Amartya Sen
Professor Amartya Sen’s intellectual achievements and contributions to welfare economics have earned him the prestigious title of ‘Nobel laureate in Economics (1998 Nobel prize in Economics)’.
Sen was born in Santiniketan, India and is an alumnus of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Presidency College in Calcutta. He also taught at both these universities, later becoming the first non-British Master of Trinity College. His writings on overcoming poverty, deprivation, environmental threats, violation of human rights and economic sustainability - central to his approach to ‘Development as Freedom’ - are fundamental to the theory and practice of development.
Sen’s highly acclaimed work in ‘Welfare Economics’ has earned him several distinguished awards, including the 'Bharat Ratna'” (the highest honour awarded by the President of India). He has also been conferred honorary doctorates by prominent academic institutions the world over, including the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in 1982.