The JQEC Fraternity is Deeply Shocked and Saddened by the Death of our Senior Advisory Board Member Prof. Y.K.Alagh. Prof. Alagh was a Doyen of the Economists’ Profession in India and had Continuously Striven to put Indian Academic Economics on the Global Professional map. He had a Particular Affinity for Quantitative Economics and over a long Career Spanning Five Decades, Launched the Study of this Subject in Several Universities and Research Institutes in India.

A student of Nobel prize winning economist Prof. L.R. Klein, Dr. Alagh did his Ph. D at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1960s. Returning to India, he taught at various universities and institutes in India including the University of Jodhpur, Sardar Parel Institute, and IIM Kolkata. He displayed an administrative acumen, somewhat rare among academics, in shaping the destinies of a number of important academic institutions. He was Vice Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (1992–96), Chairman of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (2006–12) and was till recently Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Dr. Alagh was the facility with which he donned the mantle of both academic mentoring and policy making leadership. He was Chairman of both the Agricultural Prices Commission ( APC) and of the Bureau of Industrial Costs & Prices (BICP) in the 1980s, a Member of the Planning Commission, Government of India (1987-90) and Minister of State for Planning & Programme Implementation, Government of India (1996–98).

Dr. Alagh was an extremely versatile scholar whose works span several fields. His major contributions were in agricultural economics, planning and rural development, poverty and inequality, and infrastructure sectors like water and power. In recognition of his work he was awarded the V.K.R.V. Rao Prize in 1981. He was elected Fellow of the Indian Society Of Agricultural Economics in 2011 and President of the Indian Society of Labour Economics in 1998.

He was also a well known econometrician publishing often in specialized econometric journals. For his contributions to the field of Applied Econometrics, he was made President of the Indian Econometric Society in 1990.

As a person he was among the most generous and modest, carrying the weight of his scholarship and achievements with grace and charm.

We will miss his sage advice and guidance at the JQEC and his smiling handsome figure at our Economics and Econometric Conferences. May his soul Rest In Peace.

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