Kakkadan Nandanath Raj (K. N. Raj) was a planner, visionary, economist and institution builder. Straight out from the London School of Economics in 1950 he helped in the drafting of the first five year plan, 1951-56, building the new India. His vision was not only as a planner with a socialist zeal, but also as a researcher and teacher inspiring generation of students.

He took B.A. from the prestigious Madras Christian College. He was a disciple of a well-distinguished economist Malcom Adiseshiah at Madras Christian college. His teacher pressed for him to go for higher studies in London School of Economics. His thesis was on the monetary policy of India's central bank. Raj was a companion of distinguished economists like Manmohan Singh, Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati.

Raj once wrote philosophically: "I think that most of the things that welfare economists talk about are those that are obvious to all of us, especially the common people. In fact, even a pure philosopher and religious thinker like Sree Narayana Guru, who achieved a social transformation in Kerala, spoke about the very same things that welfare economists speak about today: education, health care facilities, even small-scale industries... Many people like me practised welfare economics without knowing that it was welfare economics, because we were anxious that economics should help the poor. But people who take economic theory literally would say that this is not our problem." Raj stood for the welfare of Aam Aadmi throughout his life.

Awards:

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2000.

Death:

Kakkadan Nandanath Raj (85) was given treatment for his health problems due to old-age. K N Raj had worked as economic adviser to Indian PMs from Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru to Narasimha Rao.