Who Is Jean Drèze? The Economist And Social Activist At The Centre Of A Viral Exchange At Jantar Mantar

A journalist asking welfare economist Jean Drèze, “Who are you, where have you come from?” during Saturday’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar has triggered online criticism, bringing renewed attention to the economist and social activist known for his work on hunger, poverty, education and social welfare in India.

Born in Belgium, Drèze has lived in India since 1979 and became an Indian citizen in 2002. Since the 1990s, he has worked on several social welfare initiatives and contributed to discussions around government programmes, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the National Food Security Act.

On June 5, 2026, Drèze was awarded the Global Inequality Research Award (GiRA) at the World Inequality Conference, organised at the Paris School of Economics in Paris.

Academic Career

Drèze studied mathematical economics at the University of Essex in the 1980s. He completed his PhD in theoretical economics, focusing on the cost-benefit analysis, at the Indian Statistical Institute in New Delhi.

He taught at the London School of Economics and the Delhi School of Economics during the 1980s and later served as visiting faculty at the GB Pant Social Science Institute in Allahabad.

He was an honorary chair professor in the Planning and Development Unit in the Department of Economics at the University of Allahabad. The unit was established through an endowment by the Planning Commission, Government of India.

Drèze has co-authored books with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on famine, British economist Nicholas Stern on policy reforms in markets, and Nobel laureate Angus Deaton.

His academic work has focused on issues such as hunger, gender inequality, child health and education, bringing questions of poverty and social welfare into discussions on public policy.

An Economist And Social Activist

Drèze played a major role in drafting the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, which established a legal framework for providing rural employment. He was also consulted on other government initiatives, including the RTI Act and the National Food Security Act.

His engagement with questions of poverty and social justice has extended beyond academic research. During his doctoral studies, Drèze lived with homeless people in London and helped them organise a movement in 1988. He later documented his experiences in No. 1 Clapham Road: The Diary of a Squat.

Drèze has also been involved in peace activism. During the 1990–91 Iraq war, he joined a peace camp on the Iraq-Kuwait border. He subsequently wrote Hunger and Poverty in Iraq, 1991, examining the country's economic conditions after the Gulf War.

Writing On Hunger, Poverty And Social Welfare

Alongside his academic and activist work, Drèze has written extensively on public policy and social welfare. His essays and columns have covered food security, healthcare and children's rights.

A collection of his essays was published as Sense and Solidarity, bringing together his writing on social and economic issues.

Drèze has continued to engage with questions of poverty, welfare and social justice in India. His work spans academic research, policy discussions and activism, with a focus on the conditions of disadvantaged communities.