K.N. Raj Is No More

Distinguished economist Kakkadan Nandanath Raj, 85, who contributed to the preparation of the First Five Year Plan (1951-56) at the age of 26 as an expert member of the Planning Commission, was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi and founded the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) in Kerala, passed away in Thiruvananthapuram on February 10. He had been keeping indifferent health for some time.

Dr Raj, like former President K.R. Narayanan (with whom he had a close bond as they both shared the same ideals and values), was a student of Harold Laski at the London School of Economics. He later served as economic adviser to several Prime Ministers—from Jawaharlal Nehru to P.V. Narasimha Rao. As Chairman of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council C. Rangarajan has aptly noted, “his contribution in the area of developmental economics will always be remembered”.

He was indeed instrumental in not only setting up the Delhi School of Economics but also bringing economists of the calibre of Amartya Sen, Sukhamoy Chakravarty and Jagdish Bhagwati to the DSE. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi from October 1969 to December 1970.

He founded the CDS in the seventies with the unstinted support of the then Kerala CM, C. Achutha Menon. It is now a premier centre of applied economics as well as social science research in the country. The PM has pointed out in his message of condolence that the work that Dr Raj and his colleagues did for the UN in the early days of the CDS helped shape the contours of what subsequently came to be known as the “Kerala model” of development. This model of development was marked by high spending in the social sector thereby producing human development indices much higher than those in other States.

Author of several works, he lectured in leading universities in the country and beyond. The Padma Vibhushan was conferred on him in 2000.

He enjoyed a special rapport with N.C. This was based on their revulsion of the prevailing inequity and social injustice as also their vision of a new India bereft of such scourges.

In the several tributes following his demise, Dr Raj has been described as an outstanding economist, inspiring teacher and exceptional builder of institutions. His death leaves a void in the country’s intellectual life that would be difficult to fill.