- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Social media and leading publications in India were abuzz with the news which was first posted from a false account of economic historian Claudia Goldin.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Indian media circle was abuzz on Tuesday (10) with the ‘news’ of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen passing away at the age of 89. While reactions poured in thick and fast, his daughter Nandana Dev Sen said it was not true.
“Baba (father) is totally fine,” she declared on social media platform X.
The ‘news’ about Sen’s death was shared by various leading publications based on a social media post – which was allegedly made by economic historian Claudia Goldin but the account was found to be false later.
“A terrible news. My dearest Professor Amartya Sen has died minutes ago. No words,” it was posted from the account which was opened in May this year.
However, another post from the account confirmed it is a hoax one. It said, “This account is hoax created by Italian journalist Tommaso Debenedetti.”
The Press Trust of India, which had earlier tweeted about Sen’s ‘death’, later said in another post that it was deleting the post whic was “based on a post from an unverified account in the name of Claudia Goldin”.
Deleting tweet on Amartya Sen based on a post from an unverified account in the name of Claudia Goldin. Actor Nandana Dev Sen denies news of death of her father, Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 10, 2023
It said, “Deleting tweet on Amartya Sen based on a post from an unverified account in the name of Claudia Goldin. Actor Nandana Dev Sen denies news of death of her father, Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen.”
Friends, thanks for your concern but it’s fake news: Baba is totally fine. We just spent a wonderful week together w/ family in Cambridge—his hug as strong as always last night when we said bye! He is teaching 2 courses a week at Harvard, working on his gender book—busy as ever! pic.twitter.com/Fd84KVj1AT
— Nandana Sen (@nandanadevsen) October 10, 2023
Dev Sen, an Indian-born American actress, screenwriter, author and child-rights activist, said in a post on X, “Friends, thanks for your concern but it’s fake news: Baba is totally fine. We just spent a wonderful week together w/ family in Cambridge—his hug as strong as always last night when we said bye! He is teaching 2 courses a week at Harvard, working on his gender book—busy as ever!”
Sen, who was born in Santiniketan in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on November 3, 1933, was named by the iconic poet Rabindranath Tagore. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 and conferred Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour the next year, for his work on welfare economics.
