The following is an excerpt from the conversation we (final year students of Amrita School of Business) had with our beloved professor Biresh Sahoo. Sahoo Sir, as we call him, is not just a faculty for us, rather is a guiding light. He has been successful in instilling in his students the ability to question the theories and practices not only in economics, but also in various disciplines of management. He showed us what it is to “practice what you preach”. The numerous write-ups in various international journals and the book he published recently stand testimonial to this aspect of his personal philosophy towards work.
His achievements include the book published recently titled “Efficiency Models in Data Envelopment Analysis” (coauthored with Professor JK Sengupta), nine research papers coauthored with professors, Kaoru Tone, JK Sengupta, PKJ Mohapatra and ML Trivedi, in various scholarly international journals. Moreover he has published four papers in various national refereed journals and seven research papers are currently under review.
It takes a human being tremendous focus and perseverance to write a book. Mere mortals don’t try it because they lack both the drive and the content. When Sahoo Sir said that it took him several years to complete his book we actually wanted to know what motivated him throughout this endeavor.
If I look at my strengths, I do not believe I am now in a position to independently write a book, which will be published by an international publisher like Palgrave Macmillan. I am, however, fortunate and honored enough to be associated in this joint endeavor with Professor J.K. Sengupta, a great scholar in Economics, who has published more than 350 research papers in scholarly journals. I was in fact thrilled when I received a letter from Professor Sengupta, saying that he is planning to write a monograph with me as coauthor highlighting the DEA applications in India, especially, for the banking, finance and insurance sectors. And, in his letter, he advised me to look at Chapter 6.2 of his new book “New Efficiency Theory” (which he sent to me along with his letter) to see if I can apply it to the Indian data. He also suggested me to go through some papers published in EJOR on DEA applications on commercial bank data in India. I am very happy to hear from him that he has been highly satisfied with my effort, and the way I handled this project from beginning to end.
I know Professor JK Sengupta as a great scholar, and the foreign examiner of my Ph.D. dissertation when I was at IIT Kharagpur. I have been working with him for the last six years on applied production frontier analysis, but as of now I have not physically seen him. I did not want to loose this opportunity to rub shoulders with such an eminent personality like Professor JK Sengupta. Over the years my interest in the subject became so strong that I wanted to contribute to the existing pool of knowledge in a meaningful manner. I have not set any targets for myself regarding the number of books or articles I’ll publish during my life time. I believe that as long as my contributions are relevant and my interest in the subject hold good, I’ll continue associating myself with the world of economics.
We, the students of ASB have always been fascinated with Sahoo Sir’s thought process and intelligence. We wanted to know more about his days in school and college and the role that family played in his life.
I am from a poor family of seven members: my father (a farmer by profession), mother (housewife), four brothers (I being the youngest child) and one sister. I have been the topper from Class VIII to Class X in my school, always used to score more than 75 per cent, and that too without any extra coaching. Surprisingly my academic performance had been consistently below par to my own expectations and standards during graduation and post graduation. This was because I was struggling for food twice a day since 1986-87, the year I left my village and came to Bhubaneswar to study +2. My father used to struggle a lot to send me Rs.200 per month for my hostel mess fees. After qualifying UGC NET examination I registered for Ph.D. program at IIT Kharagpur. I received Ph.D. Fellowship in 2005, and since then I have made significant progress in my studies.
Looking back I’m thankful to my family for the support they extended during those trying times. Today a father myself I believe that an individual should learn the act of balancing his career goals and family life. I’ve researched extensively about Economics, where secondary data can assist in understanding; whereas when it comes to balancing family and career, it is more of experience; or what we call primary data in statistics.
For us ASB-ian’s Professor Sahoo's name is synonymous with “Economics”. However it was a least known fact that he had no affinity towards Economics during his graduation days. We were puzzled and wondered when this passivity turned into passion.
Given my strengths and weaknesses, and the way Economics had been taught to us during our + 2 and +3 degree colleges, I personally did not like the subject. To me it was just like reading history. This subject was taught with no relevance to economy. That’s why, after my +2, I opted for Mathematics and Statistics combination while filling in the application form for B.A. (+3) admission. But, my elder brother did not support me in my decision, rather scolded me by saying I should opt more Economic and Mathematics combination, which he thought would help me later in my career. But how! I politely asked. He did not have an answer, but refused to budge down in his decision. Finally, with all hesitations, I filled in another application form opting for Economics and Mathematics combination for my BA admission.
When I came to Central University, Hyderabad in 1991 for my M.A. admission, my perception about this subject changed. If I recall correctly, one of my teachers, who became my favorite later, in his first class, advised (and warned too) us indicating that we should completely forget whatever little we learned about Economics during our degree colleges. I personally found that statement very exciting and appealing too, because I did not learn anything, but simply by hearted the textbook theories in order not to fail in the exam. I met a few teachers here, who were all brilliant in terms of both teaching (but not coaching) and research. Before teaching any theory, they used to bring in first what is happening in economy, and then relate with theory that they intended to introduce and teach. These are the few teachers who all used to teach in terms of relevance and context, which are the two key parameters for any real learning to take place. This way, students learn a lot and appreciate too, because of which they start respecting a subject too. I am the person who used to hate this subject most, but got interested into the subject most, and decided to make a career in this subject. This is the university where my research inclination was built in because of a few teachers. That’s why in my M.Phil. program, I decided to work under two professors, whom I believe, made my learning very strong, because of which I gained significantly both in scientific and monetary terms.
Having listened to his deep understanding of teaching, we questioned him about his view about teaching as a profession, the way he would like to see students being taught.
I sincerely believe that teaching profession is quite challenging because a teacher in academic profession should be good at both research and teaching. Good researchers are qualified enough to develop and sustain rigorous standards within the profession. I do believe that successful teaching is a joint product arising out of research because these two are inseparable. In order for this merger to happen, a teacher must be strong in his/her fundamentals and must have the courage to question the convention that is followed for a deeper understanding of his/her forte. During my P.H.D days, my professor showed me that this is the way that one must learn. Since I learned it the hard way, I have mastered the art of learning.
I am happy that I learned it the hard way without which I would not have been able to impart this intelligence in my students thereby changing their misconceptions about Economics as a body of knowledge. Wherever I have taught, the technique has worked and students have benefited from this approach to learning.
According to a renowned Economist, George Stigler, a teacher is the one who is to acquire knowledge and construct ideas and keep them a secret. It is improbable scientifically to ask an individual to be competent in understanding a work in which he has no part in constructing.
One hour through the conversation we were bombarded with so much of insight about this wonderful person and we felt that we have seen only the tip of the iceberg.
However time was running short and we still had a plethora of questions to ask. A couple of final questions…
What is your guiding principle and work philosophy?
I believe in sincerity, integrity and hard work, which will enable a person to grow as a professional and a person too. These are the qualities that are required for any student to prosper. One should take up a profession, which he/she likes most from heart.
As you see today, what plans have you for your future?
Since I sincerely believe in scholarly publications, which have been of great help in my successful teaching, I will keep publishing (but no specific target) as long as I am deemed fit to contribute. I would like to establish myself as a person with authority in the long run.
Your message to the audience
I am not qualified enough to give a message at this stage. To me, it looks simple. Examine first your strengths and weaknesses, and then decide which one to pursue with passion. This is called a long-run decision in Economics literature. Once this is over, other decisions are mostly short run in nature, which might vary from person to person, depending upon the circumstances to keep yourself at a level marked with ‘some’ identity, which I presume, you all rightly like to be identified with.
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