Nobel Laureate speaks for equality, peace

Below the Harvard University seal, Amartya Sen's business card distinguishes him as a professor of economics and philosophy; a distinction among many that Sen adds to his resume as a world-renowned Nobel Prize-winning economist.\nBut beyond the high-minded titles, Sen really spoke for peace at the Patten Lecture Series, said Rosemary Lloyd, chair of the Patten Committee at IU.\nSen's talk, "Identity: Enrichment, Violence and Terror," presented Wednesday, and Thursday's "India: Bits and Pieces and Beyond," analyzed people's identity in a multi-religious society and how those identities have affected violence and defined Indian culture for the world.\nSen said people are classified by more than their religions, but also classes, languages, literatures and political beliefs.\nHis life has allowed him to experience this firsthand. Born into an educated family in India, Sen said he always wanted to be in academics.\n"I was born in a university campus and seem to have lived all my life in one campus or another," Sen wrote in an autobiography for the Nobel Foundation. \nWhen he was a child in what is now Bangladesh, he witnessed the murder of a man, a victim of religious violence. That experience during a time of secular violence and the devastating famine that swept across India impressed upon him the grasp that inequality had on Indian society, he said.\nWith dozens of honorary doctorates awarded by universities spanning three continents, Sen has dedicated his life to relieving the world of poverty and inequality, and most recently gave two public lectures at IU.\nThe series, funded by the William T. Patten Foundation, has been inviting well-known scholars to IU as guest lecturers since 1936. As an economist, Sen joins many accomplished past lecturers who have helped in the Foundation's efforts to enrich the IU community.\n"(Sen) is one of the most distinguished people to speak at a Patten lecture," Lloyd said.\nHis outlet for change is the academic environment into which he was born. Most widely known for his expertise as a social change and welfare economist, he is also an accomplished philosopher and historian.\nSen's lectures helped put Indian culture into perspective for many people, including some Indians, who did not know much about the huge potential and challenges that India faces, said Prakash Kashwan, a doctoral student in public policy.\n"It was a very good opportunity for people at IU to get informed about India and its progress," Kashwan said. "His work is very important in looking at development as a whole."\nAside from studying India's history, Sen has extensively researched the economics of poverty and its impact on the developing world.\n"The existence of poverty in rich countries is a total failure," Sen said with a resolve that not only inspired but commanded respect and consideration. "Eliminating poverty is not such a difficult goal."\nSen said that with realistic goals, poverty can be removed altogether. A functioning economy that provides employment, social security and basic health care for all people is at the forefront of his theory.\nToward the end of his lecture, Sen was asked about India's "rise" in the world economy, and he made clear that it is not the economy or religion that defines India but the \npeople.