




































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 3 (2): 219–222, July 2020 

 
IN MEMORY 
 

Narpat S. Jodha: Forever Restless  
 

Pranab Mukhopadhyay  and Rucha Ghate  
 
Pranab first met Narpatji in Kathmandu in a small Thakali restaurant in 
2004, as part of a meeting organized by Manik Duggar (the then 
Programme Manager of the South Asian Network for Development and 
Environmental Economics, SANDEE). Narpatji, Rucha, and Pranab were 
to edit a book together soon. So Priya Shyamsundar (Programme Director 
of SANDEE) suggested that we get to know each other. We (Rucha and 
Pranab) had, of course, heard of him and he, of course, had not heard of us. 
The first thing that struck us was that the man we saw seemed far removed 
from Narpatji’s name and fame. He had no airs about himself; he appeared 
to be the quintessential common man. Since this first meeting, Rucha had 
the privilege of working with him as a colleague at the International Centre 
for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) from 2013 to 2015. 

Narpatji was easy to converse with. In fact, once he got started, one could 
sit back with a cup of tea while he happily narrated stories about his field 
insights, each one weaving into the next. His stories were utterly believable 
in the village context but challenged urban economic rational expectations. 

Narpatji was sceptical of econometric studies that relied on complicated 
models with restrictive assumptions. He often spoke about his experience 
during his stint at the World Bank—he was a misfit and often disagreed 
with others there. He was primarily a ―concept‖ researcher who believed in 

                                                           
 Department of Economics, Goa University, Taleigao Plateau, Goa 403206, India; 

pm@unigoa.ac.in.  

 Foundation for Ecological Security; C-616, Athashri, Off Pan Card Club Road, Baner, 
Pune 411045, Maharashtra, India. ruchaghate@gmail.com. 

Rucha Ghate and Pranab Mukhopadhyay co-edited a book with Narpat Singh Jodha titled 
Promise, Trust and Evolution: Managing the Commons of South Asia, which was published by 
Oxford University Press, UK, in 2008. This is a note in memory of one of our mentors. 

Copyright © Ghate and Mukhopadhyay 2020. Released under Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581-6152 (print); 2581-6101 (web). 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i2.90  

https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i2.90


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [220] 

 
Narpat Singh Jodha at the Ninth Biennial of the International Society for 
Ecological Economics (ISEE), held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi in 
December 2006. [Image courtesy: INSEE]  

making generalizations based on direct observations. He opined that the 
problem with econometricians was that they ―tortured‖ the data until the 
latter ―confessed‖ what the former wanted them to say.  

Narpatji is probably the least known among the famous economists that 
graduated from the Delhi School of Economics (D School). One of the 
stories that he would tell everyone he met was about this struggle with 
English and, therefore, economics, while at D School. Indeed, he 
conducted many failed searches at the Ratan Tata Library for an economics 
book in Hindi. The average graduate student might have dropped out of D 
School under these circumstances. But not Narpatji. He used to say, ―Keep 
trying; it will happen‖, which was a lesson he had internalized in his long 
struggle through many professional challenges.  

His work on livelihood dependence on common property resources (CPRs) 
in semi-arid regions was completely unfashionable for his time (1986). What 
made his work so unique was his ability to grasp what many of us routinely 
see but do not recognize. His was a skill that was impossible to pick up 
within the four walls of a classroom. 

What also made him stand out was his relentless work ethic. We once spoke 
to him about the poverty debate between Utsa Patnaik, Jean Drèze, and 
Angus Deaton. At this, Narpatji reminded us that he had published a paper 



[221] Rucha Ghate and Pranab Mukhopadhyay 

 

as early as 1988 on the errors of conventional poverty measures. On 
another occasion, we were talking about climate change and the South 
Asian contribution to this domain of research. Here, he reminded us that he 
was one of the early contributors to this body of work (in 1989). His 2005 
paper on mountain-specific poverty, which highlighted the limited 
accessibility, fragility, marginality, and diversity in mountainous regions that 
create specific circumstances, laid the foundation for poverty studies in 
ICIMOD in particular. While they were colleagues, he would sometimes 
share some of his writing with Rucha and ask for comments. He would 
likewise talk to freshers and young researchers with humility. He was a 
regular attendee of the guest lectures in ICIMOD, and almost always had a 
question that would prompt long conversations that continued over tea or 
lunch. 

When we worked together on the edited Commons volume, we thought that 
he would take only a fleeting interest, given his age; however, he proved us 
wrong. He was very much present and systematically worked on the project, 
adding editorial comments for each paper. As his retirement from ICIMOD 
drew closer, his biggest worry was what to do with the books and 
documents that he had accumulated over time. After formally retiring from 
ICIMOD, he would often sit in the SANDEE library (which was then on 
the ICIMOD campus) and make himself available to anyone who wanted to 
pick his brain.  

As the years went by, we were less frequently in touch. But we knew he was 
still active, writing and publishing as recently as 2019. It takes a lot to keep 
going, but that was Narpatji—forever restless. 

 

REFERENCES  

Bhatta, Laxmi Dutt, Anil Shrestha, Nilhari Neupane, Narpat Singh Jodha, and Ning 
Wu. 2019. ―Shifting Dynamics of Nature, Society and Agriculture in the Hindu 
Kush Himalayas: Perspectives for Future Mountain Development.‖ Journal of 
Mountain Science 16: 1133–1149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5146-4. 

Jodha, Narpat Singh. 2005. ―Adaptation Strategies against Growing Environmental 
and Social Vulnerabilities in Mountain Areas.‖ Himalayan Journal of Sciences 3 (5): 33-
42. https://doi.org/10.3126/hjs.v3i5.459. 

Jodha, Narpat Singh. 1988. ―Poverty Debate in India a Minority View.‖ Economic 
&Political Weekly 23 (45–47): 2421–28. https://www.epw.in/journal/1988/45-46-
47/special-articles/poverty-debate-india-minority-view.html. 

Jodha, Narpat Singh. 1989. ―Potential Strategies for Adapting to Greenhouse 
Warming: Perspectives from the Developing World.‖ In Greenhouse Warming: 
Abatement and Adaptation, edited by Norman J. Rosenberg, William E. Easterling III, 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11629-018-5146-4#auth-4
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11629-018-5146-4#auth-5
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11629-018-5146-4#auth-5
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11629-018-5146-4#auth-5
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5146-4
https://doi.org/10.3126/hjs.v3i5.459
https://www.epw.in/journal/1988/45-46-47/special-articles/poverty-debate-india-minority-view.html
https://www.epw.in/journal/1988/45-46-47/special-articles/poverty-debate-india-minority-view.html


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [222] 

Pierre R. Crosson, and Joel Darmstadter, 147–158. Washington: Resources for the 
Future. 

Jodha, Narpat Singh. 1986. ―Common Property Resources and Rural Poor in Dry 
Regions of India.‖ Economic and Political Weekly 21 (27): 1169–1181.  

 

 


