Karnataka, Sept. 9 -- Bharat Ratna awardee and renowned scientist Professor C.N.R. Rao has been asked to establish his identity after a spelling discrepancy in his name was flagged during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka.
The 92-year-old scientist has received a notice citing "self-name mismatch" as the reason. The discrepancy does not involve his actual name but appears in the spelling of his professional title. According to the electoral records, an older roll lists his name as "Prof CNR Rao", while the current electoral roll reportedly records it as "Proff CNR Rao", with an additional "f" in the word "Prof".
The discrepancy has resulted in Rao being called for a hearing as part of the electoral roll verification process. He was scheduled to appear at a hearing centre in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, near the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). A "self-name mismatch" can arise when details provided by a voter during the SIR enumeration process do not exactly correspond with the details recorded in the electoral roll. Under the procedure mentioned in the notice, the individual concerned is required to appear for the hearing and establish their identity.
Rao is among India's most distinguished scientists and is internationally recognised for his contributions to solid-state and structural chemistry. He has received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, and is the third scientist to be conferred the award. He has also received several other major honours, including the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Shri and Karnataka Ratna. Rao has played a significant role in India's scientific institutions and policymaking. He headed the Indian Institute of Science and later founded the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru, where he served as its founding president.
He has also served on scientific advisory bodies to several Prime Ministers. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council during Indira Gandhi's tenure and later headed the councils under Rajiv Gandhi, H.D. Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujral and Manmohan Singh. The SIR exercise in Karnataka has involved scrutiny of electoral records to identify discrepancies and verify voter details. The notice issued to Rao has drawn attention because the discrepancy flagged in his case appears to be limited to an additional letter in the abbreviation of his professional title.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.