Dwijendra Tripathi (29 July 1930 – 5 September 2018) was a professor of business history at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where he worked for more than 25 years. He is considered the "Father of Business History" in India. [1]
Dwijendra was born on 29 July 1930 in a village in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh, while India was still under British colonial rule. He got a First Class in his Class XII exams in the Arts stream. [2] He studied at the University of Allahabad where he received his Bachelor of Arts in history, economics, and English literature in 1952 and his Master of Arts in history in 1954. [2] He graduated in 1963 from the University of Wisconsin where he pursued a Ph.D. in comparative economic history - India & U.S. as a Fulbright scholar. He was married to his wife Saraswati for more than fifty years, and had three children- Tushar, Parimal, and Smita. [2] He died on 5 September 2018, which is also the day India celebrates Teachers' Day. [3]
From August 1954 to April 1964, he worked at the department of history and political science, D.N.J. College, University of Jabalpur. [4] In May 1964, he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) to work at the State Bank of India as a Research Officer in their Historical Research Department. [2] In July 1964 he joined the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where he chose to teach in the Economics educational area. [2] He was sent by the institute to the Harvard Business School, which had a tie-up with IIMA, for the International Teachers Programme for a year in 1964. [5] While at IIMA, he was on numerous committees, was the PGP Chairperson for four years, and was also dean for four years. [5] He joined the Board of Governors of IIMA as a faculty representative in the 1980s. [2]
In the summers of 1961, 1962, and 1963 respectively, he worked as an instructor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, George Washington University and Howard University, and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. [4] He was a research assistant at University of Wisconsin from 1961-1962 and 1962-1963. [4] In 1970, he was visiting professor at the Department of American Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. [4] He taught at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City for a year in 1979. [4] From 1985–1986 he was a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies, Tokyo. [5] He was a visiting researcher (American Fellowship) at Brown University from March to June 1992. [4] In 2002-2003 he was the General President of the Indian History Congress. [1]
To honour his legacy, the International Conference on Indian Business & Economic History in Memory of Prof. Dwijendra Tripathi will be held on 29-31 August 2019, at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. [6]
Some of Tripathi's vast range of works include: