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{{short description|Indian economist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = K. N. Raj
| image = DrKNRaj.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = 13 May 1924
| birth_place = [[Thrissur District]]
| death_date = 10 February 2010 (aged 85)
| death_place = [[Thiruvananthapuram]]
| occupation = Economist
| alma mater = [[Madras Christian College]], [[London School of Economics]]
| known for = Setting up the [[Centre for Development Studies]]; Drafting sections of [[Five-Year Plans of India|India's first Five Year Plan]];
}}
'''Kakkadan Nandanath Raj''' (13 May 1924 – 10 February 2010) was an Indian [[economist]]. He is popularly known as '''K. N. Raj'''. He played an important role in India's planned development, drafting sections of India's first [[Five-year plans of India|Five Year Plan]], specifically the introductory chapter when he was only 26 years old. He was a veteran economist in the [[Planning Commission (India)|Planning Commission]]. He worked out a plan to raise India's rate of savings in the post-[[Second World War]] period when the country was in need of foreign aid. He computed India's [[Balance of Payments]] for the first time for the [[Reserve Bank of India]].<ref name="Krishnakumar2004">{{cite journal|last=Krishnakumar|first=R.|date=23 Oct – 5 Nov 2004 |title=A man behind the Plan|journal=Frontline|volume=21|issue=22|url=http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl2122/stories/20041105006512900.htm|access-date=2010-02-11}}</ref> Raj was an advisor to several prime ministers from [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] to [[P.V. Narasimha Rao]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/11/stories/2010021153801100.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214022736/http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/11/stories/2010021153801100.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=14 February 2010 | location=Chennai, India | work=[[The Hindu]] | title=Economist, Plan architect K.N. Raj passes away | date=11 February 2010}}</ref> Dr. Raj was a [[Keynesian]] economist. He studied the application of Keynesian [[monetary theory]] in Indian context.

==Early life==
Raj was born in [[Thrissur District]]. He did a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] from the prestigious [[Madras Christian College]]. He was a disciple of a well-distinguished economist [[Malcolm Adiseshiah]] at Madras Christian college. His teacher pressed for him to go for higher studies in [[London School of Economics]]. His thesis was on the [[monetary policy]] of India's central bank. Raj was a companion of distinguished economists like [[Manmohan Singh]], [[Amartya Sen]] and [[Jagdish Bhagwati]]. Although he was a staunch leftist, he was a critical of Lenin's ideas of the State.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hindu.onnet.com/99hdline.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=18 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212127/http://www.hindu.onnet.com/99hdline.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He opposed the [[economic liberalisation in India]].

==Career==
Raj joined [[Delhi University]], where he was Professor of Economics and also Vice-Chancellor (from October 1969 to December 1970), spending a total of 18 years there. During that time, he was instrumental in setting up the [[Delhi School of Economics]] (DSE).

After returning to [[Kerala]] from [[Delhi]] in 1971, Raj set up the [[Centre for Development Studies]] at [[Thiruvananthapuram]], an institution that soon acquired an international reputation for applied economics and social science research. The work that Raj and his colleagues did for the [[United Nations]] in the early days of the CDS, and published in 1976, helped shape the contours of what later came to be called the '''"Kerala model of development"''' - the co-existence of low per capita income and very high physical quality of life indicators like life expectancy and literacy rate. It was really a paradox between economic and social development.

Raj once wrote philosophically: "I think that most of the things that welfare economists talk about are those that are obvious to all of us, especially the common people. In fact, even a pure philosopher and religious thinker like [[Narayana Guru|Sree Narayana Guru]], who achieved a social transformation in Kerala, spoke about the very same things that welfare economists speak about today: education, health care facilities, even small-scale industries... Many people like me practised welfare economics without knowing that it was [[welfare economics]] because we were anxious that economics should help the poor. But people who take economic theory literally would say that this is not our problem." Raj stood for the welfare of [[Aam Aadmi]] throughout his life.

==Awards==

He was awarded the [[Padma Vibhushan]] in 2000.

==Death==
K. N. Raj died on 10 February 2010 at a private hospital in [[Thiruvananthapuram]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/02/11/stories/2010021152921700.htm|title=Economist K.N. Raj passes away}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2004/10/04/stories/2004100401661300.htm The Hindu Businessline]

{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}
{{Padma Award winners of Kerala}}
{{Kerala}}
{{Economics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raj, K. N.}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian economists]]
[[Category:Indian development economists]]
[[Category:People from Thrissur district]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:University of Delhi faculty]]
[[Category:Vice-Chancellors of the University of Delhi]]
[[Category:University of Madras alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kerala]]
[[Category:Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy]]

K. N. Raj - Revision history

->Citation bot at 11:00, 13 September 2021