Felix Raj

Early life

Born in 1954 in Poolangudi, Ramnad District, Tamil Nadu, to Mr. S. A. Susai and Mrs Kitheri Susai, both teachers, Raj had early exposure to education as virture and vocation. He had his schooling at St. Michael's School, Sengudi and completed high school at St. Mary's Tuticorin (Thuthugudi), South India. He was School Pupils Leader (SPL) at St. Mary's. After his Pre University Studies in St. Joseph's College Trichy, he joined the Calcutta Province of the Society of Jesus, an International Religious Order in 1973. He went through his early Jesuit formation of Novitiate and Juniorate at Xavier Teacher Training Institute, Patna for three years.

Raj graduated with Economics from Loyola College, Chennai in 1980. During his studies at Chennai, he involved himself in the activities of All India Catholic University Federation, a University Student Movement. He represented the AICUF in the Conference of Asian Catholic Students Federation held in Penang in 1979. He has been in this University Student Movement for more than 35 years. In 1989 he took over as the West Bengal State Adviser to the AICUF.

Raj completed his Masters in Economics at St. Joseph's College, Trichy in 1982. He secured the first rank and was awarded a gold medal. He completed his Philosophy studies from Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), Pune in 1984 and joined the Department of Economics, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata as faculty. After two years, Raj studied a three-year Theology course from Vidya Jothi College, Delhi in 1989 and was ordained as a priest in Trichy on 23 April 1989. He rejoined the economics faculty of St. Xavier's College, Kolkata in 1989. He belongs to the Calcutta Province of the Society of Jesus and resides at the Jesuit Community in Mother Teresa Sarani, Kolkata.

Raj is fluent in Tamil, Bengali, Hindi and English.

St. Xavier's College

Raj returned to St. Xavier's College, Kolkata in 1989 as Professor of Economics. He was appointed Rector of St. Xavier's in 1996. Raj served in that position for six years, then took over as Vice-Principal of the Commerce Department of the College in 1997 and held the position for twelve years. In 2009, he was appointed Principal of the College.

Raj took over as Principal and Secretary of St. Xavier's College on 2 February 2009, the Sesquicentenary year of the College. In 2011 St. Xavier's was accredited as the Autonomous College in 2011 and was awarded a score of 3.53 out of 4. The College successfully underwent its autonomy review in 2012. Felix Raj has initiated the expansion of the College academically and physically. The State Government of West Bengal has allotted to St. Xavier's College 16.64 acres of land in Rajarhat for a third campus.

Other contributions

Dr. Raj joined the All India Catholic University Federation in 1977 while studying at Loyola College, Madras and has been associated with it since. Raj took over as the State Adviser to Bengal AICUF unit in 1989 and stirred up the spirit and revitalised the movement.

As the Director of the The Goethals Indian Library and Research Society, since 1996, Raj undertook a major renovation to help the users, he modernized the facilities. The library contains a collection of 18,663 volumes of books and periodicals. About 50 manuscripts of the Bengal Mission historian, Fr. H. Hosten, are stored, besides a few of Fr. W. Wallace and the pioneering educationist, Brahmabandhav Upadhyay. It has now been designated as a Research and Reference Centre.

Raj joined the Bengal Economic Association in 2002, and was its secretary from 2005 to 2011, and its vice-president from 2011.

In 2005, Raj and a group of his former students created an NGO, called Snegam Social Welfare & Resource Society, whose mission was to promote quality education and bring about an educational revolution. Its seven centres, three of which situated in the urban slums and four in villages. In India, where 100 million children do not go to school, Snegam has directly benefitted almost 1000 children, and provided financial assistance to economically challenged students in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Raj initiated Prayas in January 2006. Prayas directs the college, with its management, faculty and students to work together to bring education to villages. College students go to the villages and work with the children; they conduct classes and extracurricular activities, surveys, camps etc. They also provide financial assistance to the very needy children to continue their education. This Project was awarded the Dr. P.S. Job Memorial Award for the most Innovative Educational effort for the year 2010–11 by AIACHE (All India Association for Christian Higher Education).

Raj, SJ is the president of the Centre, which runs the St. Joseph's higher secondary school with 1100 students in Nagamangalam, 12 km from Trichy on Trichy–Madurai road.

Book publications

Dr. Raj has authored and co-authored six books and has written numerous articles in journals, magazine and newspapers.

1. Relevance of Christianity in India Today (ed.), (1986) Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune.
2. Memories of a Movement – AICUF in West Bengal 1948–1996, (1996) AICUF Publications, Kolkata.
3. Contemporary Development Economics from Adam Smith to Amartya Sen, (Felix Raj & others), (2006) New Central Book Agency Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, 2006.
4. Indian Economy – Economic Ideas, Development and Financial Reforms – Essays in honour of Prof. Raj Kumar Sen, (ed.), (2008), Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi.
5. WTO and Asian Union – Ten Years of WTO, (ed.) (2009), Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi.
6. Disinvestment in India – Trends, Problems and Prospects, (2012), Regal Publishers, New Delhi.
7. Discovery of Bengal: The Jesuit Design, (2014), The Goethals Indian Library and Research Society.
8. Indian Economy – A Visionary Perspective, (ed.) (2015), Regal Publishers, New Delhi.
9. Emerging Issues on Inclusive Growth, Business and Environment, (ed.) (2016), Regal Publishers, New Delhi.

