Notable Rewards : Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Bharat Ratna 1999 Amartya Kumar Sen is an economist and a philosopher. He studied in University of Calcutta and Cambridge. While in Cambridge, he studied Philosophy and enriched his knowledge . He wanted the national economy to protect people from hunger and starvation. His thoughts took shape when he witnessed the Bengal famine in which 3 million people perished. In Bengal, for example, food production, while down on the previous year, was higher than in previous non-famine years. Sen points to a number of social and economic factors, such as declining wages, unemployment, rising food prices, and poor food-distribution, which led to starvation.
His welfare economics seeks to evaluate economic policies in terms of their effects on the well-being of the community. Sen, who devoted his career to such issues, was called the “conscience of his profession”. Governments and international organizations . handling food crises were influenced by Sen’s work. His views encouraged policy makers to pay attention not only to alleviating immediate suffering but also to finding ways to replace the lost income of the poor—for example through public works—and to maintain stable prices for food. A vigorous defender of political freedom, Sen believed that famines do not occur in functioning democracies because their leaders must be more responsive to the demands of the citizens.
In order for economic growth to be achieved, he argued, social reforms—such as improvements in education and public health—must precede economic reform. He was conferred Nobel Price for his outstanding contribution in Economic Sciences. He was also given India’s most prestigious awards “ Bharat Ratna “ in 1999. He married thrice in his life. He has houses in both UK and the USA.
