New York: In a tribute to one of India’s most influential nationalist thinkers and social reformers, distinguished Indian-American academic Professor Anant Honkan has established the Veer Savarkar Legacy Scholarship at The City College of New York (CCNY), creating a lasting educational legacy that will support talented engineering students facing financial hardship.
The scholarship has been instituted through the Veer Savarkar Legacy Student Support Fund, endowed by Professor Honkan, a 1987 graduate of CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering and Professor Emeritus of Engineering at Georgia State University. The annual scholarship will award $1,000 to undergraduate and graduate engineering students to help cover education-related expenses.
Preference will be given to students pursuing mechanical engineering, Honkan’s own discipline. However, if no eligible mechanical engineering student meets the scholarship criteria in a given year, the award will be extended to deserving students from other engineering departments within the Grove School.
Honouring Veer Savarkar’s Enduring Legacy
The scholarship has been dedicated to the memory of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966), one of modern India’s most prominent political thinkers, freedom fighters, writers and social reformers.
Savarkar remains a towering figure in Indian history. Revered by many for his uncompromising nationalism, revolutionary activities against British colonial rule, prolific literary contributions and advocacy of social reforms such as the eradication of untouchability and caste discrimination, he spent more than a decade incarcerated in the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands before later enduring restrictions on the Indian mainland. His supporters regard him as one of the foremost architects of modern Hindu political thought.
For Honkan, however, Savarkar’s influence has always been deeply personal.
An immigrant who built an illustrious academic career in the United States, Honkan credits Savarkar’s writings, poetry and extraordinary resilience for shaping his own outlook on life.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the scholarship, Honkan said Savarkar’s literary works and his unwavering spirit through years of imprisonment profoundly transformed his understanding of duty and purpose.
“I found not just knowledge but a moral awakening, an inner call that stays with me even while living far from India, here in the United States.”
He explained that this sense of responsibility ultimately inspired him to create the scholarship.
“It is this call that inspires the creation of this scholarship: a humble effort to honour his spirit by uplifting young minds who strive for excellence, integrity, and service to society.”
Honkan also described CCNY as the ideal institution to house the scholarship.
“There is no better place to establish this scholarship than at CCNY, where it will provide much needed educational support to talented and deserving young engineers from disadvantaged background.”
Expressing hope for the future, he added that the scholarship should become more than merely financial assistance.
“It is my sincere hope that, through this initiative, future generations of students will not only benefit from the financial assistance but also draw inspiration from a life defined by courage, resilience and unwavering commitment to freedom and justice.”
A Distinguished Academic Career of More Than Three Decades
Honkan’s own journey reflects the values he hopes the scholarship will promote.
Originally from India, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from BVB College of Engineering under Karnataka University before moving to the United States for higher education.
At The City College of New York, he completed a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1983, followed by a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Grove School of Engineering in 1987. He later earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Before retiring in 2025, Honkan served as Professor of Engineering at Georgia State University, where he also worked as the Regent Engineering Pathway Coordinator to the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Earlier, he taught at Georgia Perimeter College, where he became widely recognised as the institution’s “Father of Engineering.” During his tenure, he designed engineering curricula that became foundational for students pursuing advanced engineering education and played a leading role in establishing the college’s Regional Engineering Transfer Program in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology.
His teaching career also included appointments as an adjunct mathematics instructor at New York University and as a lecturer at the College of Arts, Science and Technology in Jamaica.
Before entering academia in the United States, Honkan began his engineering career with the Buildings and Communications Department of the Government of Maharashtra in India.
Supporting Future Engineers
The Veer Savarkar Legacy Scholarship reflects both Honkan’s gratitude towards his alma mater and his commitment to expanding educational opportunities for students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.
By targeting engineering students, particularly those in mechanical engineering, the scholarship seeks to remove financial barriers while encouraging academic excellence, integrity and public service.
Although modest in monetary value, the scholarship carries considerable symbolic significance by connecting an Indian freedom fighter’s intellectual legacy with the aspirations of future engineers studying at one of America’s oldest public institutions.
