K N Raj

As a teacher at the Delhi School of Economics, K N Raj was a winner among students of economics from the beginning. Students vied with each other to get as near him as the seating arrangements permitted. And for all this, Raj used to write his lectures by hand in notebooks published by the Delhi University Press. Subsequently, these notes were typed with minor changes for dispatch to the EW/EPW, for publication. This meant that even for classroom lectures, Raj was quite serious. He was not known to miss his classes or not cover the prescribed syllabus – all this while not forgetting to document his observations with the most up to date references, both books and journals. His e ndearing and objective demeanour immediately made him popular among colleagues, students and others.

Besides being an excellent and popular teacher, Raj was a wonderful human being. Straight as a steel stick, he stood for causes he considered proper even if this was against the ruling views in offi cial circles. When K R Chakraborty, the catalyst developer in Fertiliser Corporation of India, Sindri, was released from his post in the company, which then imported the same catalysts from other countries, Raj’s was the only voice against this unthoughtful offi cial action when he wrote, “Dr Chakraborty was eased out of his position at a time when the country needed his services most”.