About the author
Ashok Mitra studied at the University of Dhaka and Banaras Hindu University, and has a doctorate from the Netherlands School of Economics. He taught at different times in a number of Indian universities as well as at both the Indian Statistical Institute and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He has been on the faculty of the Economic Development Institute, Washington, DC and professorial fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. He has held a number of important official positions in India, including as chairman of the Agricultural Prices Commission and chief economic adviser to the Government of India. He was the first finance minister of the Left Front government in West Bengal and later, a member of the Rajya Sabha. Ashok Mitra has written extensively in both English and Bengali, and received the Sahitya Akademi award for his contributions to Bengali literature. His widely read column, ?Calcutta Diary?, was carried in the Economic and Political Weekly for over a quarter of a century.
