Communist, Scientist, Activist and Dreamer Daya Varma (August 23, 1929 – March 22, 2015)
Dr. Daya Varma, life-long communist, scientist, activist, dreamer, pharmacologist, professor emeritus at McGill University, Montreal, passed away on 22 March 2015 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. A former member of the undivided Communist Party of India, he was a founder of Indian People’s Association in North America (IPANA) and International South Asia Forum, as well as a founding member of CERAS (Centre d’Étude et Ressources d’Asie Sud) and was on the board of of Alternatives, a progressive think tank in Canada. He also founded and edited the INSAF bulletin. Many in India remember how when the 1984 Bhopal Union Carbide industrial disaster struck, where thousands died, Dr. Varma spearheaded a study to monitor the effects of MIC on pregnant women whilst supporting their compensation claims.
He was a long time supporter of sacw.net.
Some of his recent writings available via sacw are:
The Disappearing Left in the “Emerging” India by Dr. Daya Varma
http://www.sacw.net/article7407.html
India: CPM Should Learn from Late PC Joshi and Not from Mulayam Singh Yadav by Dr. Daya Varma, Vinod Mubayi, 2 December 2013
http://www.sacw.net/article6726.html
In memory of Sudarshan Punhani (1933-2009)
http://www.sacw.net/article920.html
Noted among his other writings are:
Book Review: Scanning P.C. Joshi’s Biography
by Dr. Daya Varma in: Mainstream, Vol 47, 18 April 2009
From Witchcraft to Allopathy by Daya R Varma
in: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol – XLI No. 33, August 19, 2006
Books:
- Medicine, Healthcare and the Raj: The Unacknowledged Legacy by Daya Varma (2015) www.threeessays.com/books/medicine-healthcare-and-the-raj/
- Reason and Medicine: Art and science of healing from antiquity to modern times by Daya Ram Varma (January 2013) http://www.threeessays.com/books/reason-and-medicine/