Summary Report

Day 1 - Session 1

The topic for the first session was “Northeast, a gateway to SE Asia”, presented by Professor
Atul Sarma, Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development, New Delhi & was mod-
erated by Dr. Abhin Kisan. In the presentation, Prof. Sarma begins the talk by discussing general
demographic features of the North Eastern Region & thereby, making a Pre-partition & Post-Parti-
tion distinction witnessed by the North East. Here, he laid stress on various important features like
being surrounded by foreign countries, its landlocked location (which also led to high logistic &
transportation cost for the region) & in general how the North East region lagged growth & devel-
opment.
The presentation laid stress on the Five I’s which had resulted in lagged growth & development in
the region; Its Initial conditions, Infrastructure deficiency, Rampant Insurgency, Imperfections in
the product as well as factor markets & the Indifference of the various governments in the past.
Thereafter, Prof. Sarma talks about Look East Policy (LEP) adopted by the Government of India in
1994. He discusses the framework & rationale behind the LEP in greater depth. Here, he discusses
how growth in the region can result in wider market access with some of the growing economies of
the South East Asia. Prof. Sarma, also discusses an important aspect of commonalities with respect
to socio-economic features shared between the North Eastern Region & Myanmar. Three important
aspects Connectivity & Physical Infrastructure, Trade & Investment Protocols & bi-lateral/multi-
lateral relationships & Enhanced people interaction through sports, culture, academics and medical
research.
Thereafter, he discussed the idea of linking & connecting North Eastern Region with the South east
Asian markets. How North East could become a focal point in India’s foreign policy once the open-
ing of commercial linkages with ASEAN countries would help resolving infrastructural neglect of
the Northeast. Here, he talked about The East-West corridor (between Assam & Gujarat), The Tri-
lateral Highway (connecting State of Manipur, Mae Sot in Thailand & Myanmar), Kaladan multi
modal transit project (between Mizoram & Myanmar), BCIM (Bangladesh China India Myanmar
corridor. In the later parts of his presentation, Prof. Sarma discusses the issue of Unifying North
Eastern State Economies. This unification is to be achieved via Greenfield airports upgradation at
Guwahati, Imphal & Agartala; special accelerated road development Program (SARDP-NE),
Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP); Rail connectivity between Agartala-Akhaurarail-link to connect the
existing Agartala station in Tripura to Akhaura Station of Bangladesh Railways. He also talked
about waterways development in the region.
In the final part of his presentation, Professor Sarma talked about the level of development which
has been achieved in the last three decades in the North Eastern Region & where does the region
stand currently. There is a growing concern that even if all the necessary physical infrastructures are
established both within and beyond the borders, it is uncertain whether the Northeast would func-
tion as a gateway to South East Asia or simply act as a flyover.

Day 2 - Session 1

The topic for this session was “Do wealthy Indians underreport their income?”, presented by
Professor Ram Singh, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi & was moderated by Dr.
Amandeep Kaur. Professor Ram Singh started his presentation by talking about importance of in-
come reporting behaviour as tax revenue largely depends upon income reported by taxpayers, & In-
dia has a very low Tax-GDP ratio. Professor Ram Singh, referred the term “Kosha Moolo Danda”
(from the famous book Arthashastra).
He talked about importance of tax revenue, as it helps in financing public goods & services. Also if
rich gets away with reporting only a part of their income, the taxation system becomes more regres-
sive & it increases inequalities in the society. Professor Singh, discussed the issue of tax avoidance
& tax evasion at large, how people with higher income get an agricultural income status & starts to
underreport their income.
He used unit-level empirical data (collected by affidavits filed during contesting general elections
by the Election Commission of India), data from the Central Board of Direct taxes (CBDT), Forbes
list, Company accounts to test the hypothesis of tax avoidance & tax evasion of mid-to-top wealthy
groups in India.
The two major proposition shared during the presentation were - a) Assuming no tax evasion, the
reported direct personal income ratio of wealth decreases as wealth level increases. & b) Ceteris
paribus, increase in share of asset with under direct capital income leads to a reduction in the re-
ported Y/W ratios.
Professor Singh, laid stress on the rule of tax law where he focussed majorly on the labour income
& capital income & also assumed that capital gains are not reported in his model. It was an interest-
ing session, it was established from his findings that tax system in India is regressive in nature &
there is strong evidence of Income underreporting when it comes to mid-top Income group of indi-
viduals.

Day 2 - Session 2

The topic for this session was “Indian Economy: The context & Prospects”, presented by Profes-
sor Praveen Jha, CESP SSS-II Jawaharlal Nehru University & was moderated by Dr. Amit
Pandey. Professor Jha, started his presentation by talking about Indian Economy in general, he took
up an approach were he discussed about the Indian Economy decade by decade. The kind of
progress made over these decades, the kind of road map we followed, the challenges we faced, the
kind of success we achieved & so on and so forth. He briefly discussed the Rawlsian social welfare
theory (also Prof. Sen’s idea of capability deprivation), how capability deprivation was becoming
theme in measuring social welfare instead of looking at the raw Poverty estimates calculated by var-
ious governments in the past.
During his presentation, he laid stress on how India soon after independence become a signatory in
the UN declaration to basic human rights in 1948 itself, which included provision of rights like pro-
vision of housing, clothing & food, sustainable livelihood, social security & so on. And how in
1966, India brought in ratifications in this UN declaration which were to be finally adopted by the
year 1979. He also pointed extreme level of similarities that existed between the Karachi congress
convention declaration of 1931 & the ILO convention 102 which finally came in 1952. There were
two principles attached here - first, there must be a set of minimal rights which must be universal, &
second, these universal rights must be preserved with strong legal framework i.e. right should be
preserved as a justice.
Professor Jha, made a special point on nationalisation of banks in India in the year 1969 & how that
policy had far reaching macroeconomic implications for the poor, rural, agrarians & other back-
wards people of the country.
He also talked about the 90’s decade stressing on the jobless growth witnessed in the country. Here,
he mentioned that rate of labour absorption per capita declined from 2% in the 1980’s to around 1%
in the 1990’s. Negative employment elasticity of output growth, PLFS data coverage (after the Pan-
gariya committee), minimum wage law were some of the topics briefly discussed.
Day 2 - Session 3

