Bolpur: Another American Nobel laureate economist Joseph Eugene Stiglitz has thrown his weight behind Professor Amartya Sen, who is locked in a tussle with the Visva-Bharati authorities, over a small portion of land which authorities accused him on encroaching.
Stiglitz wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu on behalf of fellow Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. Also, economist Amiya Kumar Bagchi wrote against the Vice-Chancellor of Visva Bharati, Bidyut Chakraborty on behalf of Professor Sen. Earlier, a total of 304 prominent educationists from India and abroad backed Amartya Sen and wrote a letter to the President as well as the Chancellor of Visva-Bharati. One of them was the American economist George Arthur Akerlof. Amartya Sen is alleged to have occupied 13 decimal more area than what was leased out to his father by poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Santiniketan. The Visva- Bharati authorities have issued an eviction notice to the Bharat Ratna awardee professor Sen for illegally possessing the extra 13 decimal land.
The authorities also called the Nobel laureate a 'land grabber'. Even Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty has been involved in controversy by attacking the Sen publicly. However, Professor Sen has already approached the court challenging the Visva-Bharati's eviction notice.
People from different walks of life have come together to protest against the harassment meted out to the economist. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also stood by Amartya Sen. Besides, filmmaker Gautam Ghosh, painter Yogen Chowdhury, Shuvaprashanna Bhattacharya, singer Kabir Suman and several others also backed Sen in his fight with the varsity. Prominent academics of the country and abroad are in support of Professor Sen. As many as 304 academicians wrote to the President Droupadi Murmu. Ex-head of the World Bank and former Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India Kaushik Bose also joined the chorus. Even veteran American linguist Noam Chomsky also spoke out against Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty. In 2001, Stiglitz shared the Nobel Prize with George Arthur Ekerloff and Andrew Michael Spence.
