Dr. AMARTYA KUMAR SEN (Non-Detailed)
Objectives of the Lesson
To understand the biographical sketch of Dr. Amartya kumar Sen
To motivate the youth towards scientific developments
To inspire young minds how Amarthya is an epitome of determination, dedication, diligence,
communal harmony and simplicity.
To introduce all the honours and awards conferred on this Nobel laureate for his
extraordinary contributions to Economics in 1998
To kindle young minds on how Amarthya brought name and fame to India globally
1. When did Amatrya form and develop his educational attitude and orientation?
Ans: Amarthya’s formal education began in St.George’s high school, Dhaka
(Now in
Bangladesh). His educational attitudes were formed in Tagore’s school, ‘Shantiniketan’. Right
from his childhood, he decided to become a teacher and researcher of some sort and it
remained with him till his growing years. During his younger years he had shown great interest
in Sanskrit, Maths and Physics. But soon he settled down for “Eccentric charms of Economics”
2. How does Amartya Sen describe economics?
Ans: Amarthya described it as “the Eccentric charms of Economics”
3. What did Amartya learn from the death of Kader mia in Dacca?
Ans: During his teenage in the mid 1940’s, Amartya had experienced a shift from a united
Indian people to sectarian society of Hindu, Muslim or Sikh communities. Besides these, an
earlier incident in his young age became the basis for his research and analysis in Economics.
One afternoon in Dhaka, a man named Kader Miya came for a meager payment job was
knifed in a largely Hindu dominated area. When Amarthya’s father was rushing him to hospital
he kept saying that though his wife warned him he came there to feed his family. The penalty
of that Economic uncertainty turned out to be his death, which took place in hospital later. This
experience devastated Amarthya and suddenly realized that the dangers of narrowly defined
identities and also of divisiveness that could be buried in communication politics. He also came
to know a remarkable fact that economic uncertainty, in the form of extreme poverty, could
make a person a helpless prey to the violation of other kinds of freedom. Amarthya thought
that Khader Mia need not have come to a hostile area in search of a meager income in
troubled times if his family could have managed without it.
4. How did Calcutta’s presidency college influence collegian Amartya?
Ans: Soon after joining Presidency College, Amartya formed an attitude on cultural identity
including an understanding of its inescapable plurality. He was determined to face the
competing loyalties of rival political attitudes like the possible conflicts between substantive
equity on the one hand, and universal tolerance on the other hand. His intellectual horizon was
radically broadened by the educational excellence of the Presidency College. He was
mentored by great minds like Bhabutosh Datta, Tapas Majumdar and Dinesh Bhattacharya.
During this time he had a very close association with some history students such as Barun De,
Partha Gupta and Benoy Chandreru. This group was led by an encouraging teacher
Sushobhan Sarkar.
Presidency College was quite active politically. Though Amartya was not interested to join any
political wing, the quality of sympathy and egalitarian commitment of the ‘left’ appealed him so
greatly. It also resulted in running evening schools for illiterate rural children in the
neighbouring villages, which he felt was direly needed for systematic political broadening and
social enlargement of the society.
5. What aspect of Bengal famine struck Amartya?
Ans: Amarthya Sen studied at Presidency College from 1951 to 1953. The memory of Bengal
famine of 1943 in which two to three million people had died was still fresh in his memory. He
was particularly got struck by the famine’s class-dependent character. No one in his school or
friends had experienced slightest problem during the entire famine. It was a not a famine that
afflicted even lower middle-class, only people much further down the economic ladder, such as
landless rural labourers were affected.
6. Why did Amartya go to Cambridge in 1953?
Ans: Amarthya Sen went to Cambridge in 1953 to study in Trinity College. Though he finished
his B.A from Calcutta University with Economics major and Mathematics minor, he enrolled in
Cambridge for another B.A. in pure Economics, which he completed quickly in two years.
7. How did Amartya utilize his PHD thesis before the time of its submission?
Ans: Amarthya became professor when he was hardly 23. It caused a predictable protest in
Jadavpur University. He was considered as has been just snatched from the cradle.During this
time, Amarthya’s Ph.D thesis was in its final stages. There was a rule to submit the thesis only
after a period of 3 years which was prevalent. Because of it, he submitted it for a competitive
prize fellowship at Trinity college. He got elected to it and went back to Cambridge. Since it
gave him four years of freedom to do (whatever the particular researcher liked and no
questions asked), Amarthya decided to study philosophy during that period. He later shown
great interest in Philosophy not just it is closely related to Philosophical disciplines but also he
found philosophical studies very rewarding on their own. It also gave him an opportunity to
work with great philosophers like John Ravels, Issaih Thomas Scanion, Robert Dworkin,
Benard Williams, Derek Parfit, Robert Nozick and others.
