There is a story about the rusting 20-feet high gate locked with heavy chain and a huge rusted padlock at the Delhi School of Economics (DSE). It is said the gate will remain closed until someone from the prestigious economics school wins the Nobel Prize.
Yesterday, after the Nobel Institute announced at Stockholm that Amartya Sen was the recipient of the economics prize for 1998, the joke in DSE was that story could actually come true and the powers that be would be forced to open the gate. It's another matter that the cement structure holding the gate could collapse under its weight.
Jokes apart, the award of the Nobel Prize to Sen was received with awe, admiration and joy in the economic fraternity. DSE plans to bestow an honorary doctorate on Sen. He is scheduled to deliver the valedictory speech at close of the DSE golden jubilee celebrations in November 1999.
Economists in the capital paid glowing and laudatory tributes to Sen. Said Badal Mukerjee, DSE director, "It is richly deserved and long overdue." Added M D Choudhury, a professor and contemporary of Sen, "What makes this even more momentary is that he is a warm and generous person."
After completing his doctorate from Cambridge, Sen taught in DSE for nearly eight years from 1963 to 1971. Then he left for London School of Economics where he taught for a few years before going on to Cambridge and Harvard University.
Rakesh Mohan, director-general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research commented, "The difference between him and other economists has been that he has combined the technical tools of economics with humanitarian concerns. All his work deals with deep concern for the human conditions, be it his investigations into poverty or famine."
Another former colleague of Sen, V N Pandit, also a professor at DSE, put paid to doubts that the Trinity College professor was awarded the Nobel Prize because there were very few economists whose reputation had not been tarnished by the Southeast Asian currency meltdown. "Although Sen has been critical of the mechanistic approach to reforms and had proposed a more humane approach, he was very much concerned with overall reform systems. The award of the prize cannot be linked to his mild criticism of the fast-paced reforms."
The government was not be left behind in its tributes. Right on the heels of a congratulatory message from the Prime Minister's office, finance secretary Vijay Kelkar said, "After Gunnar Myrdall, this is the second development economist to get the Nobel and one is heartened about it. Sen worked in the esoteric area between economics and philosophy and the Nobel is a recognition of his contribution in the area."
Chief economic adviser to the government, Shankar N Acharya, added, "Its excellent news. This recognition of his work in income distribution, development, choice and use of technology in developing societies is long overdue.
