'So you are Mr. Cornelius? Welcome to our ashram'. The man who welcomed Cornelius was none other than Mahatma Gandhi. At the historical moment, the guest, whose name was Joseph Chelladurai Cornelius, had little chance to imagine that he would, one day, change his name to ‘J.C. Kumarappa’ and become one of the closest associates of Mahatma Gandhi.
It was on May 9, 1929. A man clad in his Western attire was waiting for his turn to meet Mahatma Gandhi in his Sabarmati Ashram. The man, who was used to the ways of Western life, was not accustomed to the regulations followed in the Sabarmati Ashram. Near him, sitting on the floor smeared with cow dung, was an old man, spinning thread in his charkha. Now the time is 2.30 PM. The man, who was weaving cloth, stood up and welcomed the guest.
“So you are Mr. Cornelius? Welcome to our ashram”
The man who welcomed Cornelius was none other than Mahatma Gandhi. At the historical moment, the guest, whose name was Joseph Chelladurai Cornelius, had little chance to imagine that he would, one day, change his name to ‘J.C. Kumarappa’ and become one of the closest associates of Mahatma Gandhi.
Cornelius, who was born in a Christian family in Thanjavur, studied Chartered Accountancy in Britain, Business Administration at Syracuse University, and M.A. in Economics at Columbia University. His theses Public Finance and Indian Poverty brought changes in him from a European loyalist to a committed Indian nationalist. Having returned to India, Cornelius was looking for a publisher to get his work published. The work was on how the British were exploiting India through their taxation policy. Hence, a publisher suggested him to meet Mahatma Gandhi, who, later serialized the work in his journal Young India.
In an age, where advancements in science and technology are at the cost of human livelihood, a book titled Marakappatta Theerkatharisi JC Kumarappa (The forgotten prophet called JC Kumarappa) by the late noted environmentalist V.Jeevanantham, throws light on Kumarappa’s prediction on the socio-economic status of India in the future.
On a day, when he organized a workshop on making and marketing of rural products such as soap, paper, cane sugar, earthen pots, and lamps for a team of village youth, Kumarappa said:
“In a highly-populated country like India, mechanization of rural occupations will result in a sharp increase of unemployment and make villagers move to cities to look for jobs. So, this workshop is being organized to prevent such economic crises in the future” As predicted by Kumarappa, it is the reality today that people from rural pockets move to cities for jobs.
“Society hardly identifies great thinkers, who predicted the future of the world. In their times, such wise men were even punished or killed as Socrates and Mahatma Gandhi. Nevertheless, when the same society realizes their predictions, it recognizes and glorifies them at a later time. And one such great thinker is JC Kumarappa, whose predictions on the Indian economy turn true today. It is high time that we recognized his economic theories when the country is caught in the meshes of caste, religion, corrupt politics, and globalization” says Jeevanantham.