About The City College of New York
Founded in 1847, The City College of New York is among the oldest public colleges in the United States and has long been recognised for providing affordable, high-quality education to students from diverse backgrounds.
The institution consistently ranks among America’s leading universities for social mobility. Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights has ranked CCNY first among 369 selective public colleges in the United States on its Overall Mobility Index, measuring students’ ability to move significantly upward in income levels after graduation.
Research organisation Degree Choices has also ranked the college first nationally for economic return on investment, while the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY among the top 2.2 per cent of universities worldwide for academic excellence.
Today, more than 16,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate studies across eight schools and divisions. In 2023, the college launched its most ambitious fundraising campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together,” with the goal of building a foundation exceeding $1 billion in assets. By May 2026, the campaign had already crossed the $500 million mark.
Against this backdrop, the establishment of the Veer Savarkar Legacy Scholarship adds another chapter to CCNY’s long tradition of philanthropy and educational opportunity, while ensuring that Savarkar’s legacy continues to inspire new generations of students far beyond India’s shores.
Savarkar’s Journey Abroad: A Student with a National Mission
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s own journey as a student abroad makes Professor Anant Honkan’s scholarship especially symbolic. Long before he became one of India’s best-known revolutionary nationalists, Savarkar arrived in London in 1906 as a law student after receiving a scholarship instituted by nationalist leader Shyamji Krishna Varma. Like many Indian students of his era, he travelled thousands of miles from home in search of higher education. Unlike most, however, Savarkar used his years overseas not merely to earn a degree, but to organise Indian students, study revolutionary movements across the world, and campaign relentlessly for India’s freedom from British rule.
India House and the Making of a Revolutionary Thinker
While studying at Gray’s Inn and residing at the famous India House in Highgate, London, Savarkar transformed the student residence into a vibrant centre of nationalist thought. He encouraged young Indians to combine academic excellence with patriotism, organised discussions on history and politics, translated and wrote extensively, and inspired fellow students to challenge colonial rule intellectually. During this period, he authored The Indian War of Independence of 1857, a landmark work that rejected the British description of the uprising as merely a “Sepoy Mutiny” and instead presented it as India’s first organised war of independence. Although banned by the British before it could be published in India, the book was secretly printed in Europe and smuggled into the country, where it became an influential text among freedom fighters.
Sacrifice, Courage and Unwavering Resolve
Savarkar’s years abroad also illustrate the extraordinary sacrifices he made for his convictions. His political activities placed him under constant surveillance by British intelligence, ultimately leading to his arrest in London in 1910. While being transported to India aboard the SS Morea, he made his legendary escape attempt by squeezing through a ship’s porthole and swimming to the French port of Marseilles. Though he was recaptured, the episode became one of the most dramatic acts of defiance in India’s freedom struggle. He was subsequently sentenced to two life imprisonments, amounting to fifty years, and deported to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he endured years of harsh incarceration.
An Enduring Inspiration for Students
For students today, Savarkar’s life offers lessons that extend well beyond politics. His relentless pursuit of knowledge, mastery of literature and history, intellectual discipline, and belief that education should ultimately serve society continue to inspire generations. Even in prison, denied books and writing materials, he composed poetry, memorised thousands of lines of verse, and encouraged fellow prisoners to educate themselves. His life demonstrates how scholarship, resilience and conviction can become powerful instruments for social and national transformation.
A Legacy Continued Through Education
Seen in this light, Professor Anant Honkan’s decision to establish the Veer Savarkar Legacy Scholarship at his alma mater carries a significance beyond financial assistance. It creates a bridge between the struggles of an Indian student who journeyed abroad over a century ago and the aspirations of today’s young engineers pursuing higher education in the United States. The scholarship serves as a reminder that excellence in academics, integrity of character, courage in adversity, and a commitment to serving society remain timeless ideals that continue to inspire students across generations and continents.
