Wednesday, December 29 2004 22:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Nobel prize winning economist Amartya Sen today (Dec 29, 2004) paid tribute to his one-time colleague at Delhi University and now at the helm of affairs, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, describing him as a 'great economist'.

Sen said that Manmohan Singh was a 'terrific' economist and a very good argumentator who listened and argued well.

"We disagreed on many subjects," Sen said, adding, "Singh thought that I was wrongly critical of the economic reforms pursued by him.

"However, my concern was that education and health should have been at the centre of reforms.

"He could have done more and he might think that he had done it right," Sen said.