Former Planning Commission Member Vaidyanathan dead

Chennai: Former Member of the Planning Commission Dr A Vaidyanathan died in Coimbatore on Wednesday. He was 88 and is survived by his wife and two daughters, according to a statement here.

Vaidyanathan was a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

He had chaired the Government of India Task Force on Revival of Cooperative Credit Institutions (2004) and was a member of the K N Raj Committee on Taxation of Agricultural Income (1969-70).

An alumni of Loyola College here, Vaidyanathan earned his doctoral degree in economics from Cornell University, USA and joined the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 1956. His colleagues at NCAER at the time included the late Dr Ashok Mitra, former finance minister of West Bengal.

From 1962 to 1972, Dr Vaidyanathan was a member of the perspective planning division of the Planning Commission and worked closely with Pitambar Pant, during which period he had a stint at the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Rome.

After a term at the World Bank (1972-76), he returned home to join Professor K N Raj as a member of the faculty of Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

Dr Vaidyanathan was closely associated with state level planning in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He was actively involved in developing India’s statistical system and the national sample survey.

His scholarly work covered agricultural policy, water management and national statistics, the statement said.

Dr Vaidyanathan was a member of the central board of the Reserve Bank of India, during which period he was one of the survivors of the terrorist attack on Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel in November 2008.