Story
Prof. Amartya Sen, born in Santiniketan, showed how famines can happen even when food is available, and developed new ways to measure poverty, inequality and human well-being. His ideas helped create the UN Human Development Index.
Key contributions
- Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1998)
- Theory of famines and entitlements; social choice theory
- Capability approach behind the Human Development Index
- Bharat Ratna (1999)