The IIT Madras Director who failed JEE is now at the Centre of a cow-urine row and exam reforms | Education News

Now, this is not the first time Kamakoti’s name has been linked to the big cow urine debate.

The larger controversy dates to January 2025; a Pongal event at a cow shelter in Madras – the professor’s hometown. Speaking at the event Kamakoti extolled the beneficial properties of ‘panchagavyam’, i.e., a mixture of cow urine, dung, milk, curd, and ghee used in Hindu rituals.

What did he actually say?

“I personally consume panchagavyam.” Six months later he doubled down on his claim, declaring cow urine to be an “an important medicine” with antibacterial and antifungal properties, one useful for digestive issues.

He argued it deserved to be taken seriously.

“A prominent sanyasi… I forgot his name… developed a fever. I suggested a doctor but he only wanted to drink ‘gaumutra’, or cow urine. It was brought and he drank it easily.”

The fever, Kamakoti then claimed, seemed to “disappear in 15 minutes”.

“So, antibacterial, antifungal, digestive issues, and irritable bowel syndrome – for many such issues ‘gaumutra’ is an important medicine. We should consider it with due importance,” he said.

He said also that cow urine had been a part of Ayurveda and Indian medical traditions.

The remarks – by the head of one of India’s most prestigious technical institutions, drew criticism from those who saw them as an endorsement of unproven traditional remedies.

And it has come back to haunt him?

Over a year later, the comments returned to the public sphere.

This time it was in a fight that had nothing to do with cow urine and everything, the Congress has said, to do with the ‘competence’ of people entrusted with deciding the future of India’s exam system.

Kamakoti: The early years

To understand how Kamakoti arrived at this moment, walk with us to Chennai in 1968.

Veezhinathan Kamakoti was born to a Sanskrit scholar at the University of Madras.

His father came from a family of academics but his grandparents lived in villages.

And Kamakoti was raised in that environment; it was a deliberate choice because his father believed the essence of Indian culture was in rural India and not in the cities.

So the young Kamakoti spent his early years in southern Tamil Nadu.

The turning point was when he was in Class 10; his grandfather predicted academic excellence and so he was packed off to the city. The prediction prompted the young boy to study hard, particularly after he flunked his first examination – mathematics, he got only 25 per cent.

The second time he got 50 per cent. The third – 100 per cent.

Kamakoti also failed his first IIT entrance examination.

He had to content himself with a seat at the Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering on the outskirts of the city. The commute was brutal – nearly 40 km one-way.

Returning to IIT

A BTech degree in hand, Kamakoti cracked the qualifying examination to secure a graduate degree seat in IIT Kanpur and Madras. He chose the latter and finished his doctorate in 1994.

The circle was completed in 2009.

He became a full professor at IIT Madras and served as Vice Chairman of the JEE, or Joint Entrance Examination committee, the very entrance test he failed decades ago.

And in 2022 the Ministry of Education named him IIT Madras Director.