Economist Bibek Debroy conferred Padma Bhushan award posthumously

New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) Economist Bibek Debroy has been conferred the Padma Bhushan award posthumously for his contribution to the field of literature and education.

Debroy, who died on November 1, 2024, at the age of 69, was an economic advisor to the Prime Minister and a former member of NITI Aayog.

What distinguished Debroy from other economists was his profound knowledge of classical Sanskrit and ancient texts, and will be long remembered for translating Puranas, Valmiki Ramayana, and the Mahabharata.

He was known for his wide range of interests and scholarly pursuits as well as for his deep passion for translation work of Sanskrit texts and his dedication towards railway reforms.

Debroy’s research work covered numerous areas such as economic theory, income inequality, and infrastructure financing. Some uncommon research interests like the role of dogs in Indian/Hindu life were also covered by him.

An alumni of Presidency College, Kolkata, Debroy studied at Delhi School of Economics (DSE), and Trinity College, Cambridge. He had worked at Presidency College, Kolkata; Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi; and also as the Director of a Ministry of Finance/UNDP project on legal reforms.

He was also a member of NITI Aayog up to June 5, 2019. In 2016, the government decided to merge the Rail Budget with the Union Budget from Budget year 2017-18 based on the recommendations of a committee headed by Debroy.

He authored and edited several books, papers and popular articles and was a consulting/contributing editor with several newspapers.

Besides economics, his main interest was in ancient Indian texts. Debroy translated dozens of ancient Sanskrit books into English. These include ten volumes of the Mahabharata, three-volume Valmiki Ramayana, Shiva Purana, and an abridged version of about a dozen of Mahapuranas.

He is also the author of ‘Sarama and Her Children’, which splices his interest in Hinduism with his love for dogs.