Famed Indian economist Amartya Sen is ‘totally fine’ and remains ‘busy as ever’. The clarification came from his daughter Nandana Deb Sen amid reports that the Nobel Laureate had passed away on Tuesday afternoon. The assertion had prompted an outpouring of condolence messages on social media even as others rushed to fact-check the development.
‘Friends, thanks for your concern but it’s fake news: Baba is totally fine. We just spent a wonderful week together w/ family in Cambridge—his hug as strong as always last night when we said bye! He is teaching 2 courses a week at Harvard, working on his gender book—busy as ever!’ Nandana Deb Sen tweeted alongside a picture of the Bharat Ratna awardee.
News of his death was shared by several leading publications based on a social media post – purportedly from economic historian Claudia Goldin. However the post appears to have been shared by a fake account made in May 2023 and seemingly unrelated to Goldin.
‘Deleting tweet on Amartya Sen based on a post from an unverified account in the name of Claudia Goldin. Actor Nandana Dev Sen denies news of death of her father, Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen,’news agency PTI posted on X.
During an extensive career spanning nearly seven decades, Dr Sen has made contributions to numerous fields – from welfare economics and social choice theory to economic and social justice and public health. The Bharat Ratna awardee is currently a professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University.
‘People have given up hope that I might retire. But I like working, I must say. I’ve been very lucky. I’ve never done, when I think about it, work that I was not interested in. That is a very good reason to go on,’ he told The Harvard Gazette in 2021.
Dr Sen received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998 for his work In the ensuing years he was awarded top civilian honours from around the world, including the Bharat Ratna and France’s Légion d’Honneur. He holds more than 100 honorary degrees from institutions on five continents and even received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 2000.
Meanwhile on the personal front, the famed economist remains locked in a legal battle with The Visva-Bharati university over an eviction notice for illegal occupation of land.
The institution has earlier asked him to vacate 0.13 acre (5,500 square feet) of land from his ancestral residence ‘Pratichi’ in Santiniketan by May 6.
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