Professor V.N .Pandit was born at Kulgam Kashmir to a well read and respectable family of Pandits on 01-04-1939.His father Shamboo Nath Pandit was a well known advocate of his time and was the president of Bar Association of Kulgam & his mother was a simple household and loving lady .Hailing from crest jewel of India ,Kashmir ,Prof.Dr V.N.Pandit was a well known economist and he had a great knowledge of macro –economics and was a reputed authority on economics .His was a multifaceted personality and was simple and honest to the core and was loved by his students and commanded much respect and veneration from his students .He was really a role model to his students.Prof.Pandit ,regarded as the pioneer of Macroeconomics Policy Modelling in India ,passed his B.A from Kashmir University and M.A in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics .Mr Pandit was Ph.D from the University of Pennnsylvania ,USA .
He researched under Nobel Laureate ,Prof.Lawrence Klien in 1971.Prof.Pandit has remained colleague of some of the most reputed economists of India ,including former Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh,former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission ,Dr.Montek Singh Aluwallia ,and Nobel Laureate ,Prof .Amatya Sen. He was Reader in econometrics at the Delhi School of Economics ,University of Delhi .He had a four decade long stint at the Delhi School of Economics ,where he served in various capacities .He served as Head of the Department of Economics, and director of the centre for Development Economics .
He has remained as a visiting professor as well and he served in such positions at his alma mater ,the university of Pennsylvania and at the University of North Carolina as postdoctoral fellow .Prof.Pandit was also a visiting professor at the University of Manchester ,England ,UK ,and later was also the Simon Fellow {1975-76} and Hallsworth Fellow –1983-84.He has an illustrious career and he had the distinction of been the Consultant to the World Bank ,Washington ,USA -1975,Consultant to Rail India Technical and Economic Services ,New Delhi -1978-79,Editor for the Indian Economic Review -1986,Planning Advisor to the government of Shri Lanka-1989-90,Consultant to the planning Commission ,Govt .of India .He was also the president of Indian Econometric Society 2001-02.Mr.Pandit also served on selection committees for two prestigious awards ,the Mahalanobis Memorial Medal & the VKRV Rao Awards in Social Sciences .
He was also conferred the Swami Pranavananda Saraswati Award by the UGC in recognition of his exemplary contribution in year 2004.Prof.Pandit was a renowned academician who had vast experience of teaching and guiding research .Some Ph.D and M.Phil. scholars had done their research work under him and earned the degrees .He had published a good number of articles in reputed journals and papers of national and international standing .Pandit has been associated with Sri Sathya sai Institute of Higher Learning—SSSIHL since 1984.He used to deliver gust lectures in the Management & Commerce Department at SSSIHL.It was with his assistance that B.sc [Hons] in Economics Programme was introduced at the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus of SSSIHL .
Prof.V.N Pandit served as the 8th Vice Chancellor of Sri Satya sai Institute of Higher Learning and assumed the charge of the prestigious position on 5th August 2008.Fondly referred by Bhagawan Baba as the Delhi Professor .He was a Sava Dal at Prasanthi Nilayam in 1980s and assumed the charge of the 8th VC of SSSIHL & his journey is rightly remarkable and commendable .Prof Pandit was the true follower of Satya Sai Baba and was close to him. After his retirement from Delhi University ,he joined as a regular faculty member post 2000 at SSSIHL .He was instrumental in setting up of the Department of Economics at the Institute .He held the position of Head of the Department of Economics and Dean Humanities at SSSIHL .Due to his dedication and hard work as well as his acumen ,he rose to the position of Vice Chancellor of SSSIHL .Under his able leadership M.A Economics programme was introduced at the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus of SSSIHL .Under his leadership and guidance M.Phil .programme was introduced in all subjects which were taught already at graduate level in year 2004.Prof.Pandit was also a part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the Institute in 2006.He briefly served as Chairman of the Sri Satya Sai Centre of Human Values run by the Sri Satya Sai Central Trust .During his tenure as the 8th Vice –Chancellor of SSSIHL he initiated several milestone events .
The Conference on Ethics and the World of Finance was organized by the institute under his leadership on 28th and 29th of August 2009.In 2008 ,Prof. Pandit hosted the UGC team headed by Prof.Moolchand Sharma,a distinguished professor of Law at University of Delhi .He was very much active in the Sri Satya Sai Seva Organization in Delhi before joining SSSIHL .Prof. Pandit was the ‘’Activities in charge’’ at the Sri Satya sai International Centre ,New Delhi .
His devotion to Swami and his humility to see everything as His doing earned him much respect from students and faculty members .Prof. Pandit was a down to earth man and was an epitome of simplicity, straightforwardness ,humility and honesty. .He imprinted an indelible mark every where he served during his illustrious career .Above all he was a great human being who helped all without any distinction. He had friendship with Prof.S.N.Sadhu who is alive .Prof Pandit was the first cousin of this writer of the write up. His death is a great loss to Sri Satya sai Baba Ashram ,SSSIHL ,Economic fraternity and to the Kashmiri Pandit community to which he belonged .Such great persons are rarely born .Prof. V.N.Pandit was confined to bed for some time .This leading light passed away and became one with Sri Satya sai Baba on 26th July 2024 in the early morning .He is survived by his wife .He passed away in Puttaparthy ,Andhra Pradesh .May God grant him eternal peace and courage to family to bear the irreparable loss.

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