8. How useful was his stint in Delhi during the period 1963 to 1971?
Ans: Amathya sen decided to leave Cambridge and went to Delhi as a professor of Economics
at the Delhi School of Economics. He taught in Delhi till 1971, a period he considered the most
intellectually challenging in his academic life. Amarthya was able to make the school a
preeminent center of excellence with the help of the eminent economist and head of the
department K.N.Ray. During his stint at the Delhi school, Amarthya 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?
Ans: Amartya gradually shifted his interests from pure theory of social choice to more
‘practical’ problems. The development of the pure theory of social choice with an expanded
information base was very crucial to assess poverty, to evaluate inequality, to clarify the nature
of relative deprivation, to develop distribution – adjusted national income measures, to clarify
the penalty of unemployment, to analyse violations of personal liberties and basic rights and to
charecterise gender disparities and women’s relative disadvantage. The results were
published in journals in the 1970’s and early 1980s. Later, they were compiled together in two
collections of articles, namely, Choice, Welfare, Measurement; Resources, Values and
Development, published respectively 1982 and 1984.
10. In America in 1985 what was Amartya involved in?
Ans: In 1985, Amarthya shifted to America. There he got himself involved in analyzing the
overall implications of the perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy. The
same was also reported in his book tiled, “Re-Examined” published in 1992.
11. What kind of attachment Amartya Sen has for his mother land India?
Ans: Amarthya has made fame throughout the world and this never prevented him from
keeping in touch with India. He always kept close connections with Indian Universities. His
attachment to motherland was so firm that he never stayed away of it for more than six months
at a stretch while being abroad. A close evidence to it was, when he was awarded Nobel Prize,
he used part of its money to float his Pratichi Trust. The trust has done social and charity work
in India and Bangladesh on literacy, basic health care and gender equality. It was also his
passion right from his schooling in Shantiniketan.
12. When did Amartya Sen receive the Nobel Prize for Economics and what is it known
as in India?
Ans: Dr.Amarthya Sen won Nobel Prize for is extraordinary contributions for Economics in
October 1998. Sen is also known as Mother Teresa of Economics in India. He spent his entire
life fighting poverty with analysis rather than activism and his ideas have had a global impact.
He continues his work and academic teaching as Master, Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.
13. Give a detailed sketch of Dr. Amartya Kumar Sen?
Ans: Dr.Amartya Kumar Sen was born in Shanthiniketan campus of Tagore’s Vishwa Bharathi
on 3rd Nov, 1933. He was born to Amita and Ashutosh Sen and was christened ‘Amartya’
(means immortal in Sanskrit) by thew first Indain Nonel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore with
whom Sens had a close relation. He was the recipient of the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1998
for his work on ‘Welfare Economics’ and his extraordinary contributions to the field of
Economics. He is currently working as a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard
University, Cambridge, UK. He is a world renowned Economist for addressing social issues
such as Poverty, Gender, Inequality and Political Liberalism.
Amarthya’s formal education began in St.George’s high school, Dhaka (Now in Bangladesh).
His educational attitudes were formed in Tagore’s school, ‘Shantiniketan’. Since his childhood,
he decided to become a teacher and researcher of some sort and it remained with him till his
growing years. During his younger years he had shown great interest in Sanskrit, Maths and
Physics. Soon he settled for “Eccentric charms of Economics”.
During his teenage in the mid 1940’s, Amartya had experienced a shift from a united Indian
people to sectarian society of Hindu, Muslim or Sikh communities. Besides these, an earlier
incident in his young age became the basis for his research and analysis in Economics.
One afternoon in Dhaka, a man named Kader Miya came for a meager payment job was
knifed in a largely Hindu dominated area. When Amartya’s father was rushing him to hospital
he kept saying that though his wife warned him he came there to feed his family. The penalty
of that Economic uncertainty turned out to be his death, which took place in hospital later. This
experience devastated Amarthya and suddenly he realized that the dangers of narrowly
defined identities and also of divisiveness that could be buried in communication politics. He
also came to know a remarkable fact that economic uncertainty, in the form of extreme
poverty, could make a person a helpless prey to the violation of other kinds of freedom.
Amarthya thought that Khader Mia need not have come to a hostile area in search of a meager
income in troubled times if his family could have managed without it.
Soon after joining Presidency College, Amartya formed an attitude on cultural identity including
an understanding of its inescapable plurality. He was determined to face the competing
loyalties of rival political attitudes like the possible conflicts between substantive equity on the
one hand, and universal tolerance on the other hand. His intellectual horizon was radically broadened by the educational excellence of the Presidency College. He was mentored by
great minds like Bhabutosh Datta, Tapas Majumdar and Dinesh Bhattacharya. During this time
he had a very close association with some history students such as Barun De, Partha Gupta
and Benoy Chandreru. This group was led by an encouraging teacher Sushobhan Sarkar.
Presidency College was quite active politically. Though Amatya was not interested to join any
political wing, the quality of sympathy and egalitarian commitment of the ‘left’ appealed him so
greatly. It also resulted in running evening schools for illiterate rural children in the
neighbouring villages, which he felt was direly needed for systematic political broadening and
social enlargement of the society.
Amarthya Sen studied at Presidency College from 1951 to 1953. The memory of Bengal
famine of 1943 in which two to three million people had died was still fresh in his memory. He
was particularly got struck by the famine’s class-dependent character. No one in his school or
friends had experienced slightest problem during the entire famine. It was a not a famine that
afflicted even lower middle-class, only people much further down the economic ladder, such as
landless rural labourers were affected.
Amarthya Sen went to Cambridge in 1953 to study in Trinity college. Though he finished his
B.A from Calcutta University with Economics major and Mathematics minor, he enrolled in
Cambridge for another B.A. in pure Economics, which he completed quickly in two years.
Amarthya became professor when he was hardly 23. It caused a predictable protest in
Jadavpur University. He was considered as has been just snatched from the cradle. During
this time, Amarthya’s Ph.D thesis was in its final stages. There was a rule to submit the thesis
only after a period of 3 years which was prevalent. Because of it, he submitted it for a
competitive prize fellowship at Trinity College. He got elected to it and went back to
Cambridge. Since it gave him four years of freedom to do (whatever the particular researcher
liked and no questions asked), Amarthya decided to study philosophy during that period. He
later shown great interest in Philosophy not just it is closely related to Philosophical disciplines
but also he found philosophical studies very rewarding on their own. It also gave him an
opportunity to work with great philosophers like John Ravels, Issaih Thomas Scanion, Robert
Dworkin, Benard Williams, Derek Parfit, Robert Nozick and others.Amartya sen decided to leave Cambridge and went to Delhi as a professor of Economics at
the Delhi School of Economics. He taught in Delhi till 1971, a period he considered the most
intellectually challenging in his academic life. Amarthya was able to make the school a
preeminent center of excellence with the help of the eminent economist and head of the
department K.N.Ray. During his stint at the Delhi school, Amarthya plunged himself full steam
into the social choice theory because of the dynamic intellectual atmosphere of the Delhi
university.
Amarthya gradually shifted his interests from pure theory of social choice to more ‘practical’
problems. The development of the pure theory of social choice with an expanded information
base was very crucial to assess poverty, to evaluate inequality, to clarify the nature of relative
deprivation, to develop distribution – adjusted national income measures, to clarify the penalty
of unemployment, to analyse violations of personal liberties and basic rights and to
charecterise gender disparities and women’s relative disadvantage. The results were
published in journals in the 1970’s and early 1980s. Later, they were compiled together in two
collections of articles, namely, Choice, Welfare, Measurement; Resources, Values and
Development, published respectively I 1982 and 1984.
In 1985, Amarthya shifted to America. There he got himself involved in analyzing the overall
implications of the perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy. The same was
also reported in his book tiled, “Re-Examined” published in 1992.
Amarthya has made fame throughout the world and this never prevented him from keeping in
touch with India. He always kept close connections with Indian Universities. His attachment to
motherland was so firm that he never stayed away of it for more than six months at a stretch
while being abroad. A close evidence to it was, when he was awarded Nobel Prize, he used
part of its money to float his Pratichi Trust. The trust has done social and charity work in India
and Bangladesh on literacy, basic health care and gender equality. It was also his passion
right from his schooling in Shantiniketan.
Dr.Amarthya Sen won Nobel Prize for is extraordinary contributions for Economics in October
1998. Sen is also known as ‘Mother Teresa of Economics’ in India. He spent his entire life
fighting poverty with analysis rather than activism. His ideas have had a global impact. He
continues his work and academic teaching as Master, Trinity College.
