Teacher, economist who made Tripura proud

Agartala: The first vice-chancellor of Tripura (central) University, leading economist and renowned author, Arunoday Saha, has been awarded Padma Shri this year along with 112 others for his outstanding contribution in the field of literature and education.
Saha is an academician, former professor, politician and writer from Agartala. He holds a BA from Presidency College, Kolkata, an MA from Calcutta University and a PhD in Economics from Utah State University of the US.
Born into a businessman family in 1948 at Bishalgarh of Tripura's Sepahijala district, he started his career as a school teacher. Later, he served in different govt colleges and Tripura University in different capacities as a teacher. In 2007, he became the first VC of Tripura University after its elevation to a central university and served until his retirement in Feb 2013.
Beyond academia, Saha is associated with politics as well. In the 2014 LS polls, he fought from the West Tripura parliamentary constituency as a Congress candidate. He has authored at least 10 books on Bengali literature.