Who is Prasanta Pattanaik, Padma Shri?

Had he not been a student, admirer and follower of Amartya Sen, it might have been a Padma Bhushan

The year was 1971. The pla­ce Delhi School of Eco­no­mi­cs, which was un­der­going a major upheaval.

Amartya Sen, who taught welfare econo­mics and social choice theory, had just left for London School of Eco­nomics. So had Man­mohan Singh, who tau­ght international trade theory, for commerce ministry. So, too, had Arjun Sengupta who ta­ught economic policy.

Into the breach left by Sen and Singh walked a 28-year old, ex-student of Sen. He had done both his MA and PhD at DSchool, as it is called, and then gone off abroad somewhere.

His name, we were told, was Prasanta Pattanaik. He was shy and self-effacing.