Amaresh Bagchi passes away, PM condoles death

New Delhi, Feb 20 (UNI) Prof Amaresh Bagchi, an eminent economist and an expert on public finance, died this morning in a hospital in Gurgaon after a brief illness.

Prof Bagchi, 78, died of internal haemmorhage during early hours this morning. He had complained of vomiting and dysentry in the afternoon yesterday, after which he was admitted to a private hospital in Gurgaon.

Prof O P Mathur, adviser in the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy(NIPFP) here, said Prof Bagchi had attended to his work in the Institute till Monday. He said he was suddenly taken ill and later the doctors diagnosed it as a case of internal haemmorhage.

Prof Bagchi is survived by his wife Ratna Bagchi, a son and daughter.

The son, who is the United states, is arriving in the capital late tonight to attend the cremation tomorrow morning at the Lodhi Electric Crematorium.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has condoled the death of Prof Bagchi, describing him as one of the most distinguished and influential fiscal policy experts in the country.

Prof Bagchi was a member of the Commission on Centre-State relations, with the rank of a Minister of State.

A professor emeritus, Dr Bagchi was also former Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

Earlier, Prof Bagchi was member of the Eleventh Finance Commission.

Most of the work of Prof Bagchi pertained to tax policy, tax administration and fiscal federalism.

The Prime Minister, himself an economist, said that he had the privilege of knowing Prof Bagchi for a long time in various capacities.

Prof Mathur described the passing away of prof Bagchi as an irreparable loss and said he along with Prof Raja Chelliah were the builders of NIPFP.

"He has left a lasting imprint both in the field of academic research in fiscal policy as well as on public policy formulation," the Prime Minister said.

"It is no exaggeration to state that Amaresh has been associated with almost every major fiscal policy reform in the past 30 years," Dr Singh said.

"In his passing away, the country loses the experience and knowledge of one of our most distinguished fiscal policy experts," he said.

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