Dr. D.R. Gadgil, one of India’s great economists and founder-director of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, was born today on 10th April, 1901.

Gadgil spent his childhood in Nagpur and received his B.A. and M.A. degree in History and Economics from Cambridge University. He took a job in the Finance Department of Government of Bombay. When the offer to become the Principal of M.T.B College in Surat came in 1925, he immediately accepted.

In 1966 he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, and from 1967-71, he served as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. He was the author of the Gadgil formula, which served as the base for the allocation of central assistance to states during the Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plans of India.

Gadgil is known to have been an enthusiastic reader and had a personal library composed of 3000 books. The Government of India recognized his services by issuing a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in 2008.

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