Ranajit Das Gupta A Tribute

Dipesh Chakrabarty RANAJIT DAS GUPTA, noted economic and labour historian, passed away in Calcutta on August 3 this year having suffered an incurable infection of meningitis. Born in 1932, Das Gupta grew up in Jalpaiguri in north Bengal and eventually came to Calcutta University for his higher degrees. His MA in economics completed in 1954' he taught for many years at City College, Calcutta. Between 1974 and 1977 he was a fellow at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, He joined the faculty of the Indian Institute of Management in 1984 and retired from that position in 1992, holding a senior fellowship of the Indian Council of Historical Research in the 1990s. A long-standing member of the Communist Party of India, he combined in his ideas and his writings the objectivity and open-mindedness of a scholar and the committed outlook required of an activist. At the same time of his death, he was a member of the editorial board of the CPT publication Kalantar, held the position of president of the newly-formed Salt Lake Labour Society in Calcutta,' and was actively involved in the life of the organisation Nagarik Mancha which played an important role in the celebrated workers' strike at the of the Kanoria Jute Mill a few years ago. These involvements speak of Das Gupta's ability to combine academic work with a commitment to action.