Amiya Kumar Bagchi

Amiya Kumar Bagchi (born 1936) is a renowned political economist from India. His original contributions to political economy have spanned economic history, the economics of industrialization and de-industrialization, and development studies from an overall Marxist perspective, incorporating insights from other schools of radical political economics, including left Keynesianism. Among the Marxists, he is known for his extensive contributions to theories of imperialism and underdevelopment.

Biography

Born in 1936 in the small village of Jadupur in Murshidabad district in West Bengal, Bagchi received his higher education in Presidency College, Kolkata and Trinity College, [http://www.cam.ac.uk University of Cambridge] . He is married to the feminist critic and activist Jasodhara Bagchi.

His professional academic career began when he started teaching in Presidency College, Kolkata. In the 1960s, he taught in the Faculty of Economics in Cambridge (where he was Fellow of Jesus College), but resigned his post in 1969 to resume his academic career in Presidency College, Kolkata.

In 1974 he joined the newly-founded [http://www.cssscal.org Centre for Studies in Social Sciences] , Kolkata, which went on to become one of the most productive and globally famous research institutions in India.

Bagchi is one of the foremost economists in the field of banking and finance, and acted as Official Historian of the State Bank of India (SBI) from 1976 to 1998; he played a leading role in ensuring that the unique archives of SBI are preserved for posterity.

After retiring as Reserve Bank of IndiaProfessor from CSSSC in 2001, he became Founder-Director of the [http://idsk.org Institute of Development Studies Kolkata] , a multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence in the Social Sciences promoted by the government of West Bengal. Here, he spearheads research in development studies in an array of areas, notably banking and finance, public health, labour studies, information and communication studies, gender studies, education, and the sociology of literature.

Awards and Honours

He has been Visiting Professor in international academic institutions such as Cambridge University, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, Cornell University, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Naples University, and University of Bristol.

The professional awards and honours Bagchi has received include:
* V.K.R.V. Rao award for Economics, awarded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, 1980
* Pranabananda Saraswati award for Economics, awarded by the UGC, 1994
* the H.K. Barpujari award of the Indian History Congress for The Evolution of the State Bank of India Vol. II, 1999
* Roskilde University, Denmark, conferred a doctorate honoris causa on him in September 2001
* He received an honorary D.Litt. from the University of Kalyani in December 2002.
* Muzaffar Ahmad award for Capital and Labour Redefined in 2004
* Padma Shri of the government of India 2005
* North Bengal University conferred a D.Sc. honoris causa on him in March 2008.
* In March 2008 he became the first Chancellor of the newly reconstituted Tripura University, a Central University.

Bibliography

Bagchi has authored over 250 academic articles and has authored and edited numerous books and monographs.

The books he has authored include:
*2005 "Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital", Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
*2004 "The Developmental State in History and in the Twentieth Century", New Delhi: Regency
*2002 "Capital and Labour Redefined: India and the Third World", Anthem Press
*1997 "The Evolution of the State Bank of India: The Era of the Presidency Banks 1876-1920", Sage Publications
*1989 "The Presidency Banks and the Indian Economy 1876-1914", Bombay:. Oxford University Press
*1987 "Public Intervention and Industrial Restructuring in China, India and Republic of Korea", New Delhi: ILO-ARTEP
*1987, reissued 2006 "The Evolution of the State Bank of India. The Roots, 1806-1876", Oxford University Press; reissued by Penguin Portfolio
*1982 "The Political Economy of Underdevelopment", Cambridge University Press
*1972 "Private Investment in India 1900-1939", Cambridge University Press

His edited and co-edited volumes include:
*2007 "Capture and Exclude: Developing Economies and the Poor in Global Finance" (with Gary A. Dymski) New Delhi: Tulika
*2005 "Webs of History: Information, Communication and Technology from Early to Post-Colonial India" (with D. Sinha and B. Bagchi), New Delhi: Manohar
*2005 "Maladies, Preventives, and Curatives: Debates in Public Health in India" (with K. Soman), New Delhi: Tulika
*2003 "Economy and the Quality of Life: Essays in Memory of Ashok Rudra" (with M. Chattopadhyay and R. Khasnabis), Kolkata: Dasgupta & Co.
*2002 "Money and Credit in Indian History since Early Medieval Times", New Delhi: Tulika
*1999 "Multiculturalism, Liberalism and Democracy" (with R. Bhargava and R. Sudarshan), Oxford University Press
*1999 "Economy and Organization: Indian Institutions under the Neoliberal Regime", Sage Publications
*1995 "Democracy and Development: Proceedings of the IEA Conference Held in Barcelona, Spain", Palgrave Macmillan
*1995 "New Technology and the Workers’ Response: Microelectronics, Labour and Society", Sage Publications
*1988 "Economy, Society and Polity: Essays in the Political Economy of Indian Planning in Honour of Professor Bhabatosh Datta", Oxford University Press

External links

Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, [http://www.networkideas.org/feathm/mar2006/Amiya_Bagchi.pdf China and India: From where? Where to? A preliminary investigation] , Paper presented at International Development Economics Associates (IDEAS) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conference on 'Post Liberalisation Constraints on Macroeconomic Policies', Muttukadu, Chennai, India, 27th-29th January, 2006

Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, [http://www.monthlyreview.org/0703bagchi.htm The Parameters of Resistance] , "Monthly Review", Vol 55 No 3 (July-Aug, 2003)

Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, [http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2002&leaf=06&filename=4555&filetype=html The Other Side of Foreign Investment by Imperial Powers] , "Economic & Political Weekly" (June 08, 2002)

Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, [http://www.cdedse.org/papers/9march2002/occpap2.pdf The problem of colonialism in classical political economy : analysis, epistemological breaks and mystification] , Centre for Development Economics/Delhi School of Economics Occasional Paper 1, March 2002

Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, [http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1902/19021220.htm The ails of the system] , "Frontline" Volume 19 - Issue 02, Jan. 19 - Feb. 01, 2002

Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, [http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1612/16120640.htm Amartya Sen's Human Science of Development] , "Frontline" Volume 16 - Issue 12, June 05 - 18, 1999

Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, [http://jwsr.ucr.edu/archive/vol6/number2/pdf/jwsr-v6n2-bagchi.pdf The Past and the Future of the Developmental State] , "Journal of World-Systems Research", vi, 2, summer/fall 2000, 398-442 Special Issue: Festchrift for Immanuel Wallerstein – Part I

Kurien, CT, [http://www.hindu.com/br/2006/10/03/stories/2006100301151400.htm Review of PERILOUS PASSAGE — Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital] , "The Hindu" (Oct 03, 2006)