Arjun Kumar Sengupta

Arjun Kumar Sengupta Biography

Arjun Kumar Sengupta was a noted politician from West Bengal, an educator and administrator who served in many honorable positions of Indian government. He was serving as an MP in Rajya Sabha while his death happened in 2006, at the age of 73. He joined public service in the early 1970’s. Renowned Bengali author Achintya Kumar Sengupta was his uncle. Arjun Kumar Sengupta was the Founding Chairman of CDHR. He has served as the Special Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi during the period 1981 to till her death in 1984. Then he held positions of Executive Director and Special Adviser to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, India's Ambassador to the European Union and Member Secretary of the Planning Commission till his retirement.  

Sengupta was born in Kolkata in June 1937. While at college, he was involved with All-India Students' Federation, Communist party of India. After graduation from Presidency College, Kolkata, he took a doctorate in Economics from MIT, USA. Later he served at many higher positions of Indian government. He became the Independent Expert on RTD for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and produced 6 reports on the Right to development between 1999 and 2004.

As an academician too, he has contributed a lot to the field in the form of writings as well as other contributions. As an educator, he traversed many institutions including Indian and International. He was first diagnosed of prostate cancer in 2005. At that time he was serving as the Member of Parliament representing Bengal. He passed away on September 26, 2010 and was survived by his wife, Jayshree and one daughter.

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Updated: March 25, 2014