811.42745/9–3044

The Consul at Bombay (LaMont) to the Secretary of State

No. 1594

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegram No. 643 of September 2, 194491 to the American Mission at New Delhi inviting Dr. J. M. Kumarappa, Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, to come to the United States as the guest of the Department.

Dr. Kumarappa has informed the Mission and the Consulate that he accepts the Department’s invitation with pleasure. He has now submitted to the Consulate a list of governmental and voluntary social agencies, social service institutions, colleges and universities that he would like to visit during his sojourn in the United States. A copy of this list is enclosed.92 In presenting the list, Dr. Kumarappa stated that he realized it was too comprehensive for the relatively brief period of five months which he will be able to spend in the United States. He would appreciate the Department’s making a selection of as many of the institutions as it will be practicable for him to visit during his stay in the United States. It is Dr. Kumarappa’s desire to make as extensive a survey as possible of American institutes doing either practical or teaching work in the field of sociology. He pointed out in this connection that the development of the social sciences in India, both applied and theoretical, are in such an embryonic stage that he believes his visit will have the maximum value if he is enabled to get a comprehensive birds-eye view of American progress in this direction. He has, however, indicated that he wishes to devote the bulk of his time to visiting institutions actually engaged in social work and to consulting the officials of such agencies. He mentioned, for example, that there does not exist in the whole of India an institution for the care of crippled children as such, and that he is therefore anxious to obtain practical ideas and suggestions which he may be able to put into effect in India through his own influence and the influence of the social workers trained in the Tata Institute. He is, nevertheless, most vitally interested in obtaining the services of American professors for the Tata Institute, particularly in the field of psychiatry, and he will no doubt discuss with the [Page 287] Department the question of whether any financial assistance may be extended to American teachers desiring to teach at the Tata Institute. The Department will undoubtedly wish to keep the foregoing considerations in mind in selecting from Dr. Kumarappa’s list the institutions and persons to be placed on his itinerary.

[Here follow details as to Dr. Kumarappa’s travel plans for the visit extending from December 1944 to May 1945.]

Respectfully yours,

George D. LaMont
  1. Not printed, but see footnote 88, p. 284.
  2. Not printed.