Bhubaneswar: Professor Kishor K Basa, the present Vice-Chancellor of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University in Baripada, has been appointed as the chairman of National Monuments Authority (NMA).
He will be the first social scientist from Odisha to hold such a prestigious position. He had been teaching archaeological anthropology and museum studies since 1980 and was the former head of the department of Anthropology at Utkal University.
Basa is a Tagore National Fellow, Ministry of Culture, Government of India (2019-20) and is the Chairman, Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists (INCAA).
He was the recipient of Surajmal Saha Memorial Gold Medal for securing the 1st position in the whole of Odisha in the HSC Exam in 1973 and Professor Ghanshyam Dash Memorial Gold Medal for 1st Class 1st in BA History (Honours) exam in 1977 at Utkal University.
Basa secured his PhD from the University of London in 1991. He was a Commonwealth PostDoctoral Academic Staff Fellow at the University of Cambridge from 1999-2000 and was a recipient of the Indo-French Cultural Exchange Fellowship in 1997.
He was the former director of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya in Bhopal, (Ministry of Culture, GOI (2004–2008), the Director of Indian Museum, Kolkata (2008–2010), and the Director of Anthropological Survey of India (Additional Charge) (2009-2010).