The topic for this session was “Demand Constraint Growth Model”, presented by Professor
Subrata Guha, CESP SSS-II Jawaharlal Nehru University & was moderated by Dr. Amrita
Kumari. Professor Guha’s session were on Growth models, where is tried explaining two basic
phenomenons - Macroeconomics of the Short run (Business Cycle) & Macroeconomics of the Long
run (Growth theory). The session was highly mathematical wherein Professor Guha, discussed the
nature of trend output & also discussed the important question whether it is Supply Constrained or
Demand Constrained. He elaborated on the basic elementary Kaleckian Growth Model with all the
basic assumptions of the model. Thereafter, he discussed the model by relaxing assumptions one by
one.

Day 2 - Session 4

The topic for this session was “Amrita Pramanick”, presented by Professor PK Ghosh & was
moderated by Dr. Amandeep Kaur. Professor PK Ghosh laid stress on the 6th IPCC Assessment
report, where it calls out “Physical Science basis” for climate change at quicker global warming
than anticipated. The environmental degradation is the by-product of unsustainable trends in con-
sumption and production patterns of neo-liberal policy, which basically relies on a weak view of
sustainability that assumes that natural capital and man-made capital are essentially substitutable
and there are no fundamental differences between them for generating well-being. He also talked
about the 3C’s - Covid, Conflict & Climate Change. He also gave a brief history of how IPCC was
formed in 1988 & its functioning. He also talked about how Climate Change Problem is perceived
in the sense that it is a problem of externalities; externalities between Intra-generational & Inter-
generational externalities. Further, there are uncertainties in cost & benefits attached with it & there
are ethical & distributional issues attached with it too.

Day 3 - Session 1

The topic for this session was “Introduction to Auction Theory”, presented by Professor Krish-
nendu G Dastidar Ghosh, CESP SSS-II Jawaharlal Nehru University & was moderated by Dr.
Anna Abraham Pachayil. In this session, Prof. KG Dastidar, talked about basics concepts of auc-
tioning theory. He began the session by sharing a brief history of auctioning in the world. There-
after, he explained various types of auctioning that exist around the world, which were, English
Auction (Ascending auction), Dutch Auction ( Descending auction), First Price sealed bidding auc-
tion & lastly Second Price sealed bidding auction.
First price sealed bid auction - In this auction type, one is supposed to bid in a sealed envelope.
When bids are compared, the bidder with the highest bid wins. The bidder bids till the time his
reservation price is less than than bid amount. In this type of auction, there is a trade-off between
profit & winning frequency. Second price sealed bid auction - A second-price sealed-bid auction,
also known as a Vickrey auction, is a type of auction in which bidders submit written bids without
knowing the bid amounts of other participants. The key characteristic of this auction format is that
the winner is the bidder with the highest bid, but they pay the price of the second-highest bid.
English Auction - An English auction, also known as an open ascending price auction, is a type of
auction in which participants openly bid against each other, with the auctioneer progressively in-
creasing the bid amounts until no higher bids are received. The bidder offering the highest price
when the auction concludes is declared the winner, and they pay the amount of their final bid.
Dutch Auction - A Dutch auction is a type of auction in which the auctioneer begins with a high
asking price that is gradually lowered until a participant accepts the current price or a predetermined
reserve price is reached. Bidders signal their willingness to accept the current price by raising a pad-
dle, pressing a button, or using some other method, and the first participant to do so secures the item
or service being auctioned at that price.
He also talked about the “viceroy equivalence” where he demonstrated the equivalence between a
first-price sealed bid auction & second price sealed bid auction under certain assumptions & condi-
tions, named after noted economist William Vickrey.
It was thoroughly a very interesting session which introduced auction theory among participants
very well.

Day 3 - Session 2

The topic for this session was “Employment of Contract workers in Indian Manufacturing”,
presented by Professor Biswanath Goldar, Institute of Economic Growth & was moderated by
Dr. Bhakti Mahindrakar. In this session, Professor Goldar talked extensively about the Contrac-
tual labour & how manufacturing sector output changed over decades with the change in regulation
in the labour laws. He talked about all basic data sets available & used for labour studies in the
country (both ASI data sets & NSSO data sets). Thereafter, he also discussed concepts like Contract
worker, Contractual wages, Regular worker, Regular wages & so on. He discussed various studies
which are conducted on Contract worker employment & its impact on the manufacturing sector.
Professor Goldar, discussed basic trends related to Contractual labour like how there share has in-
creased from 12% in 1985-86 (in the manufacturing sector) to over 38% in 2018-19. While explain-
ing these trends, he discusses important landmark judgements which changed the legal & legislative
definition of contract labour & made serious regulations as well.
Thereafter, he discusses the important point relating to differences among wages paid to the regular
worker vs wages paid to contractual workers, its impact of overall productivity, impact on the mar-
gins of the firms & so on. Here, he discusses the important point that why are wages of Contractual
workers less than Regular workers. He further discusses some trends in the employment of contract
workers in the organised manufacturing. He makes three strong observations here, Some plants re-
duced usage of contractual workers, secondly, a strong positive correlation between growth rate in
employment & the extent of increase in the intensity of contractual labour use & finally, that posi-
tive side of contractual workers is that it generates more employment but the negative side remains
that it leads to lower wages & lack of job security.
In the session, Professor Goldar breaks multiple myths surrounding contractual workers, one of
which was decreased usage of contractual workers in the industries which required specific skill
based workers or highly technical workers.

