Amlan Dutta (1924-2010) :

The eminent Bengali social thinker, Amlan Dutta, passed away earlier this year at the age of 86. He was born in Cumilla district of undivided Bengal in 1924. After completing his schooling there, he did his MA in Economics from Presidency College, Calcutta University. In his long professional career, he served the Calcutta University as pro-vice chancellor before his appointment as vice chancellor of North Bengal University and then of Vishva-Bharati. He was the director of Gandhi Education Trust in 1978-79.

The eminent Bengali social thinker, Amlan Dutta, passed away earlier this year at the age of 86. He was born in Cumilla district of undivided Bengal in 1924. After completing his schooling there, he did his MA in Economics from Presidency College, Calcutta University. In his long professional career, he served the Calcutta University as pro-vice chancellor before his appointment as vice chancellor of North Bengal University and then of Vishva-Bharati. He was the director of Gandhi Education Trust in 1978-79. He taught and delivered lectures in various universities of the United States and other countries. He represented India in the Social Development Commission of the United Nations in 1979.

Amlan Dutta’s writings crossed the boundary of economics. While recollecting his long association with Amlan Dutta some years ago, Amartya Sen jokingly said that Dutta’s scepticism did not change over a long span of time. This reminds us of Sen’s argument that “the nature of modern economics has been substantially impoverished by the distance that has grown between economics and ethics” (On Ethics and Economics). Dutta’s social thoughts were organically connected with the ethical issues of our time.