“The news has come as a pleasant surprise as I see it as indicating the Grace that Swami has been showering on me”.

This was the humble reaction of Dr. Vishwanath Pandit, Professor of Economics and Dean, Faculty of Arts at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, on learning that he had been chosen for the Swami Pravananda Saraswati National Award, for 2004, by the University Grants Commission for outstanding scholarly work which has made important contributions to human knowledge.

Dr. Pandit, regarded as the pioneer of ‘Macroeconomics Policy Modelling in India’ received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, under the Nobel Laureate Lawrence Klein. Dr. Pandit, who has published a large number of papers in National and International Journals and written nine books on economics, has also been President of The Indian Econometric Society.

For Dr. Pandit the most gratifying moment has been his joining the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning in Prasanthi Nilayam. That is his real blessing, he says as he goes on to add,

Before he joined Swami’s Institute, Dr. Pandit was Head of the Economics Department and Director, Centre for Development Economics in the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi. He was also advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka and the World Bank on economic policy issues.

For several years Dr. Pandit served as visiting Professor at University of Manchester, U.K., University of Pennsylvania, U.S. and has been a faculty member at the University of North Carolina, U.S. In addition, Dr. Pandit has been very active in the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organizations in Delhi. Before joining SSSIHL he was “Activities In-charge”, at the Sri Sathya Sai International Centre, New Delhi.

Dr. Pandit, who now guides M.Phil. and Ph.D. students in Swami’s Institute has guided two dozen Ph.D. / M.Phil students and himself been on selection committees for two prestigious awards, the Mahalanobis Memorial Medal (National and International) and the VKRV Rao Awards in Social Sciences.

“At a mundane level”, he says, “one would not be quite overwhelmed by the award!... Yet the Award is of considerable gratification when seen as an aspect of His Divine Grace”, the Professor signs off with these final remarks.

His devotion to Swami and the rare humility to see everything as His doing is something which the boys try to learn from him, apart from his socio-economic wisdom.