Barun De Biography 
Barun De was an Indian historian who lived during the period, 30 October 1932 – 16 July 2013. He was based in Kolkata, his hometown. He was the founder-director of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences and also the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, both in Kolkata. He served as the first professor of social and economic history of the Indian Institute of Management. He also served as head and administrator of different organizations. He researched on early- to late-modern periods of Indian history. He was a friend of S. Nurul Hasan, the historian and Governor of West Bengal.
Barun De was born in Kolkata in 1932. His father, Basanta Kumar De worked in railways and decorated the position of an officer. Barun’s schooling and graduation was done at Kolkata, and was a student of well-known historian Susobhan Chandra Sarkar. For advanced studies he moved to US and studied M. Phil at St. Catherine's Society, Oxford. After studies he moved back to Kolkata where he served as a professor at different colleges and universities and continued with his research works too. He also held many administrative positions during his active years.
He is also known for his open criticisms against Emergency period of 1975-1977. He served as a visiting professor at various educational institutions abroad, including University of Sydney and University of Milan. He served as chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission after his retirement from government service. He served as its member during 2001-2008. He also founded many educational societies. He wrote on modern Indian history and chose subjects such as Bengal renaissance, national movement, freedom struggle etc. He co-authored Freedom Struggle with Bipan Chandra and Amalesh Tripathi which invited a few controversies.
Published: January 17, 2019
Updated: January 17, 2019
