Nov 01, 2024 11:56 AM IST
Renowned economist Bibek Debroy, who passed away at 69, was a key figure in India’s economic policy.
Renowned economist Bibek Debroy, chairman of the economic advisory council to the Prime Minister, passed away at the age of 69 on Friday.
Who was Bibek Debroy?
• Born in a Bengali family in Shillong, Bibek Debroy studied at prestigious institutions, including Ramakrishna Mission School (Narendrapur), Presidency College (Calcutta), Delhi School of Economics, and Trinity College, Cambridge.
• He has held influential roles such as director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, chancellor of Pune’s Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, consultant to the finance ministry, secretary general of PHD Chamber of Commerce, and director of the project LARGE, focusing on economic and legal reforms.
Also read : Gokhale Institute appoints Sanjeev Sanyal as chairman after Bibek Debroy’s exit
• Debroy has taught at several esteemed institutions, authored numerous books and articles, and served as Consulting Editor for major financial newspapers.
• He is best known for his acclaimed translations of the Mahabharata in ten volumes and the Valmiki Ramayana in three volumes.
• In 2015, Debroy was appointed a permanent member of NITI Aayog, India’s top policy think tank, and received the Padma Shri for his contributions to public policy and economics.
Debroy leaves behind a legacy as a thought leader who profoundly impacted India’s intellectual and economic landscape.
Expressing his grief, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X: “Dr. Bibek Debroy Ji was a towering scholar, well-versed in diverse domains like economics, history, culture, politics, spirituality and more. Through his works, he left an indelible mark on India’s intellectual landscape. Beyond his contributions to public policy, he enjoyed working on our ancient texts, making them accessible to the youth.”
Senior Congress leader and RS MP Jairam Ramesh also mourned the passing away of Bibek Debroy.
“A man of unusually wide-ranging interests, Bibek Debroy was first and foremost a fine theoretical and empirical economist who worked and wrote on various aspects of the Indian economy. He also had a special skill for lucid exposition, in a manner that would make laypersons easily understand complex economic issues. Over the years, he has had numerous institutional affiliations and he left his mark everywhere. Bibek was also a very prolific, and always thought-provoking, commentator in the media on public issues going well beyond economics, “Ramesh said in a post on X.
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