B B Bhattacharya (1945–2017)

Barid Baran Bhattacharya, BB to his colleagues and friends, passed away on 14 February 2017. His sad and untimely demise has been painful to those of us who had worked closely with him over the years. Although he had been fighting the emperor of maladies for some time, he seemed to be getting the better of his adversary, and even as recently as the middle of January, he sent a mail to his younger colleagues at the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), including the authors, wishing them the best for the new year, and in their careers. With his sudden passing, we have lost an eminent academician and a decent human being.

Bhattacharya was born in Assam and spent his childhood growing up there, completing his schooling from the Narsing High School, Silchar. He then moved to Allahabad, in order to continue his education. After securing the first position in post-graduation from Allahabad University in 1966, he joined Delhi School of Economics for his doctoral work, which he successfully completed in 1971. Meanwhile, he had joined IEG around 1970, and it is here that he spent most of his professional life, becoming a professor and then the Director of the Institute in 2001. In 2005, he went on to become the vice chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), until his retirement in 2011. He has also held the position of professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and taught as a visiting professor in many reputed universities and research institutions in and outside India. He is recognised as one of India’s leading macro-economists and macro-econometric model builders. His academic contribution to these areas include 10 published books and more than a hundred scholarly peer-reviewed papers.