Correction Appended
On India’s Republic Day this past January, its national government announced the recipients of this year’s Padma Bhushan award, the third highest civilian honor for Indians. Though it is often given to public figures and cricketers, Prof. Kaushik Basu, international studies and director of the Center for Analytic Economics, was surprised to find his name on the list.
The award, established on Jan. 2, 1954 by the President of India, will be given to Basu next month. He was one of five Indian-American recipients, along with astronaut Sunita Williams and NYU mathematician Srinivasa Varadhan. There were 35 people in total honored for this year’s Padma Bhushan.