FROM SECRETARY’S DESK:
The Department of Economics, University of Calcutta is situated at Kantakol on B. T. Road. It is popularly known as Kantakol School. The department has a rich heritage in producing renowned economists who have been associated with the best schools of Economics throughout the world. Illustrated economists viz., Sukhomoy Chakraborty, Pranab Bardhan, Amiya Bagchi remained as the torchbearers of the Department of Economics, University of Calcutta.
On December 01, 2001, some alumni of the Kantakol School decided to form a platform to bring all alumni of the Department of Economics under one umbrella. The Alumni Association of Calcutta University Economics Department (AACUED) was formed. The first reunion under the banner of AACUED was held on April 07, 2002, at the Darbar Hall of Great Eastern Hotel, Kolkata. Since then AACUED has emerged as the one and only one platform of all alumni of the Kantakol School of Economics. Over these 18 years, AACUED has organised seminars, debates inviting internationally renowned economists like Pranab Bardhan, RamgopalAgarwal, MihirRakhit, KoushikBasu, ParantapBasu and last but not least the Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee.
On December 01, 2019, AACUED has crossed the adolescence period and attained adulthood. This transition has been carefully guided by the members of the new Central Committee that took office on August 04, 2019. The new CC has organised a debate having the title 'Politics is not the Economists Business' to commemorate the foundation day of AACUED in an august gathering at historic Bharat Sabha Hall, Kolkata.
Apart from organising AmlanDutta Memorial Lecture in regular intervals, AACUED has introduced a new lecture in memory of our late Prof. Arup Mallik. First Arup Mallik Memorial Lecture has been organised on September 21, 2019, in collaboration with the Asiatic Society at Vidyasagar Hall of the Asiatic Society. The memorial lecture has been delivered by Prof. Parantap Basu of Durham University on ‘Inequality’.
Fourth Amlan Dutta Memorial Lecture is going to be organised at Vivekananda Hall, Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture on February 15, 2020, with the lecture of the distinguished Economist Prof.AsimDasgupta on ‘Development: An alternative Path’.
The members of AACUED prefer to rely on the word ‘WE’ rather on ‘I’. We strongly believe that ‘I am’ because ‘We are’. There is no existence of ‘I’ without ‘We’. Therefore, we will walk together in the years to come to take AACUED to a new height.
Dr. Arup Ratan Mukhopadhyay
Honorary Secretary,
AACUED.