Professor Amartya Sen this year’s Nobel Prize winner for Economic, the son of the soil, will hold the centrestage at a unique and grand reception to be given by the Left Front Government in the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Calcutta on December 27. Professor Sen will be accompanied by his wife, Emma Rothschild. Governor A.R.Kidwai and Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, among others, will be present on the podium. Basu will hand over to Professor Sen a unique memento ------a dhuti and a punjabi made of muslin of Kalna, a product that has been revived with its pristine glory. Another memento, designed by the renowned jewellers , P.C.Chandra Company will be presented to him. Besides the State Government the Calcutta Municipal Corporation will honour the internationally-know economist with a replica of the historic Town Hall on the occasion.

On that day celebrities from different walks of life, numbering about 2,500 will be the guests at the reception and another 10,000 people will be accommodated in the galleries of the stadium. All of them are invitees. Even students of colleges and universities will be witness to the grand recepption. The invitation card is being designed by reputed artist Goutam Haldar and the opening song , a Rabindrasangeet, will be sung by its famous exponent Suchitra Mitra. The function will be telecast by the BBC, and other TV networks.

Dr. Sen who has added new dimension to the study and research in economics , is a native of West Bengal, to be precise , of Shantiniketan which Tagore , another Nobel Laureate from the State , built and reared. Dr. Sen had his schooling in Shantiniketan itself.

He will be in the State for sixteen days as a guest of the State Government after arriving at Dum Dum airport on the night of December 15.During his stay in the State he will fly to Dhaka for two days where he will also be given a reception as an illustrious Bengalee. Dr Sen will leave for Dacca on December 16 and return to the city on December 18. On December 19 he will go to Shantiniketan, his home, where his mother stays. Dr. Sen was born in Shantiniketan. There in Shantiniketan, students and teachers of Viswa Bharati will accord him a reception in the famous mango grooves on December 21. He will return to the city on December 25 after passing a few days with his mother amidst the surroundings where his childhood and a part of his adolescence passed. On December 26 Dr. Sen will meet the reporters at a Meet the Press function of the Calcutta Press club. He will a deliver a lecture at the centenary Hall of Calcutta University the same day. . However the principal function will be held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. After the State Government –sponsored reception, on December 27, a dinner will be hosted in his honour in the Town Hall by the Mayor of Calcutta Corporation .On December 28, Professor Sen will participate in a seminar on ‘Liberalisation’ He will again go to his birthplace, Shantiniketan on December 29, stay there for a day and will leave for London on December 31.

So preparations are afoot to honour this illustrious son of West Bengal in a befitting manner. The West Bengal Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution unanimously expressing its extreme happiness at this years, Nobel Prize in Economics having been awarded to Dr. Amartya Sen. It was a mater of pride for West Bengal, India and the entire Third World. After a distinguished academic career at Santiniketan, Presidency College, Calcutta and then at Cambridge , U.K., he excelled in teaching in different universities in India and abroad and carried on path breaking research work in Economics, the resolution said.

Beginning with concern for development and employment generation in less developing countries, his research work moved into the area of social welfare. Dr Sen finally swithed his efforts to the problems of common people in the third world countries to the unequal distribution, hunger and lack of educational and health facilities and to the need for a positive role a welfare, should play. The emphasis on the role of the welfare State, the resolution said, was different from indiscriminate reliance on market forces. This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics was therefore an eminent recognition of the works of Dr. Amartya Sen and through that also a recognition of a need for change in emphasis within Economics itself.

The Assembly extended its heartfelt congratulations to Dr, Sen and the members of his family.