92 SOCIAL SCIENTIST The Centre taxed him heavily for his relationship by sending him innumerable M.Phil, and Ph.D. dissertations to examine. He did not complain - it was part of being an active economist with an academic bent of mind. Dr. Ghosh retired from service but not from economics. Till the time of his death he was active - writing and speaking. He became a Member of the Planning Commission in 1990 when the National Front government took office. Along with stalwarts like Rajni Kothari, L C Jain, A. Vaidyanathan and others, he was the architect of a draft of the Eighth Plan. It was a Plan with a difference - employment, unorganized sector, small scale sector, rural infrastructure, fiscal federalism, decentralization, etc., were given content which the previous plans had only talked of. He was associated with Planning in West Bengal where he experimented with decentralization. In 1991, the New Economic Policies (NEP) were initiated. Unlike many other economists and bureaucrats he did not suddenly change his opinions about the economy. One can always argue (as Keynes is supposed to have said) that if the facts change would you not change your theories and understanding? But in his opinion the facts had not changed, only the dominant ideology had changed. Certainly, facts do not suddenly change because the World Bank or the IMF say so. He did not believe in swimming with the tide even though that could have got him many a material benefits. He had a position and he stood for it. He continued to believe in equity and social justice. He believed that the State and the market have to play their due role in a poor country like India. It cannot be that the State simply retreats abdicating its responsibility to the poor. His beliefs were not based only on some abstract theories but on his vast experience of dealing with economic administration while he was in the government. He interacted with many NGOs and after observing their functioning understood their limitations. He argued that NGOs can only play a limited role on behalf of the poor. So, there was no escaping the State in the economy but he did accept that the State need not do everything and should leave the inessential areas to the private sector. In other words, there was a need to strategise State intervention in India. He was indefatigable - incessantly reading, speaking and writing. He was associated with Trade Unions, Azadi Bachao Andolan, National Working Group on Patent Laws, etc. He wrote in EPW, Mainstream and in the popular press. He had several books to his credit. At 78 years of age he continued to be prolific and put many of