In the passing away of economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia, the country has lost an institution builder, a good academic and a person who was passionate about good quality research and data analysis. More than this, she was an affable person who had a good memory to remember all those she met and interacted with during her career, said people who knew her well and worked closely with her over the last four decades.
Isher, as she was known to all, died on Saturday after a 10-month fight with brain cancer. She would have turned 75 on October 1. A PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a MA from the Delhi School of Economics and a BA (Eco Homs) from Presidency College, Kolkatta, Isher was a Padma Bhushan awardee who described her modest "Hindi medium" origins in her recently released memoirs, Breaking Through.
"She was the best human being you can think of. She had so much positive things to say about people and you can read this from her books", said Sharda Rao, who was the first Research Assistant to Isher and worked under her for nearly four years from 1980-84.
In the eighties, Isher would not hesitate to sit and work for hours in either NIPFP or the CSO government offices --which then had infrastructure handicaps like no air conditioning