Editorial: RIP Bibek Debroy

Rich and well-deserved tributes have been paid to Bibek Debroy, the chair of the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council, who died on November 1 in a Delhi hospital after a prolonged heart-related illness. That he was a polymath who could expound with authority on economics, environment, old and opaque laws, ancient texts, etc. has been widely acknowledged. But in our view, aside from his prolific output on these issues, his most important contribution was the translation in easy understandable language of the old Sanskrit texts, particularly our common heritage of the Puranas, Upanishads and Mahabharat. Present generations of Indians who though avowed believers in these ancient texts had no clue about the context and meaning in their classical texts. Debroy by translating in simple English revived interest in these sacred tomes. Ordinary readers without pretensions of knowledge of our own revered granthas could now appreciate that the basic theme that ran through them all was of being good moral persons, staying true to values of honesty, selflessness, fellow-feeling, and shunning greed and exploitation of fellow beings. Debroy reignited popular interest in widely revered Indian texts, for which he stands out, though his contribution in aiding economic policy-making in the Modi government too was considerable.