Day 3 - Session 3

The topic for this session was “KLEMS Industries in India KLEMS Dataset”, presented by Pro-
fessor Biswanath Goldar, Institute of Economic Growth & was moderated by Dr. Bhakti
Mahindrakar. KLEMS refer to K - Capital (This includes physical capital, such as machinery,
buildings, and infrastructure, that is used in the production process), L (Refers to the workforce or
human labor involved in production. It includes both skilled and unskilled workers) - Labour, E -
Energy (Represents the energy inputs, including electricity, fuel, and other forms of energy, that are
used in the production process), M - Material (Encompasses raw materials and intermediate goods
used in the production process. This category includes inputs like metals, chemicals, and other ma-
terials) & S - Services (Includes various services that contribute to the production process. This can
cover a wide range of services, from administrative and support services to professional services).
Professor Goldar briefed us about the existence of such a rich data set which is completely freely
available through the RBI website. KLEMS contain information on various parameters in 27 indus-
tries. The main idea behind KLEMS was to provide a comparable data set which could provide in-
formation on parameters like output, inputs, productivity & so on. There is KLEMS Asia as well as
KLEMS World website too. The latest data available at the website is for 2023.
KLEMS data set is compiled using NSSO surveys, ASI data, PLFS data & other input-output &
supply side tables.

Day 3 - Session 4

The topic for this session was “Climate Change and Public Policy”, presented by Professor
Surender Kumar, Delhi School of Economics & was moderated by Dr. C.Aruljothi. In this ses-
sion, Professor Kumar talks about extensively about the 6th assessment report of the IPCC (2021)
which lays stress on the problem of climate change. He gave a brief history of how IPCC was
formed in 1988 & its functioning. He also talked about how Climate Change Problem is perceived
in the sense that it is a problem of externalities; externalities between Intra-generational & Inter-
generational externalities. Further, there are uncertainties in cost & benefits attached with it & there
are ethical & distributional issues attached with it.
He also discusses the fact that energy is vital for economic growth & this expanded energy
demand/access is imperative & inevitable, he, however talks about how this should be met is more
critical. Professor Kumar also talked about extensive use of non-conventional & more renewable
sources of energy.
Thereafter, he talked about India’s responsibility at managing this challenge of climate change.
Here he talked about various bodies to which India has been signatory like Kyoto Protocol, Paris
Agreement (COP 26) & so on. The main salient features of these agreements were discussed
briefly. Professor Kumar laid stress on innovative investments & sustainable development as the
major way ahead in combatting with the problem of Climate change.

Day 4 - Session 1

The topic for this session was “Value-Added Tax in India”, presented by Professor Damodar
Nepram, Department of Economics, Manipur University, Canchipur, Imphal & was moder-
ated by Dr. Devinder Singh Hooda. Professor Nepram, talked about brief history of Value Added
Tax at the global level, how it was first introduced in France in 1954. And now it is prevalent in
more than 160 nations (including India). He thoroughly explained the differences that existed in
VAT & what used to be earlier Sales Tax. Value Added Tax is collected or implemented on the ex-
tra value created at each step in production & hence, removes the cascading effects of taxation (i.e.
it prevents large amount of double counting of tax). Professor Nepram, talked about two broad
methods used in implementing VAT - first, Subtraction Approach (which is more popular approach
& followed in countries like Japan), & secondly, Tax credit method (which is less popular, a bit
complicated & followed in countries like India).
With the help of a simple mathematical model, it was explained how VAT removes the cascading
effects & double taxation is prevented in the system. He explains how tax credit method is tempting
for producers to evade taxation & generally results in larger revenue for the government. Tax col-
lection under this approach happens in small amounts & it is based on the principle of “self-polic-
ing”.
Thereafter, he talked about Neutrality of tax, some disadvantages with VAT, which were difficulty
in implementation, implementation leading to general price increase, further increase in tax rate &
distributional aspects. He also talked about the minimum threshold limit & its importance in the
success of implementation of any taxation system. Low administrative cost & from equity point of
view these becomes most important while implementing VAT. Professor Nepram, then quotes Mil-
ton Friedman & states three most important avenues for the Government - Defence, Contract imple-
mentation & Law & order. The concept of minimum governance was talked about in brief detail
(Starve the beast Concept).
He also talked about failure of VAT in some of the countries like Myanmar (because it lead to mas-
sive price increase & threshold limit decided by the country was very well which again lead to very
high administrative cost). He thereby, discusses some of the basic guidelines while implementing a
harmonious VAT in the economy.
He further discusses evolution of taxation system in India, from MODVAT to CENVAT to VAT &
now eventually GST. He talked about GST council of ministers & their role in enhancing GST in
the country. Various tax rates 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% & 28%, how revenue sharing become different
for various states post implementation of VAT/GST.

