NEW DELHI: The wireless mike gripped firmly in his right hand, his left arm jerked with every emphatic point that he made to a group of students and faculty in one of the halls at Jawaharlal Nehru University. His long, grey beard concealed his smile each time he provided sound logic to prove how disastrous the government's demonetisation move was. His long, baggy kurta moved with the short back-and-forth steps he took as his audience stood in a large semi-circle. This impromptu gathering at JNU, slightly over five years ago, was in the backdrop of the continuing aftershocks of demonetisation.
As an Economics scholar, Professor Abhijit Sen's hallmark was to lecture gently. It was not so much his vocal force as much as reasoning and logic that impacted his students and admirers alike. He took along the same qualities to the Planning Commission which he joined in 2004 to make incisive policy formulations on, and advocacy of, a universal public distribution system (PDS).
Besides his two terms at the Planning Commission, which at the time was the foremost organisation on policy, Professor Sen was internationally recognised as a leading expert on the rural economy. So, when he passed away late on the night of August 29 at the age of 72, he left behind a void in his field of specialisation as well as the larger community of left-liberal economists.
Professor Sen is survived by his wife, economist Jayati Ghosh, and daughter, Jahnavi Sen, who is a journalist.
Sen was born in Jamshedpur on November 18, 1950. When his parents -- his father Samar Sen was an economist at the World Bank -- moved with him to Delhi, Sen was enrolled at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya before he pursued Physics as his chosen subject at St Stephen's College. He next made a switch to Economics, taking a PhD from Cambridge University where his thesis was on 'The Agrarian Constraint to Economic Development: The Case of India'. His completed the Doctoral programme under the supervision of Professor Suzy Paine.
Continuing in academia, Professor Sen's teaching career took him to universities in Sussex, Oxford, Cambridge and Essex. In 1985, he settled to teach at JNU's Centre for Economic Studies and Planning where he met and worked closely with other economists such Krishna Bharadwaj, Prabhat Pattnaik, CP Chandreshekhar, Amit Bhaduri and Jayati Ghosh whom he later married. This circle of economists took the department at JNU to great heights, making it a leading centre for the study of development economics and the Indian economy.
His formidable reputation as an economist led him to play a crucial role, beginning in the late 1990s, in policy formulation. The United Front regime of the time appointed him as the head of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), whose objective was to recommend minimum support prices for several farm commodities, in 1997.
In 2000, the AB Vajpayee-led NDA government appointed him head of the high-level committee of experts on long-term grain policy which went on to recommend introduction of a universal PDS for rice and wheat for all consumers and the CACP be elevated as an empowered and statutory body.
While at the Planning Commission, Professor Sen focused on, among other matters, a universal PDS and remunerative prices for farmers which were not in sync with Manmohan Singh government's policies. He also contributed to dealing with the problem of commodity futures trading in India. The UPA government honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 2010.
Besides the government of the time, Professor Sen was called upon to work for the UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Fund for Agriculture Development and the Asian Development Bank.