Delhi/Bhubaneswar, Aug 17: Suffering from illness since sometime, the former Professor of Department of Electrical Engineering and Dean at IIT, Delhi Prof Janardan Nanda passed away at around 4.30 pm at his Delhi residence on Tuesday. He was 80 years old. Prof Nanda was the middle son of Rayabahadur Madhab Chandra Nanda and younger brother of Dr Narayan Chandra Nanda, Odisha’s first plastic surgeon. He was the only son-in-law of acclaimed dramatist Pranabandhu Kar. He was taken care of by his wife, a son and two daughters. The final rites would be conducted at Delhi.
Janardan Nanda was the former vice president of Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and was also advisor to Ministry of Power. He was engaged in R&D and worked for improvement of technical education in India. Nanda was involved in INSPIRE and MENTORING Schemes of Department of Science and Technology, INSA and Indian National Engineering Academy. He was honored with Odisha Bigyan Academy’s prestigious Biju Patnaik Award for Scientific Excellence in 2011. He was also a PC Mahalanobis awardee.
He was a member of National Board of Accreditation and Chairman of Engineering Accreditation Committee for all under UG and PG programmes across the country, including National Institutes of Technology (NITs). Besides, Prof Nanda was on the governing boards of prestigious institutes including IIT, Delhi, Roorkee University, Netaji Subash Bose Institute, Delhi, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, and Central Power Research Institute, Bengaluru. He also was a visiting professor in US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Mauritius, Tripoli, Algeria and Papua New Guinea.
