Former Planning Commission member Dr Vaidyanathan passes away in Coimbatore

Dr A Vaidyanathan, a former member of the Government of India's Planning Commission, passed away late night on Wednesday in Coimbatore.

During his lifetime, Dr Vaidyanathan also served as professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum.

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

A student of Loyola College in Madras, Dr Vaidyanathan earned his doctoral degree in economics from Cornell University, USA and joined the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) 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 served as 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 in 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 also actively involved in developing India's statistical system and the national sample survey. His scholarly work covered agricultural policy, water management and national statistics. 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.

Dr Vaidyanathan is survived by wife Shanta, daughters Rama Baru and Radhika Vaidyanathan, son-in-law Sanjaya Baru and grand-daughter Tanvika Baru. He is also survived by his brother A Arjunan.