Noted developmental economist Arjun Sengupta dead

NEW DELHI - Arjun Kumar Sengupta, a Rajya Sabha MP and a well-known developmental economist who served as Indian ambassador to Belgium and the European Union in the early 1990s, died here Sunday after a brief illness. He was 73 and is survived by his wife and a daughter.

Sengupta, who represented West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha, was brought to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the morning after he developed health complications and later passed away in the hospital.

Having a distinguished and multi-faceted career as an economicist, administrator, ambassador and parliamentarian, Sengupa had also served as a special secretary to the prime minister of India from 1981-84.

He was the executive director and special advisor of the International Monetary Fund from 1985 to 1990, and went on to become the ambassador of India to Belgium and the European Union 1990-1993.

He was a member and member-secretary of the Planning Commission 1993-1998 and was elected in August 2005 to the Rajya Sabha.

Vice President Hamid Ansari mourned the demise of Sengupta and remembered him as a “developmental economist who worked as a guiding force to provide minimum social security for all unorganized workers”.

“I am deeply grieved to learn about the sad demise of Sengupta. He will always be remembered for his contributions,” Ansari, who is the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, said in his message.

Sengupta’s report on the unorganized sector has proven to be the guiding force to provide minimum social security.

His cremation will take place Monday at the Lodhi crematorium, according to family sources.