Objectives of the Lesson
To understand the biographical sketch of Dr. Amartya kumar Sen
To motivate the youth towards scientific developments
To inspire young minds how Amarthya is an epitome of determination, dedication, diligence,
communal harmony and simplicity.
To introduce all the honours and awards conferred on this Nobel laureate for his
extraordinary contributions to Economics in 1998
To kindle young minds on how Amarthya brought name and fame to India globally
1. When did Amatrya form and develop his educational attitude and orientation?
Ans: Amarthya’s formal education began in St.George’s high school, Dhaka
(Now in
Bangladesh). His educational attitudes were formed in Tagore’s school, ‘Shantiniketan’. Right
from his childhood, he decided to become a teacher and researcher of some sort and it
remained with him till his growing years. During his younger years he had shown great interest
in Sanskrit, Maths and Physics. But soon he settled down for “Eccentric charms of Economics”
2. How does Amartya Sen describe economics?
Ans: Amarthya described it as “the Eccentric charms of Economics”
3. What did Amartya learn from the death of Kader mia in Dacca?
Ans: During his teenage in the mid 1940’s, Amartya had experienced a shift from a united
Indian people to sectarian society of Hindu, Muslim or Sikh communities. Besides these, an
earlier incident in his young age became the basis for his research and analysis in Economics.
One afternoon in Dhaka, a man named Kader Miya came for a meager payment job was
knifed in a largely Hindu dominated area. When Amarthya’s father was rushing him to hospital
he kept saying that though his wife warned him he came there to feed his family. The penalty
of that Economic uncertainty turned out to be his death, which took place in hospital later. This
experience devastated Amarthya and suddenly realized that the dangers of narrowly defined
identities and also of divisiveness that could be buried in communication politics. He also came
to know a remarkable fact that economic uncertainty, in the form of extreme poverty, could
make a person a helpless prey to the violation of other kinds of freedom. Amarthya thought
that Khader Mia need not have come to a hostile area in search of a meager income in
troubled times if his family could have managed without it.
4. How did Calcutta’s presidency college influence collegian Amartya?
Ans: Soon after joining Presidency College, Amartya formed an attitude on cultural identity
including an understanding of its inescapable plurality. He was determined to face the
competing loyalties of rival political attitudes like the possible conflicts between substantive
equity on the one hand, and universal tolerance on the other hand. His intellectual horizon was
radically broadened by the educational excellence of the Presidency College. He was
mentored by great minds like Bhabutosh Datta, Tapas Majumdar and Dinesh Bhattacharya.
During this time he had a very close association with some history students such as Barun De,
Partha Gupta and Benoy Chandreru. This group was led by an encouraging teacher
Sushobhan Sarkar.
Presidency College was quite active politically. Though Amartya was not interested to join any
political wing, the quality of sympathy and egalitarian commitment of the ‘left’ appealed him so
greatly. It also resulted in running evening schools for illiterate rural children in the
neighbouring villages, which he felt was direly needed for systematic political broadening and
social enlargement of the society.
5. What aspect of Bengal famine struck Amartya?
Ans: Amarthya Sen studied at Presidency College from 1951 to 1953. The memory of Bengal
famine of 1943 in which two to three million people had died was still fresh in his memory. He
was particularly got struck by the famine’s class-dependent character. No one in his school or
friends had experienced slightest problem during the entire famine. It was a not a famine that
afflicted even lower middle-class, only people much further down the economic ladder, such as
landless rural labourers were affected.
6. Why did Amartya go to Cambridge in 1953?
Ans: Amarthya Sen went to Cambridge in 1953 to study in Trinity College. Though he finished
his B.A from Calcutta University with Economics major and Mathematics minor, he enrolled in
Cambridge for another B.A. in pure Economics, which he completed quickly in two years.
7. How did Amartya utilize his PHD thesis before the time of its submission?
Ans: Amarthya became professor when he was hardly 23. It caused a predictable protest in
Jadavpur University. He was considered as has been just snatched from the cradle.During this
time, Amarthya’s Ph.D thesis was in its final stages. There was a rule to submit the thesis only
after a period of 3 years which was prevalent. Because of it, he submitted it for a competitive
prize fellowship at Trinity college. He got elected to it and went back to Cambridge. Since it
gave him four years of freedom to do (whatever the particular researcher liked and no
questions asked), Amarthya decided to study philosophy during that period. He later shown
great interest in Philosophy not just it is closely related to Philosophical disciplines but also he
found philosophical studies very rewarding on their own. It also gave him an opportunity to
work with great philosophers like John Ravels, Issaih Thomas Scanion, Robert Dworkin,
Benard Williams, Derek Parfit, Robert Nozick and others.
