Patna based economist and member secretary of the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) Dr Shaibal Gupta passed away on Thursday at the age of 67. He was suffering from chronic illness for a long time.
Mr Gupta was an eminent economist as well as a social scientist. The establishment of the Asian Development Research Institute in 1991 by Dr Gupta–along-with former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey and editor (research), The Times of India, Arvind Narayan Das–was one of the most important achievements in the field of social science research in Bihar. He was earlier associated with A N Sinha Institute of Social Sciences, Patna.
His contributions in the field of development economics were widely lauded in Bihar as well as all over the country. He was also serving as the director of the Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF) which was set up by the Bihar government for public finance research. Mr. Gupta was also a member of the Committee for Evolving a Composite Development Index for the States, which was headed by Raghuram Rajan, (ex-RBI governor). Mr Gupta was a big champion of the special category status for Bihar, especially because the state has been lagging behind in many of the socio-economic indicators since Independence.
Earlier he had done his schooling from Sainik School, Tilaiya and received his Masters degree in economics from Patna University in 1977.
He was especially close to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
