Economist Amartya Sen was on Friday awarded the Muzaffar Ahmad Memorial Prize for his book ‘Home in the World: A Memoir’.
Manabi Majumdar, the director of Sen’s Pratichi Trust, received the award on behalf of the Nobel laureate as he is abroad.
“I am very happy that my book has been linked with the memory of Ahmad, one of the torchbearers of Communist movement in India with whom I have family ties, apart from having my deep regards,” Sen said in a message read out by Majumdar at the function in Mahajati Sadan.
“He was a close friend of my cousin Jyotirmoy Sengupta, whom we used to address as Sidhuda. Sidhuda, a revolutionary, was nabbed in Dhaka train robbery and got introduced to Muzaffar Ahmad in jail,” Sen recalled.
The award is given by the Muzaffar Ahmad Memorial Award Committee backed by the CPI(M).
Sen said he felt humbled to receive the award named after Ahmad.
Incidentally, Sen did not receive the Banga Bibhusan award of the TMC government last month, citing that he was not in the country.
Sen’s book is on the crisis triggered by communal divides as well as the condition of Rohingyas in Myanmar.
The Muzaffar Ahmad Memorial Prize is given annually for promoting liberal and secular literary works.
Source: PTI
Photo: Internet
