In his message to Prof Sen, he said "your contribution to the study of human development and the causes of poverty and inequality in the world are marked by originality and are in tune with India's intellectual tradition. You have brought to bear upon the science of economics a compassion for the ordinary human being and a vision of an egalitarian society".

Conveying his felicitations, he wished him many more years of purposeful activity and achievements.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee

The country was proud at the achievement of Prof Amartya Sen winning the Nobel Prize for economics this year. Vajpayee said in a message expressing his profound sense of joy at the event.

West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu

Basu in a statement from Siliguri, said as an economist, Prof Sen wasacclaimed by the international community for a long time.

Praising him, Basu said Prof Sen had done pioneering work in developmental economics. "At the moment, the entire nation is proud of his achievement and West Bengal has to its credit another Nobel laureate," he said.

Economists nationwide have also hailed Prof Sen for winning the coveted prize saying he had done ``India proud, though such recognition was long overdue.''

S B Rao, director of Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta

ISI is delighted to know about awarding of the Nobel Prize for economics to Amartya Sen. Sen is an alumni of ISI and had worked at the ISI's planning division as research staff in the late 1950s. He was a member of the council in the late 1960s.

Later he utilised the national sample data on Indian famines from the ISI, as well as Prof P C Mahalanobis's report in his studies on welfare economics in the third world. He also helped Prof Mahalanobis in drafting the second Five Year Plan for India.

Interactionsbetween the institute and Amartya Sen continues on issues relating to poverty measures. The Nobel Prize could have been awarded to him long ago -- it was past due."

Amiya Bagchi, economist

No economist has so far been awarded the Nobel Prize before Sen who opposed the extreme liberalisation drive allowing market forces a free hand and criticised the Reagan-Thatcher economics. He also has forcefully advocated that state intervention on economy could not be done away with as it has had a positive role to play in safeguarding the interests of millions of common men.

Sen is one of the few persons who can be considered a philosopher than a mere economist who dedicated his life in analysing the reasons of miseries of poor millions and in finding out the ways and means to remove them.

Amlan Datta, economist and former vice chancellor of Viswa Bharati, Shantiniketan

``Though Amartya Sen was not a student of mine, I was teaching at Calcutta University at the post graduate level when he wasdoing his graduation. I got to know him as a bright young boy with a lot of promise.

``He deserved the Nobel Prize. We can see from his research work that he has worked in various subjects and fields''.

Dr Arjun Sengupta, former member Planning Commission

Prof Sen was the most deserving candidate who should have got the award long back.

``He is a genius whose total span of scholarship and inspiring leadership covers not only the philosophy, art, culture but has produced generations of students both in India and the west (UK and USA).''

``I am sure quite a few of them would get the Nobel Prize in future,'' he said.

Dr V R Panchamukhi, director, research and information systems

I am very excited. ``It is a long awaited recognition for an intellectual of very high calibre and an economist of very practical insight.''

``The recognition has made India feel very proud and excited,'' he said.

Dr Rakesh Mohan, director general of the National Council for Applied Economic Research(NCAER)

I am absolutely delighted that Prof Sen had been awarded the Nobel Prize.Sen's work both in technical economics as well as his deep concern for human development has been unusual, he said and it was, therefore, appropriate he should have been honoured.

It is an achievement for all Indian economists, he added.

In a message sent by the Delhi School of Economics, where Prof Sen taught for eight years until 1971, his colleagues said it was ``richly deserved and long overdue.''

He was an excellent conversationist and absolutely brilliant, said Prof Badal Mukherjee, director of the Delhi School of Economics.

``I feel very proud as an economist and as an Indian,'' said Prof Isher Judge Ahluwalia of the Indian Council of Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

Associate professor of economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Arun Kumar said Prof Sen covered a wide area of research in the fields of economics and philosophy.