Ahmedabad, Dec 6 Noted economist and former union minister Yoginder Kumar Alagh (Y. K. Alagh) passed away on Tuesday evening at his residence in Ahmedabad after a brief age-related illness.

His family members said the 83-year-old had developed age-related complications and had returned home after a brief hospitalisation. “We brought him home today and within a couple of hours he was gone,” said Tavishi Alagh, his daughter, adding that his jolly nature remained with him till the end. “When someone asked him Alagh Saab kaise ho? (How are you Alagh Sir?) He said masti hai (great!). But after a thought, he added, “itni bhi masti nahi hai.. par masti hai! (Not much great.. but great!),” Tavishi told businessline.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences. “Professor YK Alagh was a distinguished scholar who was passionate about various aspects of public policy, particularly rural development, the environment and economics. Pained by his demise. I will cherish our interactions. My thoughts are with his family and friends. Om Shanti,” he said in a tweet.

Known as an institution builder, Alagh will be remembered for his contribution to India’s agricultural and economic policies in the post-liberalisation era.

Former Professor Emeritus and Vice-Chairman of the Ahmedabad-based Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research and Chancellor Central University of Gujarat, Alagh also headed numerous government committees and bureaus such as the Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices and Agricultural Prices Commission of India, that influenced economic decision-making at the policy-level. He was Member of the erstwhile Planning Commission of India.

Alagh, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat in 1996, was later made Union Minister for Power, Planning and Programme Implementation, Science and Technology and Power.

In 2014, he was appointed Chairman of an Expert Group on Agricultural Statistics under the National Statistical Commission. He has been a contributing columnist at multiple national dailies and journals.

Alagh studied at Maharaja’s College in Jaipur, and obtained a Masters degree from the Department of Economics, University of Rajasthan. He earned a Ph.D in Economics from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he met his wife, Raksha. Alagh is survived by his wife, daughter Tavishi and son Munish.

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