Economics includes expectations & evidences; epics & emotions

Economics includes expectations & evidences; epics & emotions

-?Dr. Kishore NK

Thursday, 21st July 2022: Economics is not just resources, growth, development, welfare and scarcity. It is also about expectations & evidences; epics & emotions and most importantly about life and associations. I met with yet another opportunity on 21st July 2022 to reinforce the understanding having attended the Lecture by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia in the Memorial Lecture Series instituted by the loving family of Mr. Abhay Tripathi, IAS, who passed away 6 months back, leaving behind his rich contribution to the development & welfare. ?

For me, it was a pleasant experience to meet Former Planning Commission Head Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia again after 15 years and have a brief personal interaction with him. Equally pleasant was a meeting with Former RBI Governor Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy (Dr. YV Reddy), again after 15 years and to receive encouragements and blessings from him.

Economic Reforms: Yesterday, Today & India @ 75

Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia; Dr. YV Reddy; ?Mr. Somesh Kumar; Mrs. Richa Mishra Tripathi; Mr. Harpreet Singh; Mr. Jayesh Ranjan; Mr. S.K. Joshi; Ms. Jhanvi Tripathi

A pleasant event in the honor of Late Mr. Abhay Tripathi IAS who passed away 6 months back. A meritorious Civil Servant and known for developmental activities, Abhay worked closely with several luminaries and was associated with key projects in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. His wife and the prominent Financial Journalist Mrs. Richa Mishra instituted a Memorial Lecture in the honor of Mr. Abhay Tripathi. All the participants congratulated and appreciated the Family of Abhay Tripathi for instituting a Memorial Lecture series in his honor.

On behalf of Govt of Telangana, Mr. Somesh Kumar explained the achievements of the Government with numbers and details. As a part of inauguration of the Memorial Series, Mrs. Richa, who herself is credited with numerous articles, and books, set a right and balanced context on the economic scenario of India.

The series commenced with first lecture by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Padma Vibhushan Montek Singh Ahluwalia is a Civil Servant and has served as a Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of India for 10 years. He also served as a Director in World Bank Group. He obtained his post graduation in Economics and M.Phil from Oxford University. He was awarded honorary degree of Doctorate from Oxford and few other institutes including IIT. He served New York University as a Distinguished Visiting Professor.

He served Prime Minister as a Special Secretary holding Cabinet Minister rank. He has the rare credit of leading the preparation of 11th and 12th Plan for India. He was part of key economic journey phase of India for 25 years in several capacities and worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, Mr. PV Narasimha Rao, Mr. Manmohan Singh, and several other senior Civil Servants and Policy Makers. Served as Member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Been on several policy making committees in India, UK, South Korea and other countries.

He is presently Distinguished Fellow at Centre for Social & Economic Progress, a Brookings Arm in India. CSEP board includes Adi Godrej, Naushad Forbes, Rakesh Mohan, Pallavi Shroff, Sanjay Nayar, etc.

The 200 plus participants are mostly Senior Civil Servants, Economists, and Senior Financial Journalists. Among the luminaries was Dr. Y V Reddy, fellow of London School of Economics; and RBI Governor for 5 years, who also worked with IMF as a Director and been an Advisor for several governments including China, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Tanzania, etc. He served as a Member of UN General Assembly on monetary and financial systems and Dr. YV Reddy is remembered for his contribution in holding the strengths of Indian Banking system against the contagious global recession.

The speech of Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia has many takeaways, enlightening points, and subtle advises. The key among them include his explanation on the reforms that were initiated during 1990s on multiple fronts including fiscal, industrial, trade and exchange rate.

He shares that debt need not be worried unless it is spent on freebies and unusually higher subsidies for select sections. He subtly averred that Govt should not borrow more for freebies since they may neither produce true economic benefits nor do they facilitate development. Also, when Govt borrows more, Bank lending to the industry lowers and therefore the desired private investment for growth and development also suffers.

He suggested that India need to have policies in alignment with global developments and challenges with focus on reforms, less protectionism, and fair competition. He stated that reforms are an ongoing process and what they did was setting a right context with good push and the journey is continuing. He balances in sharing the credit stating that the strong economic foundation and the subsequent journey are equally contributing and are important

Brushing aside the concerns on rupee depreciation, he cited the Taper Tantrum in 2013 which was a much severe and bigger problem and how India withstood the currency fluctuations and stood strong. He believed that institutional strength and autonomy is required to promote good governance, ensure development and inclusive growth. He humbly admits that successive governments starting from 1980s until now could have done more for agriculture.

Time was not cheated as the scheduled 1-hour meeting lasted for 4 hours and even then the participants were seen exchanging their knowledge-memories and greetings.

Dr. Kishore NK ([email protected]). This article shares experiences and key takeaways for the collective benefit and has no intention of hurting any emotions or sentiments of anyone.