Day 4 - Session 2

The topic for this session was “Act East Policy”, presented by Professor Bijoy Kumar Singh, De-
partment of Economics, Manipur University, Canchipur, Imphal & was moderated by Dr. Di-
neshwar Paswan. In this session, Professor Bijoy talks about lack of development that has per-
sisted in the North Eastern Region in the last 75 years. He talks about four important points - what
is act east policy, evolution of the act east policy (how it has subsumed post look east policy which
was adopted in 90’s, vision specific perspective of the policy & finally why there is need of re-
imagining for North East. He talks about very important points like when look east policy was
adopted by the central government in the mid 90’s by Narismarao government & state of the Indian
economy at that time vs when act east policy was adopted in the early 2000’s & the state of the In-
dian economy at that time. He also talks about how act east policy is much broader than the look
east policy & it inclusion on the entire Indo-Pacific region which not only includes bi-lateral/multi-
lateral trade but also talks on the issues of economic cooperation, cultural cooperation & so on. Pro-
fessor Bijoy also talks about the importance of the “Shukla Commission report” in the context of in-
frastructure status in the North Eastern region.
He talks about how North Eastern region was self-sufficient pre-partition but how that situation
changed dramatically post-partition for the entire region. It was very informative session.

Day 4 - Session 3

The topic for this session was “The economic cost of climate change”, presented by Professor
Krishna Raj, ISEC Bangalore & was moderated by Dr. Disha Pandey. In this session, Professor
Raj discusses the twin problems attached with capitalism - Economic inequality & Environmental
degradation. He talked extensively on how the process of economic growth over the years (without
proper government intervention) through the market forces has led to higher income inequalities &
environmental degradation. He laid stress on the 6th IPCC Assessment report, where it calls out
“Physical Science basis” for climate change at quicker global warming than anticipated. The envi-
ronmental degradation is the by-product of unsustainable trends in consumption and production
patterns of neo-liberal policy, which basically relies on a weak view of sustainability that assumes
that natural capital and man-made capital are essentially substitutable and there are no fundamental
differences between them for generating well-being.
He explains this phenomenon through a circular flow of global warming, economic growth leading
to co2 gases emission, which leads to rise in temperature, sea-level, which in turns Climate-change
imposes ecological and economic impacts & finally leading to need for Climate-change policies
reduce emissions which ultimately affects economic growth.
He then talks about the failed doctrine of Neo-classical economist, If one looks at carefully the eco-
nomic growth theories classical and neo-classical economists, the depend heavily on a few factors
of production (land, labor, capital and organization) or resources (man-made and human resources,
and grossly neglected the role or contribution of environmental resources including water, biodiver-
sity, climate, forests, soil, etc in economic growth story. Here, he talks about the important point of
how the assumption of Ceteris Paribus has led to the disastrous effect of otherwise well acclaimed
economic growth models.
Towards the final part of the session, Professor Raj points out how Climate change affects every-
one, however, the economic development has led to benefit a few & has been majorly unequal on
the part of distribution of income or benefits of development.Further, the climate change imposes
high social cost on the society and industries and corporate companies which cause climate change
hardly spend on mitigating climate change. The situation is generalised as “privatising the profits”
& “universalising or socialising pollution or losses”.

Day 4 - Session 4

The topic for this session was “Impact of COVID-19 on women entrepreneurship: An economic
analysis”, presented by Professor B Srinivas, Professor, Centre of Studies of Regional Develop-
ment, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi & was moderated by Mr. Dushyant Chawla. The ses-
sion begin explaining basic definition of Women Entrepreneurship (Women owned enterprises) be-
ing discussed. Thereafter, in the session a detail study containing a sample of 50 women en-
trepreneurs picked randomly from Rishikesh region (Uttarakhand) was discussed, a detailed sum-
mary of results around this was discussed. Major observations discussed were as follow: Women
Entrepreneur being at Double disadvantage - first, coming from the business level, where the
forced lockdown led to difficulties with their enterprises only, second, coming from household
level. Several non-parametric test were discussed as the sample wasn’t coming from a normally dis-
tributed population. Some of the major findings of the study were as follow: Most of the enterprises
which burnt the heat of the lockdown came from own proprietary category & majority of them were
less than 1 year old. Majority of the entrepreneurs witnessed two kind of blockages (Variables de-
veloped in the Principal Component Analysis) - first focussed on factors impacting directly on the
enterprises, crisis adding to additional cost & hitting the revenue, factors hitting the operations of
the business, low number of customers & higher transportation cost & second, which focussed on
backward & forward linkages with the enterprise & which were impact of covid on access to raw
material supplies, interruption in the channel of distribution, delayed credit recovery, getting credit
from suppliers more difficult, labour supply shortage due to reverse migration. It was a very infor-
mative session.

Day 5 - Session 1
The topic for this session was “Importance of Econometrics in Quantitative Research”, pre-
sented by Professor Subhrabaran Das, Department of Economics, Tripura University & was
moderated by Dr. Mahesh Kumar Shetty. In this session, Professor Das explains importance of
basic econometrics in quantitative research, he starts with a basic definition of Econometrics, it is
application of statistical & mathematical methods to analysis of economic data, with a purpose of
giving empirical content to economic theory, & thereby, start explaining the basic econometrics
model which is Classical Linear Regression Model (CLRM). He further elaborates on various other
kinds of econometrics model that exist - Cross-Section Analysis, Time Series Analysis, Panel Re-
gression Analysis & Simultaneous Equation Model (SEM). He thereby, explains aims & methodol-
ogy of econometrics, various steps involved in econometrics modelling - Economic theory using
priori information, testing it through a econometric model (some collected data), estimating the
model, diagnostic check & so on. Thereafter, he explains Type I & Type II error, ESS (Explained
sum of squares), RSS (Residual sum of squares), he also explains ‘p’ value & the rule of thumb in
rejecting a hypothesis or do not rejecting a hypothesis. He talks about calculated p value vs the table
p value & hence, where the model is statistically significant or not. He further moves from 2-vari-
able to a multiple variable case, thereby explaining additional concepts like adjusted R square & so
on. He also mentioned the limitation of R square, & why adjusted R square should be used as it
consider the model corrected for the degree of freedoms. Some glances of dummy variable model,
properties of CLRM model like no autocorrelation, linearity in parameters & so on. It is highly in-
formative session.

