With a monthly pension of just over Rs 50,000, a septuagenarian retired professor has claimed to have donated Rs 97 lakh to educational institutes in West Bengal since 2002.
Chitralekha Mallik, who lives alone in a modest flat in Baguiati area the city, told PTI on Sunday she wants to help researchers in need of financial assistance.
"Of the Rs 97 lakh, I had donated Rs 50 lakh to my alma mater Jadavpur University (JU) last year in memory of my research guide Pandit Bidhubhusan Bhattacharya," she said.
The former Sanskrit professor at Victoria Institution in Rajabazar area of the city said she had also donated Rs 6 lakh to JU in memory of his research guide's wife Haimabati Bhattacharya for instituting a scholarship for students.
Mallik said she had given her first donation of Rs 50,000 to Victoria Institution for infrastructural development before a visit of members of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 2002.
Her another major contribution was of Rs 31 lakh to the Indian Research Institute for Integrated Medicine in Howrah in the name of her parents.
Mallik said she had donated the remaining amount to various institutes between 2002 and 2018 for the education and welfare of the poor.
"The Upanishads have taught us to denounce material comforts and stick to simple living. How much do I need for my daily expenses? Not much," she said.
The retired professor said she is planning two more donations to organisations involved in philanthropic work.
A senior JU official confirmed that Mallik had donated Rs 50 lakh to the university to institute a research scholarship in the name of Pandit Bidhubhusan Bhattacharya, who had mentored her.
"She (Mallik) is in constant touch with us. She came to the university after puja vacation this year and wanted to know how the fund was being managed," the official of Arts faculty said.
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