India@75

“Through a narration of the journey of the Indian economy since 1947, the book will answer questions that interest many Indians. Some of these questions include: What difference did the economic policies of the Nehru era make? How should we view the impact of Indira Gandhi on the economy? Did Rajiv Gandhi’s technical orientation help the country at all? How revolutionary, in terms of their impact, were the economic reforms of 1991? And, finally, to what extent has Narendra Modi delivered on the electoral promise “Achche din aane wale hain” (Good days are on the way), ostensibly to be brought about by his decisive political leadership?”

This is a panel discussion to commemorate the release of Professor Pulapre Balakrishnan’s book.

The panelists :

Pulapre Balakrishnan is currently a Professor of Economics at Ashoka University. He has served as a Country Economist for Ukraine at the World Bank, and has been a consultant to the International Labour Organization, the Reserve Bank of India and the United Nations Development Program. His work spans the  inflationary process in the Indian economy, productivity growth in manufacturing, the macroeconomics of the transition to a market economy in Ukraine, agricultural involution in Kerala and economic growth in India. He is the recipient of the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contribution to Development Studies 2014.

Arun Kumar has taught Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University for nearly 30 years from 1984 to 2015. Currently, he is Malcolm Adiseshiah Chair Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences. He was the Sukhamoy Chakravarty Chair Professor and the former chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at JNU. Dr. Kumar has been a Vice President and acting President of the Indian Academy of Social Sciences. His areas of specialisation include Development, Public Finance and Public Policy and Macroeconomics.

Vinay Sitapati is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Legal studies at Ashoka University. He has written for publications as diverse as the Economic & Political Weekly, International New York Times, Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal, The Hindu, Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, and Seminar. His first book was a best-selling biography of Indian prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao: ‘Half-Lion’. More recently, his book ‘Jugalbandi’, on the BJP Before Modi was published in late 2020.

Vivaan Gupta is an Economics undergraduate here at Ashoka, currently working on his (capstone) thesis in choice theory. He has been working as a research assistant with the department for the past year and has worked with the CMO of Haryana and CEDA on several other projects in the past.