Day 5 - Session 2

The topic for this session was “Different Approaches and Research Methods in Social Sci-
ences”, presented by Professor Richa Sharma, Director, ICSSR, Delhi & moderated by Dr.
Manish Kumar. In the session, Professor Richa, talks about the importance of quantitative tools
like statistics, econometrics & other techniques in Social science research. She talks about how to
systematically investigate & understand various aspects of human society & behaviour. She talks
about each step of conducting research in detail - identifying the research problem, review of litera-
ture, formulating a hypothesis or research question, selecting research method to test that hypothe-
sis, collecting data on it, data analysis, interpreting findings & finally making conclusions based on
the evidence established. Thereby, discussing implications of the result established, further writing
research report, then having a peer review & revision of the same if needed, & finally publishing &
dissemination.
She also explained the difference between experiments vs research, questionnaire designing, vocab-
ulary design, developing tools, piloting & research writings & other aspects of social research.
Other important aspects to keep in mind while conducting research are as follow - Importance of 5
scale rating, following a proper citation rule,
She also discusses the difference between Research Approach Vs Method. Approach is the way you
are going to approach or go ahead with the project while Method is the way in which you are going
to complete the project. Surveys are example for both Approaches well as Methods. She also talks
about examples of methods & approaches - Observational Research (Method), case studies (Method
as well as approach), Content Analysis (Approach), Quantitative & Qualitative Research (both
Method & Approach) & so on.

Day 5 - Session 3

The topic for this session was “Vikasit Bharat @2047 : Role of NITI Aayog”, presented by Lt
Col (Dr.) Updesh Kumar Sharma, PhD & moderated by Dr. Manoj Kumar. In this session, Col
Updesh Kumar talks about detailed working of NITI Aayog, how there was transformation from
Planning commission to NITI Aayog & so on. He starts with a snapshot on Indian Economy, where
he points to various fact like our GDP being risen by 100X since independence, 500X increase in
Per Capita Income, 500X increase in Exports, 5th largest economy, 2nd largest working population
& so on & so forth. Then he talks about vision 2047, becoming 2nd largest economy, having a
growth rate in per capita income equivalent to 10X to $10000, growing exports by 12X further,
growing FDI 12X & GDP growth by 15X to $6.2 trillion. National Institution for Transforming In-
dia (NITI) Aayog, is a premier think tank which is providing directional & policy inputs, also ideat-
ing, incubating & curating cutting edge ideas & technologies & also actively strengthening coopera-
tive federalism. He explains the difference between vision (for a longer time horizon - 2017-18 to
2031-32), strategy - 7 year mid term strategy (smaller time horizon 2017-18 to 2023-24) & action
plan (immediate action plan - 3 year action plan).
Then he briefed us on the organisational structure of the NITI Aayog & some of the attached of-
fices/autonomous bodies like Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), Development Monitoring & Evalua-
tion Office (DMEO), National Institute of Labour Economics Research & Development (NILERD).
NITI Aayog mandate is divided into 4 parts - Working with states & Union Territories, Driving in-
formative transformative change, Monitoring & Evaluation & Promoting Knowledge & Innovation.

Day 5 - Session 4

The topic for this session was “Vulnerability and Resilience: Assessing Climate Change and Im-
pacts on Coastal Aquaculture Sustainability”, presented by Professor J. Sacratees Registrar,
M.S. University, Tirunelveli & moderated by Dr. Manokamana Ram. In this session, Professor
Sacratees talks about how climate change affects livelihood & ways of life. He starts his session by
taking about the importance of the Paris agreement on the climate change, thereby, he discusses the
importance of involving local stakeholders, market access & impact because of gender role & so on
was discussed. Coastal aquaculture, a critical component of global food production, is confronted
with escalating challenges due to climate change. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and
ocean acidification pose significant threats to the sustainability of aquaculture systems.
He further discusses the FAO report which highlighted highest marine fishery production in the
year 1980 & thereby having a gradual decline over the years since then. He also talks about the 6th
assessment report of the IPCC (2008) which extensively talked about urgent need for having an
ocean based approach. Vulnerability heightened in low-lying areas and densely populated coastal
regions. Cyclones, storms, and hurricanes pose immediate threats to aquaculture facilities, causing
infrastructure damage and loss of stock, vulnerability assessment based on historical climate pat-
terns and intensity were discussed briefly.
He then talked about the importance of the coastal aquaculture

