Economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia passes away after 10-month battle with brain cancer

Economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia. (Express Archive)

Renowned economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia passed away Saturday after a 10-month-long battle with brain cancer. She would have turned 75 on October 1 and is survived by husband Montek Singh Ahluwalia and two sons Pavan and Aman.

Ahluwalia served as the director and then the chairperson of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) for a total of 15 years and built ICRIER into a leading global think tank.

After starting her career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ahluwalia returned to India where she authored two books — ‘Industrial Growth in India: Stagnation since the Mid-Sixties’ and ‘Productivity and Growth in Indian Manufacturing’. She was also a professor at the Centre for Policy Research. Her last book was published last month.

After passing her West Bengal Higher Secondary Board examination in 1962 from Shri Shikshayatan Vidyalaya, ranking eighth in the state, Ahluwalia went to Presidency College, Kolkata, to study economics with a scholarship of Rs 35 per month, which paid for her college fees and the tram ride from home and back. She then joined the Delhi School of Economics for her Master’s degree. Armed with a high first division in a year when seven of the eight ‘first-divers’ were women, Isher applied to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she was accepted with a fellowship.

Her research was focused on urban development, macro-economic reforms, industrial development, and social sector development issues in India.

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