Suresh Tendulkar, noted economist and a former chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC), died in Pune on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 72. Tendulkar is survived by his wife, two daughters and grandchildren.
He underwent a bypass surgery on April 26, but two days later caught pneumonia and had to be kept on artificial respiration. Two days ago, his condition deteriorated and he suffered from a cardiac arrest. He died at 11.10 am on Tuesday morning.
According to Dr Shirish Prayag of Prayag Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had enquired about his health during his stay at the hospital.
The last rites were performed at the Vaikunth crematorium in Pune on Tuesday evening.
?In Suresh?s demise, the country has lost one of its most eminent economists. His work on poverty was path-breaking and will continue to guide and inspire the coming generations of economists,? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement. ?Suresh?s passing away is also a great personal loss to me. He was a very dear friend and a colleague whose advice I valued immensely,? Singh said.
?Suresh believed in the liberalisation policy and said it would lead to economic expansion. I think the country has suffered an irreparable loss. He was in favour of freeing various kinds of controls and barriers,? said C Rangarajan, Chairman, PMEAC.
Chief Statistician of India TCA Anant said, ?Suresh was an eminent economist and an outstanding teacher. He was the most logical and clear-headed thinker. His contribution is immense from the basic theory of planning to poverty and labour markets, among others.?
Planning Commission Principal Adviser Pronab Sen said Tendulkar’s contribution was wide-ranging in the fields of poverty estimation and economic reforms. ?He was my teacher. He taught me the value of data and analysis for policy formulation,? Sen said.
Born in Kolhapur, Tendulkar studied at Bhave School in Pune and Brihan Maharashtra Commerce College. He did his Masters from the Delhi School of Economics. Tendulkar was a Ph D from Harvard University as a Rockefeller Foundation Scholar. He was the director of the Delhi School of Economics from 1995 to 1998. He also taught and researched at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi (1968-78). Tendulkar chaired the expert group appointed by the Plan panel to estimate levels of poverty in India. He was part of the first Disinvestment Commission (1996-99) and the Fifth Pay Commission (1994-97).