Sripati Chandrasekhar (1918–2001)

Sripati Chandrasekhar, November 22, 1918 - June 14, 2001 Sripati Chandrasekhar was born on November 22, 1918 to a teacher and an author. He attended Madras Presidency College, where he wrote his first paper on India's population problems. He went on to earn his doctorate from New York University in toon meer 1944, writing his dissertation again on the population problem in India. Toward the end of the second World War, Chandrasekhar worked for the American Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner for the CIA, as an expert on Indian demography. After the war, Chandrasekhar participated in lectures around the United States in an effort to make people aware of India's independence struggle. He then went on to become a writer, penning hundreds of articles and 32 books, as well as teaching at universities in India, the U. S. and Europe. Some of his most famous titles were, "Hungry People and Empty Lands," published in 1953, "Communist China 'Today,'" published in 1961 and "American Aid and India's Economic Development," published in 1965. In 1968 he was chosen as the Indian Minister of Health and Family Planning by Indira Gandhi. Chandrasekhar chose this role as a way to halt the ever increasing tide of the Indian population. He preached about birth control, the sterilization of males and generally taking responsibility for the act of sex. His policies came under attack many times, but Chandrasekhar feared that without some sort of control, the Indian population would continue to rise and the government would fall apart. Regardless of all of his endeavors, the population has continued to rise. Sripati Chandrasekhar died on June 14 in San Diego from two massive strokes. He was 83 years old. toon minder