Amartya Kumar Sen
(Born 1933)
Gist :
Dr. Amartya Kumar Sen , the Nobel Laureate was born on November 3, 1933 at Shantiniketan – Bengal. He studied at Shantiniketan, where his educational attitudes were formed. During his younger years of study he settled down for ‘the eccentric charms of Economics’. He was greatly influenced by the cultural diversity in the world. An earlier incident during his younger days at Dhaka has caused for his research and analysis in Economics. He realised the dangers of narrowly defined identities and also of divisiveness that could be buried in communitarian politics.
He also remarked a fact that economic uncertainty, in the form of extreme poverty, could make a person helpless. He had fairly formed an attitude on cultural identity including an understanding of its inescapable plurality as well as the need for unobstructed absorption rather the secretarian denial.
In 1953 Amartya Sen moved from Calcutta to Cambridge to study at Trinity College for another B.A in Pure Economics. At the age of 23 he was appointed to a chair of Economics at the newly created Jadavpur University. Amartya Sen always kept close connections with Indian Universities and his attachment to his motherland was so strong. He says “It is really economics dealing with assessment of how well things are going for the members of the society. That is the central thing about welfare economics”. He received Nobel Prize for Economics in the year 1998. He is known as Mother Teresa of Economics, he has spent a lifetime fighting poverty.
Questions with Answers :
1. When did Amartya form and develop his educational attitude and orientation ?
Amartya formed and developed his educational attitude and orientation at Tagore’s Shantiniketan.
2. How does Amartya Sen describe Economics ?
Amartya Sen settled down for “the eccentric charms of Economics” as described in his own words.
3. What did Amartya learn from the death of Khader Mia in Dacca ?
Amartya Sen realised the dangers of narrowly defined identities and also of divisiveness that could be buried in communitarian politics.
4. How did Calcutta’s Presidency College influence collegian Amartya ?
Amartya’s intellectual horizon radically broadened by the educational excellence of Presidency College.
5. What aspect of the Bengal famine struck Amartya ?
The afflicted people of the famine were lower middle class and the people much further down the economic ladder.
6. Why did Amartya go to Cambridge in 1953 ?
Amartya went to Cambridge in 1953 to study B.A. Pure Economics at Trinity College.
7. How did Amartya utilize his Ph.D thesis before the time of its submission ?
Amartya Sen submitted his Ph.D. thesis for a competitive Prize Fellowship at Trinity College.
8. How useful was his stint in Delhi during the period 1963 to 1971 ?
Amartya plunged himself full steam into the social choice theory because of the dynamic intellectual atmosphere of the Delhi University.
9. How did he relate the pure theory of social choice to more practical problems ?
Amartya kept an effort to take an overall view of social choice theory. Gradually he shifted his to more practical problems.
10. In America in 1985, what was Amartya involved in ?
Amartya involved in analyzing the overall implications of the perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy.
11. What kind of attachment Amartya Sen has for his motherland India ?
Amartya Sen attachment to his mother land was so strong that he never stayed away for more than six months at a stretch while being abroad.
12. When did Amartya Sen receive the Nobel Prize for Economics and what is he known as in India ?
Amartya Sen received Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998 and he is known as Mother of Economics in India.
Bits :
1. Dr. Amartya Kumar Sen won the Nobel Prize for Economics in October 1998
2. Amartya Kumar Sen was bon on November 3rd 1933
3. His Mother Amita Sen and Father Aushoth Sen
4. Amartya means immortal in Sanskrit
5. Amartya’s formal education began in St. George School – Dhaka (now in Bangladesh)
6. Amartya Sen studied at Tagore’s Shantiniketan
7. He studied at Calcutta at Presidency College
8.He was influenced by his teachers Bhabutosh Datta, Tapas Majumdar and Dinesh Bhattacharya
9. Amartya Sen studied at Presidency College from 1951 to 1953
10. The Bengal famine was occurred in 1943
11. In 1953 Amartya Sen moved to Cambridge to Study at Trinity College
12. He enrolled in Cambridge for another B.A. in Pure Economics
13. Amartya’s Ph.D. thesis was under the supervision of A.K. Dasgupta of Banaras Hindu University
14. Amartya Sen taught in Delhi from 1963 to 1971
15. His book Collective and Social Welfare published in 1970
16. In early 1952, at the age of 18 he had developed cancer of mouth
17. Amartya published a book Inequality Re-examined in 1992
18. The part of the Nobel Prize money was given to Pratichi Trust
19. Amartya Sen received Indira Gandhi Gold Medal Award of the Asiatic Society 1994, Nobel prize for Economics in 1998
20. He received Eisenhower Medal, USA
21. Amartya received Honorary Companion of Honour, UK for the year 2000
22. Amartya Kumar Sen known in India as Mother Teresa of Economics
23. Amartya Sen continues his work and academic teaching as Master, Trinity College, Cambridge, UK