Miss. Anjali Kittur

Amartya Sen : India's Pride

The present article highlights on life of the Nobel Lauerate Prof.Dr.Amartya Sen, the beacon of reason and sanity, an ideal economists and saint of democracy to Welfare Economics

Doing easily what others find difficult is talent doing what is impossible to talent is genius.This is what we find in Prof.Dr.Amartya Sen, India's pride.It was a moment of great pride for Indians, when the internationally renowned economists Prof. Dr. Amartya Sen was chosen for the Nobel Prize in Economics for year 1998.Recently the Govt. of India has conferred on him Bharat Ratna Award.He joins the galaxy of great indian Nobel Prize recipients like Rabindranath Tagore, (Literature, 1913), Prof.C.V. Raman, ( Physics,1968),S.Chandrashekhar, (Phisics,1983) and Dr.Hargovid Khurana,(Medicine,1968).

Prof. Sen was born on November 3, 1933 at Shantiniketan.Rabindranath Tagore rightly named him with the name Amartya- meaning Imperishable.Amartya Sen provided worthy to this name at age of 64 by becoming the sixth Indian and the 1st Asian to be honoured with the Nobel Prize in Economics

Announcing the prize in Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Acadamy of science said,"Prof.Sen is chosen for the honour for his outstanding contribution to the Welfare Economics.His contributions are ranged from axiomatic social choice over definations of welfare and poverty indexes to empirical studies of famines.He is presented with gold medal and a cheque of 7.6 million Swedish Kroner on the name " Bank of Swedish Prize for Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel,"atthe official ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the 102th death anniversary of Nobel .

Prof.Sen obtained his B.A. degree from Presidensy College, Calcutta. Later he joined the Trinity college, Cambridge where he obtained his doctorate in Economics in year 1959 on the subject, " Choice of Techniques" under the guidance of Mrs. John Robinson And Morris Dobb.He was appointed 'Master' of Tinity College at Cambridge before which he was Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, the London school of Economics, the Delhi School of Economics and the Jadhavpur University.

Prof.Sen is known for his work on poverty and faminies and specifically on the Developement Economics and his key contribution to research on fundamental problems in the welfare Economics.His whole economica analysis clustered around the most impoverished members of the society.For Dr.Amartya Sen, economics as a theory, pure and simple has no meaning if it doesn't reach the poorest of the poor ; the poor of the world live in the midst of plenty ; in the world of disbritutive injustice.For him , economics doesn't function in a vaccum. It has its close allies in gender equality, free elections, pluralism and secularism. Right through the impressionable years of his childhood he had seen at close quarters the indelible scars of famines and poverty in the world around him. The gigantic famine of 1943 in Bengal left its scars on the young Sen's mind.

Dr. Sen had made an outspoken criticism on the western model of econimic growth which he felt, has fallen short of achieving the welfare of the poor. His relentless research has fascilitated a better understanding of the economic mechanisms underlying poverty, famines and economic welfare. He believes that globalisation could be a major force only if it is backed by adequate national policies in a conductive social and economic environment. He suggests social safety net as in the industrialised countries of Western Europe to take the people when things go wrong for one reason or another in the wake of globalisation. The problems arise when people in countries enjoying protective environment are suddenly pushed into a highly competitive situation. He sites the case of India and Pakistan and complains that both of them have neglected education, health care and land reforms in a fruly regrettable manner.And there were a lot of people who whre not in a position to compete in a global world. He said that in India, the government had been active in intervening the industries. While it is inavtive in health care and education. It is not a question of more or less government but what kind of government. If i was Finance Minister I would resign.

Nobel Lauerate Amartya Sen is one of the world's greatest Econimist and Philosopher who links Econimics not with "franlaws of supply and dedmand, but to the real world, to flesh and blood of people; to choices and transactions which involve values, institutions and pattern of behaviour." He is Economist'ss pholosopher who has given philosophical and moral base to Economics. He is the bracon of reason and sanity. He is an ideal econimist and the saint of democracy.

Dr. Sen is a versatile economist whose prolific writing ranges from the choice of techniques, poverty, famines and inequality. Analysing the causes of famines and starvation he says that traditional analysis focussing on food supply is theoretically defective, empirically inapt and dangerously misleading. In poverty and famines he strikes out the traditional opinion that people in the third world starve because of entitlement, deprivation, lack of action and low purchasing power. His book entitled Inequality Reexamined explains his capabilities theory. He defines his capability as a set of "functioning" bundles. The word 'functioning' means capability to do and obtain something with the help of ones unflinching determination.

According to Dr. Sen, economics and social failure is going to be the fate of any society that prepetuates gender inequality. Descrimination against women is spread from Asia to China. Hundred million missing women were killed due to lack of health care, malnutrition, as compared to men and boys. Illiteracyt is a curse becauseit neutralises several gains in the other fields. Merely focussing on economics is useless without sufficient understanding of the social, political and cultural aspects of society.

Prof. Sen has written about 20 books and published more than 225 research articles. His important books are : Hunger and Public Action, Poverty and Famines, Choice of Techniques, India : Economic development and social opportunity, Inequality Reexamined.

Prof. Sen has restored an ethical dimension to the discussion of the vital economic problems by combining tools from economics and philosophy. He is not only a therotecal or bookish economist but a normative and more practical economist. His analysis has opened a new chapter in the economics in the annals of economic history.