Remembering S Guhan

T N Srinivasan SANJIVI GUHAN, who passed away in Chennai in February, was are markable person whose career spanned a wide spectrum: an IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre who served with great distinction in several capacities at the centre and the state, India's executive director-alternate at the World Bank, senior economist of the Brandt Commission, professorial fellow at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and a member of the governing board of Kalakshetra. As a civil servant he worked for many prominent politicians and earned their respect as well as affection. Although he was a statistician by training, he was an economist by practice and instincts. His formidable capacity to analyse issues logically and coherently and his fammilitary not only with the literature in economics but also in moral and political philosophy enabled him to get to the core of any economic problem without being distracted by excessive use of a purely technical apparatus. He was sufficiently at home in Sanskrit and Tamil literatures to quote from both as needed. He and his wife Shanta were patrons of the arts who counted many artists, including the late, legendary, Balasaraswathy and her family, as personal friends His unimpeachable integrity and genuine concern (in word and deced for the welfare of the poor arc chracteristics shared by few. His death has created a void that is very difficult, if not altogether .impossible, to fill.