Indian American couple Usha and Santosh Jain’s legacy is honored with a historic gift to UC Berkeley, enhancing its Hindi studies program and ensuring its future growth.
An Indian American couple has made a significant contribution to the University of California, Berkeley, providing the largest gift in the institution’s history to enhance its Hindi studies program. This generous donation honors Usha Jain, who played a pivotal role in establishing the program, alongside her husband, Santosh Jain.
When the Jains emigrated from India in 1960, they had a straightforward plan: Santosh would pursue a master’s degree in engineering, after which they intended to return to their home country. However, Usha soon discovered her own academic passion, enrolling in a master’s program in Asian studies and securing a position as a teaching assistant on campus. This marked the beginning of her influential career in Hindi instruction, which has had a lasting impact worldwide.
Usha Jain became a prominent lecturer at UC Berkeley, where she authored popular textbooks and mentored numerous successful alumni. To honor their contributions, two new endowments have been established in the names of Usha and Santosh Jain, aimed at enriching Hindi language, literature, and graduate studies at the university.
Earlier this year, their daughter, Amita Jain, and son-in-law, Niteen Patkar, initiated the Usha and Santosh Jain Endowment for Hindi Language Instruction and the Usha and Santosh Jain Endowment for Graduate Students. The university will match these contributions, ensuring that the endowments provide permanent support for the Hindi program that Usha helped to create throughout her career.
Amita and Niteen expressed their desire to protect Hindi instruction from financial uncertainties while offering students “a window into a new world that can expand their horizons.”
“Their gift — the largest in the department’s history — will elevate the Hindi Studies Program at UC Berkeley to become the premier program of its kind in the country,” said Munis Faruqui, the Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies and director of the Institute for South Asia Studies.
The additional resources from the endowments will enhance access to Hindi language instruction for both heritage and non-heritage learners, fostering a vibrant intellectual and cultural community on campus.
The philanthropic efforts of the Jain and Patkar family will support the training of the next generation of Hindi scholars, advance research in related fields, develop innovative teaching materials, strengthen academic partnerships with institutions in India and around the globe, and invite distinguished lecturers, artists, and visiting scholars to the university.
“Hindi was such an important part of our lives; we wanted to ensure that it would continue as part of my mom’s legacy,” Amita remarked. “This is a gateway to having that experience be broader. We felt that was something we wanted to bolster as much as we could.”
Hindi is one of the most widely spoken languages globally, with over 600 million native and second-language speakers. In addition to India, several countries, including Fiji, Nepal, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates, recognize Hindi as an official language.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 900,000 people living in the United States speak Hindi. The language is closely related to Urdu, which is prevalent in Pakistan and parts of India.
The rich legacy of Hindi language and literature at UC Berkeley dates back to the 1950s when renowned linguist and professor John J. Gumperz introduced Hindi instruction. Gumperz was instrumental in producing the first widely used Hindi-Urdu readers and instructional materials in the United States, contributing significantly to the field of South Asian sociolinguistics.
While Usha Jain was the primary inspiration for the endowments, Amita and Niteen also wished to acknowledge Santosh Jain’s support throughout Usha’s career. “Without the support that he gave my mom, it would have been a lot more challenging for her to do what she did effectively,” Amita noted.
This historic gift not only honors Usha Jain’s legacy but also ensures the continued growth and prominence of Hindi studies at UC Berkeley, paving the way for future generations to engage with this vital language and its rich cultural heritage.
According to The American Bazaar.