Tajamul Haque (1947–2021)

On 3 May 2021, Indian agricultural development and inclusive society scholarship community untimely lost one of the most distinguished land economists due to COVID-19 complications. Tajamul Haque, a former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) who was instrumental in the consideration of market-based rental value of land instead of statutory rent, and cost of transportation and marketing of agricultural produce in fixation of their minimum support prices (MSPs) for bringing an upward revision in MSPs and the implementation thereof became part of golden history.

Haque’s academic carrier began as an agricultural economics scientist designated as assistant professor (1976 to 1982) and associate professor (1982 to 1989) at Division of Agricultural Economics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. Haque was trained as a recognised agricultural economist at the Centre for Agrarian Studies of the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD and PR), Hyderabad, during 1989 to 1995, which led him to become a national fellow of the National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi, and further a member of the CACP since 2008, Haque served in the Council for Social Development, New Delhi, as a director, and distinguished professor. Haque’s most enduring academic legacy is impressive, quite exemplified by his 13 Scopus indexed research papers cited 132 times forming an h-index of five and g-index of 11, demonstrating the relevance and influence of his scientific work on the output of other researchers and policymakers.