Who was Abhijit Sen? Prepare a Profile of India’s Leading Agriculture Economists

August 29, 2022 marked the death of one of the leading economists and policy makers of India, Abhijit Sen. Due to heart attack we lost one of the pioneers of the Indian economy at the age of 72. A prolific academician, teacher to many students, a policy maker to different governments, and a hope to many farmers of the country, the attributes about him continue as long as we start to describe him. Abhijit Sen is not just a topic of general awareness for competitive examination but should be an insight of your dreams and aspirations. For those who haven’t heard about Abhijit Sen may be curious to know, who was Abhijit Sen and what are his impeccable contributions? Through this blog let us discuss the contributions and basic profile of Abhijit Sen.

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Abhijit Sen – A Basic Profile

Abhijit Sen was known as a leading agriculture economist in India. He has rendered his service as a teacher, academician, research guide, policy maker etc. He studied physics at St Stephens college of Delhi and switched to Economics. He completed his PhD from Cambridge University by submitting his thesis on the topic “The agrarian constraint to economic development: The case of India”. He has been a teacher to renowned institutions such as Sussex, Oxford, Cambridge and Essex. In the last time, till his retirement he was serving as a teacher at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CSEP) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He was working along with great academicians of the country which includes his wife, Jayati Ghosh. He is survived by his wife and daughter named Jahnvi who is the deputy director of the Wire.

Born: 18th November 1950, Jameshdpur

Died: 29th August 2022

Spouse: Jayati Ghosh

Children: Jahnvi

Education: Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, ST Stephens College Delhi, University of Cambridge

Thesis: The agrarian constraint to economic development: The case of India

Contributions of Abhijit Sen to Indian Economy.

• He was a renowned teacher and no doubt in that it helped in shaping so youngsters that could help the Indian economy in the coming future. He was readily available to provide each and every finding, research to students no matter whether it is published or not. By the testimonials of the colleagues of Abhijit Sen he was working at his excel datasheet till the last minute and the laptop will have more papers which are unpublished than those published.
• In the policy making area he was a renowned advisor. He was a member of the planning commission in 2004 as well as in 2009. He was a member of the last planning commission of India after which it was replaced by the Niti Ayog. He has worked with different governments of different political parties.
• He was appointed as the chairman of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices CACP in 1997. He rendered his service in the commission for 3 years which imparted substantial changes to the Agrarian economy of India. He formulated the ‘C2’ Cost of production which paved the way for formulating the MS Swaminathan Formula for Minimum support prices (MSP). The C2 cost of production was inclusive of all the paid-out cultivation expenses in cash and in kind, plus the imputed value of unpaid family labour and rent/interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets. Abhijit Sen suggested that the comprehensive production cost of the effective regions only need to be accounted for. MS Swaminathan formula suggested that the minimum support prices should be 50% more than the C2.
• He has been appointed as the Head of the Long-Term Grain Policy by which the recommendations suggested for a Universal Public Distribution System (PDS) and to empower the CACP as a statutory body.
• He gave substantial push for framing laws for the inclusive development of the people such as the National Food Security Act 2013, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Forest Rights Act. He was a strong advocate of decentralisation and state autonomy. He put his endeavours for universalising the PDS and there by categorising the people as Above Poverty Line (APL) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) to ensure the food grain delivery to each and everyone.
• He has been associated with the UNDP, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agriculture Development and the Asian Development Bank.    

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Conclusion

Abhijit Sen’s life is an example of consistent excellency. Excellency is not a blessing but a choice, it’s not rather an accident but a routine. Abhijit Sen and the Indian Economy by the vision and reformation by him is the pure example for that. This blog may help you to find some facts and concepts relating to Abhijit Sen as well as his contributions that could probably help you to ace your examination. But above all, this blog should help you to reform your aspirations and personality in such a way that your work, your endeavours, your intelligence should be employed for the betterment of the country and people. Enroll Entri for more general awareness topics. Keep studying, Keep winning!