The first adjective that comes to mind when one recalls the life of the late Ajit Singh is brave. He was not a soldier like many others from his beloved Punjab, but he sure knew how to fight a battle. Struck by the debilitating and wasting Parkinson’s disease in 1982, when he was just 42, a lesser individual would have chosen self-pity and surrender. But the mild-mannered economist only grew in professional stature. In fact, he saw opportunity in adversity. No longer able to sleep for long hours, he chose instead to think and write and publish with a frequency much higher than before 1982.
Prof. Singh never followed the beaten path. Unlike many economists from developing countries, his initial work after he began a life-long association with the University of Cambridge in the mid-1960s was focused on the advanced industrial economies. His most pioneering research was on industrial organisation and stock markets in the advanced economies, on the sources of corporate finance and the crucial role the market for corporate control played in the corporate governance of private firms.
Later in life, perhaps inevitably, his research turned to emerging economies, including India. Ajit was left-of-centre; he believed that the state had a crucial role to play in economic development. But he was no dogmatist. As his Ph.D student in the early 2000s, I was to his Right. As a true liberal, he didn’t deem it necessary to impose his world view on me. His liberal instincts ran deep. When I decided that I wanted to take a pause in my Ph.D, I thought that as my supervisor he would object virulently. Instead, he encouraged it fully, and enthusiastically supported my subsequent foray into journalism.
From his friends, Ajit inspired great loyalty and was loyal to a fault. One of his life-long friendships was with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had been a student of Dr. Manmohan Singh as an undergraduate at Punjab University. He didn’t agree with everything that Mr. Singh had either done as a liberalising Finance Minister or as a socialist Finance Secretary and RBI Governor but he insisted on one thing – that his friend was a patriot, who would do what he thought was right for India, eschewing ideology. When Ajit reached the retirement age of 67 in 2007, his college, Queens’, where he had been a Fellow for four decades, felicitated him in a formal ceremony. In the end, he received a standing ovation, long and heartfelt, like a few academics do in politics and rivalry-ridden Cambridge. I can imagine the angels of heavens giving him the same honour for a life of extraordinary achievement and courage.
Prof. Singh never followed the beaten path. Unlike many economists from developing countries, his initial work after he began a life-long association with the University of Cambridge in the mid-1960s was focused on the advanced industrial economies. His most pioneering research was on industrial organisation and stock markets in the advanced economies, on the sources of corporate finance and the crucial role the market for corporate control played in the corporate governance of private firms.
Later in life, perhaps inevitably, his research turned to emerging economies, including India. Ajit was left-of-centre; he believed that the state had a crucial role to play in economic development. But he was no dogmatist. As his Ph.D student in the early 2000s, I was to his Right. As a true liberal, he didn’t deem it necessary to impose his world view on me. His liberal instincts ran deep. When I decided that I wanted to take a pause in my Ph.D, I thought that as my supervisor he would object virulently. Instead, he encouraged it fully, and enthusiastically supported my subsequent foray into journalism.
From his friends, Ajit inspired great loyalty and was loyal to a fault. One of his life-long friendships was with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had been a student of Dr. Manmohan Singh as an undergraduate at Punjab University. He didn’t agree with everything that Mr. Singh had either done as a liberalising Finance Minister or as a socialist Finance Secretary and RBI Governor but he insisted on one thing – that his friend was a patriot, who would do what he thought was right for India, eschewing ideology. When Ajit reached the retirement age of 67 in 2007, his college, Queens’, where he had been a Fellow for four decades, felicitated him in a formal ceremony. In the end, he received a standing ovation, long and heartfelt, like a few academics do in politics and rivalry-ridden Cambridge. I can imagine the angels of heavens giving him the same honour for a life of extraordinary achievement and courage.
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