Day 6 - Session 1

The topic for this session was “Advances in business cycle theories”, presented by Professor
Prof. M. P. Bezbaruah, Department of Economics, Gauhati University & moderated by Dr.
Maruthiah Pandian P. In this session, Professor Bezbaruah discusses the idea about the business
cycle, how they might be caused due to demand or supply side changes, how business cycles are
different from seasonal cycles & how they are self-correcting in nature through adjustments in
wages & prices. Thereafter, he talked about the exception to one such business cycle that occurred
in 1930’s in the form of the Great Depression, which also gave rise to Keynesian school of
thoughts, where it was established that wages & prices are rather sticky & some form of govern-
ment intervention is indeed required.
He thereby discusses the rise of monetarism (Milton Friedman) & how business cycle are caused as
a result of changes in monetary expansion or contraction. Friedman instead believed private
economies could be more stable & interventions could instead destabilise the markets. Here he also
talked about Lucas ineffectiveness hypothesis.
Thereafter in the session, Real Business Cycle (RBC) model with some basic assumptions was dis-
cussed. Some of the assumptions were relaxed & seen how the model changes & so on. He further
talked about the twin optimisation problem, impulse of the shock & propagation of cycles. He talks
about unemployment as a result of negative shock & as a voluntary choice (between work &
leisure) not to work. Professor Bezbaruah, further develops that the best policy is no policy & it is
in fact best to avoid generating negative shocks. Thereafter, he talked about price & wage stickiness
in greater depth, all of which was explained by efficient wage theory. He further explains business
cycle with the changes in labour productivity.

Day 6 - Session 2

The topic for this session was “Land Ownership in India”, presented by Professor Parmod Ku-
mar, Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, UP & moderated by Dr. Mitali
Dasgupta. In this session, Professor Parmod Kumar, begin the discussion on the very important is-
sue of land ownership vs tenancy. He first illustrates the state of agriculture in the country, where
the major drivers are technology, govt. policy, cropping patterns, environmental factors, market fac-
tors & the global factors. Further, major challenges faced by the sector were explained - small &
fragmented land holdings, shortage of good quality seeds especially for small & marginal farmers,
problems of irrigation, soil erosion & scarcity of capital. Professor Kumar further talked about pol-
icy reforms required in the sector - improvement on land titling, legalising & liberalising land leas-
ing, promoting land land share companies in agriculture & promotion of contractual farming.
He thereby, talked about the important issue of land titling, how we are following presumptive land
titling, cost & disadvantages attached with it Vs conclusive land titling (mostly followed in the west
& other developed countries). Here, he highlighted some of the major studies by RBI, Niti Aayog &
world bank reflecting on the point that land-related disputes leads to highest rate of inefficiencies in
the market. Professor Kumar, clearly highlights the need for clear land titling, In the current system,
ownership is granted based record of the property transaction between the buyer and the seller (reg-
istered sales deed). The buyer is not entitled to the previous ownership records of the property.
Hence, this system is called a presumptive one. In a conclusive titling system, the government pro-
vides guaranteed titles. These land records designate actual ownership.
He further talked about the issue of land tenancy in India, the existing system borrowed from Za-
mindari, Ryotwari & Mahalwari system. Thereby, he discusses various amendments brought to the
tenancy laws adopted by various states with the objectives of defining tenants, regulating rent, en-
suring security of tenure, strengthen landlord's right to resume leased land for personal cultivation,
conferment of ownership rights to tenants, giving up tenancy rights with mutual consent, prohibi-
tion of future tenancies, tenant's right of pre-emptive purchase, building up correct tenancy records,
to abolish oral tenancies & so on. Here, he also talked about various amendments brought by differ-
ent states & which laws are prevalent in which states too. He referred to a study by Mani (2015),
where we talked about positive correlation between increase in area under lease-in land and agricul-
tural GDP (Nominal) growth of various states of India. In the later part of the session, he talked
about the role of technology in agriculture, Malthus failure, BT Cotton, genetically modified tech-
nology & other such things.
In the final part of the session, he discusses some empirical findings from his study highlighting
various facts like how loan accessibility from both institutional as well non-institutional channels
were easily available to farmers with clear land titling vs not clear land titles. Similar was the scene
with crop insurance, Govt. schemes & other benefits.
Day 6 - Session 3

The topic for this session was “Market Failure and asymmetric information”, presented by Pro-
fessor Sugato Dasgupta, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences,
Jawaharlal Nehru University & moderated by Dr. Monikanda Prasad G. In this session, Profes-
sor Dasgupta, begin the discussion with market failure & asymmetric information.
He began the session explaining the 1st welfare theorem i.e. of fundamental result in welfare eco-
nomics and microeconomic theory. It is also known as the "Invisible Hand Theorem.” How market
allocates resources efficiently. Any other outcome would not be a Pareto optimal solution, in the
sense, let us say if there was a social planner allocating resources, someone might get better off but
at the cost of someone else, there is no possibility of making everyone better off. Consumers are
maximising their return, so are producers. Professor Dasgupta thereby, start relaxing some assump-
tions of the model & discusses how the outcome changes. At first, he talks about externalities - both
consumption externality & production externality. He thereafter takes about asymmetric informa-
tion & moral hazard, some of the other types of market failure. He further explains functionality of
the markets with the help of some of simple mathematical models. He mentions Akerlof’s lemon
model paper published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (QJE 1970) having more than 40K ci-
tations. He also talks about a very important aspect of “prices”, that how prices are just not a match
between demand & supply, how prices plays the role of aggregating information.
He talked about three very important characteristics of any commodity - Physical characterstics, lo-
cational characteristics & delivery characteristics, how they play such an important role in deter-
mining market equilibrium. He then also gave famous example from the market of peaches &
lemon (good & bad), role of signalling in removing asymmetry from the market & so on. It was re-
ally a very informative session, & we did brushed up our microeconomics foundation during the
session.