8. How useful was his stint in Delhi during the period 1963 to 1971?
Ans: Amathya sen decided to leave Cambridge and went to Delhi as a professor of Economics
at the Delhi School of Economics. He taught in Delhi till 1971, a period he considered the most
intellectually challenging in his academic life. Amarthya was able to make the school a
preeminent center of excellence with the help of the eminent economist and head of the
department K.N.Ray. During his stint at the Delhi school, Amarthya 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?
Ans: Amartya gradually shifted his interests from pure theory of social choice to more
‘practical’ problems. The development of the pure theory of social choice with an expanded
information base was very crucial to assess poverty, to evaluate inequality, to clarify the nature
of relative deprivation, to develop distribution – adjusted national income measures, to clarify
the penalty of unemployment, to analyse violations of personal liberties and basic rights and to
charecterise gender disparities and women’s relative disadvantage. The results were
published in journals in the 1970’s and early 1980s. Later, they were compiled together in two
collections of articles, namely, Choice, Welfare, Measurement; Resources, Values and
Development, published respectively 1982 and 1984.
10. In America in 1985 what was Amartya involved in?
Ans: In 1985, Amarthya shifted to America. There he got himself involved in analyzing the
overall implications of the perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy. The
same was also reported in his book tiled, “Re-Examined” published in 1992.
11. What kind of attachment Amartya Sen has for his mother land India?
Ans: Amarthya has made fame throughout the world and this never prevented him from
keeping in touch with India. He always kept close connections with Indian Universities. His
attachment to motherland was so firm that he never stayed away of it for more than six months
at a stretch while being abroad. A close evidence to it was, when he was awarded Nobel Prize,
he used part of its money to float his Pratichi Trust. The trust has done social and charity work
in India and Bangladesh on literacy, basic health care and gender equality. It was also his
passion right from his schooling in Shantiniketan.
12. When did Amartya Sen receive the Nobel Prize for Economics and what is it known
as in India?
Ans: Dr.Amarthya Sen won Nobel Prize for is extraordinary contributions for Economics in
October 1998. Sen is also known as Mother Teresa of Economics in India. He spent his entire
life fighting poverty with analysis rather than activism and his ideas have had a global impact.
He continues his work and academic teaching as Master, Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.
13. Give a detailed sketch of Dr. Amartya Kumar Sen?
Ans: Dr.Amartya Kumar Sen was born in Shanthiniketan campus of Tagore’s Vishwa Bharathi
on 3rd Nov, 1933. He was born to Amita and Ashutosh Sen and was christened ‘Amartya’
(means immortal in Sanskrit) by thew first Indain Nonel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore with
whom Sens had a close relation. He was the recipient of the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1998
for his work on ‘Welfare Economics’ and his extraordinary contributions to the field of
Economics. He is currently working as a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard
University, Cambridge, UK. He is a world renowned Economist for addressing social issues
such as Poverty, Gender, Inequality and Political Liberalism.
Amarthya’s formal education began in St.George’s high school, Dhaka (Now in Bangladesh).
His educational attitudes were formed in Tagore’s school, ‘Shantiniketan’. Since his childhood,
he decided to become a teacher and researcher of some sort and it remained with him till his
growing years. During his younger years he had shown great interest in Sanskrit, Maths and
Physics. Soon he settled for “Eccentric charms of Economics”.
During his teenage in the mid 1940’s, Amartya had experienced a shift from a united Indian
people to sectarian society of Hindu, Muslim or Sikh communities. Besides these, an earlier
incident in his young age became the basis for his research and analysis in Economics.
One afternoon in Dhaka, a man named Kader Miya came for a meager payment job was
knifed in a largely Hindu dominated area. When Amartya’s father was rushing him to hospital
he kept saying that though his wife warned him he came there to feed his family. The penalty
of that Economic uncertainty turned out to be his death, which took place in hospital later. This
experience devastated Amarthya and suddenly he realized that the dangers of narrowly
defined identities and also of divisiveness that could be buried in communication politics. He
also came to know a remarkable fact that economic uncertainty, in the form of extreme
poverty, could make a person a helpless prey to the violation of other kinds of freedom.
Amarthya thought that Khader Mia need not have come to a hostile area in search of a meager
income in troubled times if his family could have managed without it.