Article Publications

1. (1984) "Teilhard de Chardin", Bhavan's Journal, Bombay, 16 July
2. (1988) "Robert Antoine – The Indologist", in Jesuit Contribution to India, Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand
3. (2000) "Challenges to Change – Educational System", cover page article, Indian Currents, New Delhi, 3 September
4. (2000) "Studying India: Education in a Global Village", The Statesman, 10 September, Kolkata
5. (2001) "Jesuit Education", The Statesman, 31 July, Kolkata
6. (2003) "Plight of Tribals – I & II", The Statesman, 9 & 10 July 2003, Kolkata
7. (2004) "Thiruvalluvar, His ideas on Economics and their Relevance Today", Vidyajyothi, August 2004, Delhi
8. (2004) "Globalization and its impact on Tribals in India", Xavier Research Journal, Ranchi, St. Xavier's College, Ranchi
9. (2004) "Disinvestments and Unemployment", Artha Beekshan, Vol. 13, No. 3, December 2004
10. (2004) "Liberazione e Partecipazione – Ripensare percorsi di crescita per il Terzo" Mondo Orientamenti No 3, pp 44–57, Milan
11. (2005) "Economic Ideas in the Arthasastra and their Relevance today", Vidyjothi Journal, Vol. 69, No. 7, July 2005, Delhi pp. 514–522
12. (2005) "A Mantra for Development" (Cover Story article), Indian Currents, 2 October and 9 October 2005, New Delhi
13. (2005) "Neo-Liberalism, Globalization and Developing Economies – the Issue of Trust and Honesty", Artha Beekshan, September 2005, Kolkata pp. 1–28
14. (2005) "Brahmabandhab Upadhyay – A Forgotten Prophet", Indian Currents, Delhi, 21 August
15. (2005) "Jesuit Mission I – a Puzzle and a Model", and "Jesuit Mission II – Wholehearted Response to Multicultural Realities", The Statesman, 17–18 August, Kolkata
16. (2006) "Kautilya and Thiruvalluvar: Economic Ideas", Chapter 8 in Economics in Arthasastra (Ed.) Sen Raj Kumar and Basu Ratan Lal, Deep and Deep Publishers, New Delhi, pp. 116 – 141
17. (2006) "Bali–India Trade: Modern and Future perspectives", Chapter 2 in Growth, Development and Poverty Alleviation in the Asia-Pacific (Readings in World Development) edited by Kartik C. Roy (The University of Queensland, Australia) and Srikanta Chatterjee (Massey University, New Zealand), 2006
18. (2007) "Global Realities and Radical Spirituality", Bulletin of the R.K. Mission Institute of Culture, January 2007, pp. 18–23
19. (2007) "Bali – India Trade: Modern and Future Perspectives", Chapter 2 in Readings in World Development: Growth, Development and Poverty Allieviation in the Asia – Pacific (Ed. By Roy Kartick and Chatterjee Sri Kanta), Nova Publishers, 2007, pp. 7–14
20. (2008) "Asia is One" – The Statesman, Kolkata, 18 March 2008
21. (2008) "SEZs: Broken Promises in West Bengal", Social Action, Vol. 58, July–September 2008, ISI, New Delhi, pp. 283–293
22. (2008) "Economic Reforms and Disinvestments of Public Sector Enterprises in India", Chapter 6 in Indian Economy – Economic Ideas, Development and Financial Reforms, (ed.) Raj J Felix, Deep & Deep Publications, Delhi 2008, pp. 68–100
23. (2008) "The Core of Spirituality", Indian Currents, Delhi, 30 March – 6 April
24. (2009) "WTO and Asia", Chapter 59 in WTO and Asian Union – Ten Years of WTO by Sen Raj Kumar and Raj John Felix (Ed.), Deep and Deep Publishers, Delhi, pp. 654–668
25. (2010) "West Bengal at the Crossroads", Chapter 47 in Modern Indian Economy – Essays in Memory of Professor Alak Ghosh by Sen Raj Kumar (Ed.), Deep and Deep Publishers, Delhi, 2010, pp. 667–674
26. (2010) "The Economic Ideas of Thiruvalluvar" and "The Economic Ideas of Arthasastra" are recommended as study/reference materials in Northern University of Illinois
27. (2012) "Indian Economy at the Crossroads", Guest Editorial in Vidyajothi Journal of Theology, Vol. 76, 2 February 2012, Delhi
28. (2012) "More Reforms, Less Jobs", Indian Currents, 5–11 November, New Delhi
29. (2013) "Towards Inclusive Growth – I : Distorted Development", Indian Currents, 14–20 October, New Delhi
30. (2013) "Towards Inclusive Growth – II : Distorted Development", Indian Currents, 21–27 October, New Delhi
31. (2014) "Empirical Evidence on the Relationship Between Stock Market Development and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Exploration in Asia", Chapter 23 in Analytical Issues in Trade, Development and Finance by Ambar Nath Ghosh and Asim Karmakar (Ed.), Springer, 2014
32. (2014) "Rethinking Development as Liberation", (R.N. Sen Memorial Lecture), Artha Beekshan, Vol. 22, No. 4, March
33. (2014) "Inclusive Growth and Human Development", in Inclusive Development – An Indian Theological Response (ed), Indian Theological Association, Bangalore
34. (2015) "A Quest for Value-based Inclusive Growth", Artha Beekshan, Vol. 25, Issue 1, February
35. (2016) "Revisiting India's Economic Reform", Indian Currents, 18–24 July, New Delhi
36. (2016) "A Time To Reflect", Indian Currents, 05–11 September, New Delhi
37. (2016) "Her Healing Touch", The Indian Express, 2 September