The Wordsmith

The ace social-scientist and champion of Bihar’s policymaking Dr. Shaibal Gupta's demise has left a void among a large section of intelligentsia. S haibal Gupta was Bihar’s foremost economic think-tank and political commentator immersed deeply in drafting public policies for the state, designing economic reforms on behalf of Nitish Kumar’s government for more than a decade. Like a trusted bureaucrat and aid, CM Nitish always relied on Shaibal’s expertise and intellect on Bihar’s socio-economic conditions and his understanding of historical significance and evolution of state’s politics. His useful knowledge and repository of research and economic policies at Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), helped Bihar grow at the rate of 11% between 2004 and 2009, doubling the GDP growth from 58,000 crores to nearly 1 lakh crore in five years. Shaibal believed that this substantial change was due to quality in governance.   ADRI Had it not been the efforts of economi