Noted agricultural economist Abhijit Sen passed away on August 29 at the age of 72. Sen, a former member of the Planning Commission and one of India’s leading authorities on the rural economy, suffered a heart attack around 11 pm on Monday and was rushed to the hospital.

“It was all over by the time we got there," news agency PTI quoted his brother Dr Pronab Sen as saying. Pronob Sen is also an economist and the former chairman of the National Statistical Commission and Chief Statistician of India.

In a distinguished academic career spanning over four decades, Sen had taught Economics at universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He also held important government posts like the chair of the Commission on Agricultural Cost and Prices.

In the Manmohan Singh government, Sen served as a member of the Planning Commission between 2004 and 2014. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan for public service in 2010.

Early life

Sen was born in Jamshedpur on November 18, 1950. His father Samar Sen was also an economist who worked for the World Bank. Sen did his schooling at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Delhi and graduated in Physics from St Stephen’s College in Delhi University. He later switched to Economics and earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge, England. His thesis was ‘The agrarian constraint to economic development: The case of India’ under the supervision of Suzy Paine.

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Sen taught at the Universities of Sussex, Cambridge, Oxford and Essex in the UK before joining the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1985. He worked with economists like Krishna Bharadwaj, Prabhat Pattnaik, CP Chandrashekhar, Amit Bhaduri and his wife Jayati Ghosh at the university.

Sen was also a member of the Senate or Executive Council of several academic institutions such as the University of Delhi, the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) and the University of Allahabad. The Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya (Agricultural University), West Bengal, awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Other roles

Apart from teaching, Sen was also involved with policy-making bodies over the years. He was appointed chairman of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices by the United Front government in 1997. After his term ended three years later, he was asked by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to head the High-Level Committee of Experts on Long Term Grain Policy. The committee, which submitted its report in 2002, recommended the introduction of a universal public distribution system (PDS) for two grains -- rice and wheat -- for all consumers across India. It also suggested making the CACP a statutory body.

Between 2000 and 2001, Sen served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on WTO.

In 2004, Sen was appointed as a member of the apex policy-making body – the Planning Commission. He was reappointed in 2009.

Apart from his work in India, Sen advised international organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Labour Organisation, OECD, International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Asian Development Bank.

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The Man with the trademark beard

In 2013, Business Standard reported that the man with the trademark flowing beard and long unkempt hair had not been to the barber in 20 years.

“The last time I visited a barber, perhaps, was when I got married,” Sen had told Business Standard in the interview.

It is said that the economist enjoyed smoking Charms, the cigarette brand popular among students. According to Sen, Charms reminded him of the French cigarette Gauloises that he would smoke when he was in Cambridge.

The economist is survived by his wife Jayati Ghosh and daughter, Jahnavi Sen, who is deputy editor at The Wire.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)