Day 6 - Session 4

The topic for this session was “Applicability of an Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL)
model in Non-Stationary Time Series”, presented by Professor Nand Kumar, Delhi Technical
University, Delhi & moderated by Dr. Murugeswari S. Professor Nand Kumar, started the session
with a basic introduction to types of data present in the econometrics analysis - cross-sectional data
(data collected for a number of variables at a particular point in time), time series data (data col-
lected for a particular variable over a period of time, say daily/weekly/quarterly/ annually) & panel
data (combination of time series & cross-sectional data leading to balanced as well as unbalanced
panel data sets). He thereby, talked about time-series data in particular & various kinds of data set
available under the time series data - Secular trend, a kind of time series data set which follows a
smooth & regular series over a long period of time, seasonal variation, a kind of data set where
there are periodic movements within a specific period of time, cyclical variations, something similar
to seasonal data sets but with oscillating movements not defined over any particular set in time & fi-
nally, irregular fluctuations, which are purely random and unpredictable in nature.
He thereby, talked about stochastic processes - stationary & non-stationary. Stochastic process were
explained as to be stationary if its mean and variance are constant over time and the value of the co-
variance between the two time periods depends only on the distance or gap or lag between the two
time periods and not the actual time at which the covariance is computed. Further, he explains Au-
toregressive character of time series model indicates that the present value of any variable is deter-
mined by the past values & some adjustment factor. Such adjustment factors are estimated from the
relation of current value with past values. If the current value is based solely on the immediate pre-
ceding value, it is termed as first order autoregressive, AR (1), and if it is based
on two preceding values, second order autoregressive, AR (2), and so on & so forth.
Professor Nand, then talked about Random Walk Model (without drift & with drift), explaining im-
portance of drift parameter (drift might be upward/downward depending upon the positivity/nega-
tivity of the the drift variable). He also talked about Unit root process/problems, ways to check sta-
tionarity of a a random walk model - Augmented Dickey-fuller test, KPSS Test & Phillips Perron
Test. He then talked about applicability, importance & individuality of each of the mentioned test.
In the final part of the session, Professor Nand talked about Cointegration technique, difference be-
tween correlation vs causation vs cointegration. He concluded the session mentioning one of his
study, where he built an ARDL model & performed all the test to check for plausibility of the
model & concluded results.

Day 7 - Session 1

The topic for this session was “De-centralisation of governance and rural development”, pre-
sented by Professor D. Rajasekhar, Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Ben-
galuru & moderated by Dr. Poonam. Professor Rajasekhar, started the session with the definition
of decentralisation, need for decentralisation, conceptual framework of decentralisation & develop-
ment & how it had positive impact on some economies while it had negative on others. He thereby,
defines Decentralisation as an “act or process of giving some of the power of a central government,
organisation to smaller parts or organisation around the country”. It is an antonym of centralisation.
Transfer of political, administrative & fiscal responsibilities from the centre to local organisations -
these are the kind of changes decentralisation demands. He talked about 4 basic levels at the local
government level, he further talked about principle of subsidiarity (on what basis this transfer of
powers should happen) which should actually happened on the basis of goods delivered.
He furthers add that mere transfer of powers is not decentralisation, but an important component of
decentralisation is involvement of people at the local level, this participation in the decision making,
empowerment of the community & democratisation of the society. Decentralisation is meaningful
only if people seize the opportunities, participate in the decision making on service delivery & local
development, Assert their rights & entitlements. Here is also talked about a concept called deliber-
ate democracy (deliberation leading to consensus-based decision making), this happens for im-
proved service delivery & local development. He further added certain ways to strengthen decen-
tralisation - participating in village assemblies, voting in elections, & so on. These measures are in-
tended to bring better accountability.
The need for decentralisation was discussed, following factors were considered in this regard-
knowledge & sensitivity to the local problems & needs, greater political & administrative penetra-
tion of national government policies, greater representation for political, religious, tribal, ethnic
group in the decision making, political stability & national unity, participation of citizens in the de-
velopment planning & management, development of flexible.

He thereby, discusses the impact of decentralisation on development - political impact, participa-

tion, voiceless/vulnerable section, poverty reduction. Economic impact, efficiency & better target-
ing, access to services, poverty reduction.

Day 7 - Session 2

The topic for this session was “Development Experiences in Northeast India”, presented by Prof.
Indraneel Bhowmik, Director, Department of Economics, Tripura University & moderated by
Dr. Niharika Biswal. Professor Rajasekhar, started the session with a broad view of North Eastern
Region, its demographic features, economic history & strategic importance of the region. Important
salient features of the region were discussed - lagged growth, out-migration low-level of equilib-
rium, Agrarian economy (Jhum - Production), its strategic importance, (in)formal border trade, Im-
provement in modern times.

Hevea Brasiliensis (Natural Rubber) which is majorly extracted from the Amazon forest in the west
(being dried up from the original source), has large supply in the North East Region. And it is be-
cause of presence of it how things are getting changed there. The North East region collectively
hold 2% of the entire country’s population, but 8% of the, the entire region is Multi-ethnic Multi-
lingual & Multi-cultural. It has a Low per capita income & SGDP (though Arunachal Pradesh &
Mizoram have higher income as compared with other parts of the region) as compared with the
other states in the country, & still is highly agrarian. Professor Bhowmik talked about the concept of
“Resource curse”, being one of the primary reason for areas backwardness.

