Anand Kumar (centre) with his students. (File picture)

Patna, Oct. 15: IIM-Ahmedabad has invited “Super 30”-fame mathematician Anand Kumar for a lecture.

While Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar had got invitations from the IIM for their “political acumen and development vision”, Kumar, who runs Ramanujan School of Mathematics in Bihar, got the honour for his efforts to spot and nurture talents from the grassroots of Bihar.

An elated Kumar told The Telegraph that IIM faculty member Anil Kumar Gupta had extended the invitation to him on October 13, asking him to lecture the first-year batch of 300 students.

He said: “Coming from a very humble background, I never thought I would be the third person from Bihar to get such an honour. The IIM has also asked me to take three of my students to share their success stories.” Kumar will visit IIM in November.

Kumar said the invitation could have been extended to him for “spotting talent among the poor students of rural Bihar”.

Kumar did his BSc Honours in mathematics from Patna University. His first brush with fame took place after his papers were published in two British journals, Mathematical Spectrum and Mathematical Gazette.

Along with additional director-general of police Abhayanand, Kumar started the “Super 30” scheme with a group of 30 meritorious students, mostly from poor families, in 2003.

The tally of students cracking the Indian Institute of Technology entrance test rose from 18 in 2003 to 22 in 2004, 26 in 2005 and 28 in 2006. BBC World recently did a 90-minute documentary on the institute. Eleven of the 28 students who made it this year were from the backward classes but they appeared in the general category.

Kumar’s younger brother Pranav, a faculty member at the institute, said: “We are overwhelmed. The IIM invitation shows talent can never go unnoticed.”

Kumar hails from Devraha village in Patna district, 25 km from here. His father Rajendra Prasad, an accountant with the directorate of accounts (postal), died 12 years ago.

Mother Jayanti Devi who started a small business to bring up the family after his father’s death.