Himalayan News Service

Patna, April 6:

He was once hailed as a mathematical genius by American researchers and made Indians proud. Today Vasisth Narayan Singh is a schizophrenic, living in dire straits.Singh is passing his days in a Bihar village, without funds for treatment. As politicians go about seeking votes and making promises ahead of general elections, he is a forgotten man.

So much so that in spite of requests, no politician bothered to attend a function here last week to honour Singh and raise money for him. His biography, Vishwa Ke Apratim Ganitagya, was also released at the function. Singh, compared with the mathematical great Ramanujan, was a genius for American scientists working on the prestigious Apollo project to send man on the moon. He was known for his grip over mathematical theory and invited by Columbia University for assisting in space research.

But in the long term, he chose to return to India to work for the country’s development. The rest is a piece of shameful history - a story of Indian greats being neglected by their motherland. Singh today lives in his native village of Basantpur in Bhojpur. Politicians, it seems, don’t want to remember him even when reminded. "We had invited leaders of all parties to honour him but none turned up," said his nephew Rakesh Singh. M K Singh, president of the Vashisth Narayan Singh School of Mathematics, which organised the event, said it was the first public function attended by Singh in three decades. Vasisht Narayan Singh, who has been suffering from schizophrenia since the early 1970s, attended the function accompanied by his mother Lhaso Devi. Knowing the pain and suffering of her son, Singh’s mother appealed to people to come forward and help her son get better. M K Singh urged teachers at the institute to contribute for the treatment of the mathematician.

In the early 1990s, then Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had helped him by giving financial assistance for medical treatment at NIMHANS in Bangalore. But nothing ever since.