Lekha S Chakraborty
Professor, NIPFP and Elected Member, Governing Board, IIPF
Lekha S Chakraborty has been a multi-faceted economist who also emphasised linkages of macroeconomic policy and gender equality. She has been the one who incorporated gender concerns in public finance – gender budgeting has proven an effective tool for promoting gender equality in India since its adoption in 2005.
Her suggested model to address inequalities has been adopted by several nations in the Asia-Pacific region. She has also given new meaning and dimensions to fiscal policy measures for addressing the Unpaid Care Sector – that has remained neglected due to statistical invisibility – especially during the pandemic. She has led technical research towards a plausible introduction of child sex ratio as one of the indicators in the tax devolution formula by the Finance Commission.