In the later half of the session, Professor Bhowmik, talked about the Rubber sector in India, its main
salient features - agro-plantation based Natural Rubber producing areas, Consumption sector con-
sisting of rubber goods manufacturing industries, Rubber board of India & Size of the rubber mar-
ket in India (Approx. Rs 165000 Crores). He discusses the fact like India being 2nd largest Natural
rubber producer & largest natural rubber consumer. Professor Bhowmik, also talked about Status
Report-1, which highlighted how India is losing its position as a Natural Rubber producer to Viet-
nam (Production peaked in 2012-13 & witnessed a drastic fall in 2015-16). He thereafter talked
about need for more central & state intervention in transforming cultivation practices. Tripura is
also considered as “Second Rubber Capital of India”. Here also laid stress on missing of important
institutional framework (something which is present in Kerala) & its importance in production. It
was a very informative session on North Eastern Region.

Day 7 - Session 3

The topic for this session was “Industrial development in India”, presented by Professor R Na-
graj, Distinguish Professor CDS Kerala & moderated by Dr. N.Smitha. In this session,
Professor Nagraj talked about recent trends with regards to the Industrial development in India. He
began the session by talking about assertions made by Dr. Subramanyam, Chief Economic Advisor,
of how the Indian economy has been put on the auto pilot mode with respect to industrial invest-
ments. Professor Nagraj, on the contrary makes a remark with respect to recent trends on industrial
development, & discusses the need for tempering the euphoria on that front, as he points out that
economic growth in the second half of the 2010’s had slowed down (Post 2016-17), India is wit-
nessing a premature deindustrialisation, which was visible through the multiple statistics presented
by him.

A fall in the level of industrial activities, a sharp rise in unemployment, rising rates of rural poverty
& malnutrition & so on (at the level of investments, workforce participation & falling to constant
share in the GDP). He also discusses how share of Indian manufacturing in the GDP has been sub-
stantially low as compared to other industrialised economies. In fact, he also points out how India
has become an import dependent economy between 2005-06 to 2020-21, where the share of imports
from China rose seven times while its exports increased only twice in the same period. Also, how
during Covid India launched “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhivan” - and restricted Chinese imports - but
soon reversed it, as it hurt domestic production.

He talks about a very important point that how fall in saving rates post 2010’s would result in re-
striction in growth rate, he also presented the fact that share of manufacturing in fixed investments
is falling constantly overtime. Professor Nagraj, thereby discusses trends in FDI & Capital markets.
In principle, FDI leads to capital formation, brings in technology and superior managerial practices.
But in reality - most of FDI has gone to acquire existing productive assets, firms and brands in India
(Brownfield investments instead of Greenfield investments).

He concludes his session with providing the following policy options - Private sector is still shy of
committing large investment for lack of policy certainty, despite falling Banking sector's NPAs,
Hence govt has to step-up investment in wide range of industries. But Govt remains fiscally conser-
vative - sticking to fiscal deficit target. Govt needs to be bold in view of the decade long decline in
investment rate and premature deindustrialization. India has to reimagine industrial policy and boost
domestic investment to consciously reduce the import dependence. It is perhaps not a time to persist
with fiscal conservatism. Govt. borrowing for committed investment with assured demand may not
add to inflation.

Day 7 - Session 4

The topic for this session was “India’s recent monetary policy and challenges”, presented by Dr.
Rajmal, Director, DEPR, RBI, Delhi & moderated by Dr. Pratap Kumar Jena. The session was
divided into 4 parts, monetary policy framework, recent developments in the monetary policy, gen-
eral macroeconomics outlook & finally the macroeconomics challenges faced by the country. RBI
adopted a flexible inflation targeting (FIT) in 2016. He thereby, discussed the primary objective of
monetary policy which is to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth.
He explained how FIT is achieved using policy repo rates based on the periodic macroeconomic as-
sessment of the economy. In India, FIT is based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers where the
target is 4% (+/-2%). The key aspects of the FIT approach is its transparency, Credibility, Account-
ability & its forward looking approach. He thereby, explained the detailed formation & working of
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). MPC consists of 6 members for a period of 5 years, which in-
cludes RBI Governor, Deputy Governor, One RBI Officer & 2 persons from Academics. Each
member consisting of one vote each. He further explained how these members meet periodically in
their bi-monthly meet to decide on the policy rate to FIT.

He further discusses the list of countries which followed the same FIT approach in monetary policy.
He also shared details of various developed countries, their FIT targets, how they are achieving it &
their general performance in achieving FIT. Dr. Rajmal, further in the session discusses the impor-
tant aspects of growth & inflation, linkages between the two & how policy rates are used in such a
scenario to achieve FIT. He further talked about tools which were used under the monetary policy
to achieve their targets - Direct Instruments, Indirect Instruments & Open Market Operations
(OMOs). Major instruments used by RBI are - Repo rate, Standing Deposit Facility, Marginal
Standing facility, Liquidity Adjustment facility, LAF Corridor, Repo Rate, Reverse Repo Rate,
CRR, Fine tuning operations & so on.

He explained how changes in policy rates or repo rates or through other discussed instruments af-
fects money market rates, which in turn affects G-Sec yields, affecting the lending & borrowing rate
which ultimately affects the Aggregate Demand & eventually leads to price stability.

In the final section, Professor Rajmal discussed the recent policy & other rates of the economy. He
also presented an assessment of the Global Economy (The uncertainty about the monetary policy
trajectory is imparting volatility to global financial markets). vs the Domestic Economy (Strong
macroeconomic fundamental. Large supply shocks are, however, leading to recurrent bouts of infla-
tion and pose challenge to the overall outlook). He concludes the session by stating that the current
Indian banking system remains resilient with improve asset quality, stable credit growth, robust
earning growth & broad-based credit growth backed by strong fundamentals of financial institu-
tions.

Day 8 - