn more to pay back any loan taken for their studies.

Prof. Kurien mentioned about this practice of CMC Vellore, offering subsidised services and sharing its resources with the economically  disadvantaged, as a commendable expression of mindfulness. This made CMC stand apart in health care service in India.   

During that fifteen minutes of conversation, what he said touched me. In fact, it formulated for Anna and me the philosophy we ought to carry in our child development and rehabilitation initiative. We were in the early years, since we started in 1983. It helped us to keep this consciousness of fair practice in the structure of the service charges at the Child Development Centre. 

Following this first conversation, there were other conversations involving topics such as, the economics of health care. Whenever we met after the Sunday morning service, Prof. Kurien was keen to know the progress we were making in our involvement with children. He showed keen interest in the Day Care Centre in the church, which by then, was moving from a biweekly play group to a daily pre-school learning activity.  

There were occasions for unhurried conversations on matters related to  'cost of care' in health delivery. His thoughts were incisive about  reducing the cost so that services remain affordable to the majority. 

Prof. Kurien travelled locally by public transport. He lived with minimum creature comfort. He was a brilliant thinker, scholar and researcher, who published 15 books. He was an economist who spent his life time to challenge the policy makers and planners to give prime attention to alleviate poverty. 

One conversation with him,  when the new 'liberal economic policy' was introduced in 1991 by Dr Manmohan Singh, stands out in my mind. He had a prophetic insight about what might happen. He foresaw that instead of a few millionaires in India at that time, the liberal policies would create hundreds of millionaires. The lower middle class would move upward, but the those in the below poverty line would not correspondingly have an upward economic mobility. He foresaw that the capitalist model of 'filtering down' of benefits, if we created wealthy people, would not happen, as India needed huge investment in improving infrastructure in health, education, and generation of employment by promoting small and medium size industries. The wealth accumulating in private hands would not create the financial corpus needed for infrastructure development.  His prediction is what we experience now in India in 2024. Mr Yogendra Jadhav, and Mr Rahul Gandhi are strong advocates,  moving  the political order in India, to focus on 'social justice and equity of opportunities'. 

Prof Kurien foresaw this malady in our economic policy in 1991. 

I loved listening to him from public platforms, where in simple and appealing language, he would make a case to be mindful of those who live at the margins of society. He distinguished as a crusader for social transformation. I remember asking him once, whether he had any political ideology that determined his economic perspective. 

That led to a long conversation on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the parables, healing events and public discourses. He highlighted how Jesus had an inclination to be mindful of those who lived 'reduced' lives. In fact, his thoughts on the model of service of Jesus was that, Jesus purposefully and preferentially attended to the needs of those who were alienated. 

Anna and I feel immensely grateful for such conversations as we look back to our forty years of involvement with children, with developmental needs. There were occasions when we felt, disturbed, overwhelmed and unsettled as the giving of ourselves did not seem to bring significant restoration of wellness in the lives of  children. It was on such occasions, the words of Prof Kurien came back to us that, 'we are involved in helping those who cannot help themselves'. This revived our perspective on 'taking sides' and its imperative in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Anna and I say farewell to a person today, who influenced us to see our calling to be with children having developmental needs, as part of our obligation to fulfil the Nazarene manifesto of Jesus of Nazareth (Luke.4:18-19). Prof Kurien used to say, 'set people free' !

Prof Kurien lived his life well. He influenced lives. He translated perspectives on distributive justice in economics to benefit the weak in our community. He created scholars, researchers and thinkers. He gave a feeling 'conscience' to the science of economics. He built a counter narrative to the pursuit of prosperity by helping people to see the logic and imperative of inclusive growth. 

Prof Kurien leaves behind a legacy of making the study  of economics as a means for social  transformation. He lit a light of hope and became a pathfinder for many in the field of economics. 

 

Anna and I offer to Prof Kurien, the flower above from our garden, as a token of our respect and regard for influencing us and our understanding of economic issues in health care service. 

The flowers above, we offer to the members of his family, who grieve and adjust to his absence !

The bunch of flower above is shared with all those who subscribe to the philosophy of economics that Prof Kurien advocated- alleviate poverty!

Anna and I lighted the candle above, after receiving the news of Prof Kurien's home call, to remember that he was a light in the field of economics !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

( I borrowed the  photograph of Prof. CTK from the internet. Source: The Hindu news paper. I acknowledge it gratefully)