Soon after joining Presidency College, Amartya formed an attitude on cultural identity including
an understanding of its inescapable plurality. He was determined to face the competing
loyalties of rival political attitudes like the possible conflicts between substantive equity on the
one hand, and universal tolerance on the other hand. His intellectual horizon was radically broadened by the educational excellence of the Presidency College. He was mentored by
great minds like Bhabutosh Datta, Tapas Majumdar and Dinesh Bhattacharya. During this time
he had a very close association with some history students such as Barun De, Partha Gupta
and Benoy Chandreru. This group was led by an encouraging teacher Sushobhan Sarkar.
Presidency College was quite active politically. Though Amatya was not interested to join any
political wing, the quality of sympathy and egalitarian commitment of the ‘left’ appealed him so
greatly. It also resulted in running evening schools for illiterate rural children in the
neighbouring villages, which he felt was direly needed for systematic political broadening and
social enlargement of the society.
Amarthya Sen studied at Presidency College from 1951 to 1953. The memory of Bengal
famine of 1943 in which two to three million people had died was still fresh in his memory. He
was particularly got struck by the famine’s class-dependent character. No one in his school or
friends had experienced slightest problem during the entire famine. It was a not a famine that
afflicted even lower middle-class, only people much further down the economic ladder, such as
landless rural labourers were affected.
Amarthya Sen went to Cambridge in 1953 to study in Trinity college. Though he finished his
B.A from Calcutta University with Economics major and Mathematics minor, he enrolled in
Cambridge for another B.A. in pure Economics, which he completed quickly in two years.
Amarthya became professor when he was hardly 23. It caused a predictable protest in
Jadavpur University. He was considered as has been just snatched from the cradle. During
this time, Amarthya’s Ph.D thesis was in its final stages. There was a rule to submit the thesis
only after a period of 3 years which was prevalent. Because of it, he submitted it for a
competitive prize fellowship at Trinity College. He got elected to it and went back to
Cambridge. Since it gave him four years of freedom to do (whatever the particular researcher
liked and no questions asked), Amarthya decided to study philosophy during that period. He
later shown great interest in Philosophy not just it is closely related to Philosophical disciplines
but also he found philosophical studies very rewarding on their own. It also gave him an
opportunity to work with great philosophers like John Ravels, Issaih Thomas Scanion, Robert
Dworkin, Benard Williams, Derek Parfit, Robert Nozick and others.Amartya sen decided to leave Cambridge and went to Delhi as a professor of Economics at
the Delhi School of Economics. He taught in Delhi till 1971, a period he considered the most
intellectually challenging in his academic life. Amarthya was able to make the school a
preeminent center of excellence with the help of the eminent economist and head of the
department K.N.Ray. During his stint at the Delhi school, Amarthya plunged himself full steam
into the social choice theory because of the dynamic intellectual atmosphere of the Delhi
university.
Amarthya gradually shifted his interests from pure theory of social choice to more ‘practical’
problems. The development of the pure theory of social choice with an expanded information
base was very crucial to assess poverty, to evaluate inequality, to clarify the nature of relative
deprivation, to develop distribution – adjusted national income measures, to clarify the penalty
of unemployment, to analyse violations of personal liberties and basic rights and to
charecterise gender disparities and women’s relative disadvantage. The results were
published in journals in the 1970’s and early 1980s. Later, they were compiled together in two
collections of articles, namely, Choice, Welfare, Measurement; Resources, Values and
Development, published respectively I 1982 and 1984.
In 1985, Amarthya shifted to America. There he got himself involved in analyzing the overall
implications of the perspective on welfare economics and political philosophy. The same was
also reported in his book tiled, “Re-Examined” published in 1992.
Amarthya has made fame throughout the world and this never prevented him from keeping in
touch with India. He always kept close connections with Indian Universities. His attachment to
motherland was so firm that he never stayed away of it for more than six months at a stretch
while being abroad. A close evidence to it was, when he was awarded Nobel Prize, he used
part of its money to float his Pratichi Trust. The trust has done social and charity work in India
and Bangladesh on literacy, basic health care and gender equality. It was also his passion
right from his schooling in Shantiniketan.
Dr.Amarthya Sen won Nobel Prize for is extraordinary contributions for Economics in October
1998. Sen is also known as ‘Mother Teresa of Economics’ in India. He spent his entire life
fighting poverty with analysis rather than activism. His ideas have had a global impact. He
continues his work and academic teaching as Master, Trinity College.
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