Name Maddela Abel | ||
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Maddela Abel (30 December 1923 – 27 November 2012) was an Indian political scientist. He was a prominent educationist. He served as the Principal of Madras Christian College (1978-1981) and Vice Chancellor of Sri Krishnadevaraya University (1981–87).
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Early life and education
Abel was born in Pedda Vangali, a village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh (AP). He studied BA in Andhra Christian College (1945–48), and MA in Madras Christian College (1948–50). After teaching for several years at Madras Christian College (MCC), he went to University of California, Los Angeles on a Fulbright/Smith-Mundt Scholarship, earning a PhD in international relations. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, he received the Danforth Foundation Fellowship in 1960 and was also named "best foreign student."
Career
Abel was Professor of Political Science in MCC from 1950, and Principal of MCC, 1978-81. The Government of AP then invited him to be the first Vice-Chancellor of Sri Krishnadevaraya University (1981–87). Thereafter, he served as the first Vice-Chairman of AP State Council of Higher Education (1987–88).
He was an Executive Member of National Council of Churches in India, Executive Member of the Church of South India (CSI) Synod, and the President of the Christian Literature Society (CLS). CSI commissioned Abel to study the life, service and witness of the church. The outcome was the report, The Church of South India after Thirty Years. Report of the Abel Commission (CLS, 1978). It spoke of several reforms the Church in India needed to undertake.
Abel was awarded DLitt by Sri Krishnadevaraya University in 2005.
Publications
Apart from several Endowment Lectures, Abel also published numerous articles and several books. His articles deal with the areas of political administration, ideologies, economic development, subaltern studies, Dalit concerns, Christian higher education, and church administration.
Notable among his books are: