Arjun Kumar Sengupta

Arjun Sengupta
Arjun Sengupta in January 2008
Born	10 June 1937 Kolkata, Bengal, British India
Died	26 September 2010 New Delhi, India
Occupation	Member of the parliament of india (Rajya Sabha), academic, civil servant, diplomat
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Bengali Hindu
Citizenship	India
Education	PhD
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Subject	Economics
Spouse	Jayshree Dutt Sengupta
Children	Mitu Sengupta (Daughter)
Relatives	Achintya Kumar Sengupta (Uncle)

Arjun Kumar Sengupta (10 June 1937 – 26 September 2010) was a Member of the Parliament of India, representing West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha from 2006 until his death. In addition to being a Parliamentarian, he was one of India's most noted economists, and led a multifaceted career as an academician and economic policy administrator.

Arjun Sengupta was born in Kolkata in 1937. After finishing his schooling at Mitra Institution in Bhawanipur, Kolkata, he graduated from the Presidency College, then affiliated with the University of Calcutta. At Presidency College, he was a member of the All-India Students' Federation, a radical student organisation affiliated with the Communist Party of India, then undivided. He later took a doctorate in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, at the age of 27. His career included eminent posts such as Special Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi (1981–1984), Executive Director and Special Adviser to the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (1985–1990), India's Ambassador to the European Union (1990–1993), Member Secretary of the Planning Commission (1993–1998), and Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (2005 until his death). As an educator, he traversed many institutions, including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi School of Economics, London School of Economics and Harvard University. Arjun Sengupta also served as the UN's Independent Expert on the Right to Development, the UN's Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, and member of the United Nations Development Program's Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor.