Prof. VS Vyas Memorial Oration | Centre for MicroFinance (CmF)

Tribute to Our Founding Member

Prof. Vijay Shankar Vyas (1931-2018)

Prof. VS Vyas Memorial Oration

Prof. Vijay Shankar Vyas was one of the founding members of CmF, a noted economist and Padma Bhushan awardee (2006). Prof. Vyas had served as Chairman and member of several Boards, Committees, and Commissions at the international and national level. He helped set up a number of non-profit organizations in Rajasthan, one of which is the Centre for microFinance (CmF). He passed away on 12th September 2018 at the age of 87.

It was in 2005, when discussions regarding the need for setting up a Centre for Micro Credit in the state of Rajasthan were taking place. On the request of several stakeholders including the Tata Trusts, NABARD, government and others, Prof. Vyas readily agreed to do a feasibility study for such a Centre. In his study, Prof. Vyas very beautifully articulated the vision and the broad roles which the Centre should take up. He also helped the founding members and the executive team to translate the vision into action by actively guiding the various workshops and consultations which CmF began organizing after its registration in 2007. Prof. Vyas was instrumental in forging CmF’s important collaboration with the Bank of Baroda in Dungarpur.

Even after he stepped down from the Governing Board of CmF in 2012, we continued to benefit from his advice from time to time. He always remained accessible and ready to help despite his various commitments.

As a mark of our respect, CmF along with AJIT Foundation (founded by Prof. Vyas in memory of his son Late Sh. Ajit Vyas) organized the 1st Prof. VS Vyas Memorial Lecture on 16th February 2019 at Jaipur. Dr. YV Reddy, Ex-Governor, RBI and a close associate of Prof. Vyas delivered the memorial lecture. Through the lecture which was titled “Bleeding Hearts & Thinking Minds: Beyond Loan Waivers”, Dr. Reddy, beautifully drew the attention of the audience to the recommendation made by Prof. Vyas as Chair of the RBI’s Expert Committee on Rural Credit (2004) to set up an agri-risk fund for farmers which would moderate the risk of lending banks. The risk fund was envisaged to be set up with equal contribution from central and state governments and participating banks. Dr. Reddy said that Prof. Vyas called for adopting a new approach to agriculture for long term solutions to the problems of commercial viability and unbearable risks. The occasion also saw the release of a book edited by Prof. V.S. Vyas ‘Education, Health & Citizenship: Three Dimensions for Empowering Adolescents’.

We were most privileged to have him inaugurate the Women’s Conclave - ABHIVYAKTI of the Rajasthan Microfinance & Livelihoods Colloquium in November 2017. While addressing the 250+ women leaders of Self-Help Groups and Federations from across the state, he advised that besides learning accounting and financial management, rural women should now learn computers to keep pace with changing times. In the photo exhibition held alongside the Women’s Conclave, Prof. Vyas was very happy to see the photographs of CmF’s digital literacy initiative in the photo exhibition and he said that ‘this is the kind of empowerment work which I wanted CmF to do’.

At CmF, we remain committed to fulfil Prof. Vyas’ vision of finding innovative solutions for empowering the underprivileged and marginalized communities.