India, June 1 -- Yogendra Yadav and I were members of the Assessment and Monitoring Authority (AMA) of the Planning Commission. The AMA was expected to monitor all minority welfare programmes of the Union government. Whether we were able to do the work is a different matter. The AMA was constituted as per the recommendation of the Sachar Committee report.

Though I was an admirer of Yadav when he appeared on television analysing election results, it was the first time I heard him in closed-door meetings. He was able to provide the best inputs during the discussions.

Of course, I could not appreciate him for his political activities, including contesting elections. I thought he was more cut out for academic and intellectual activities th...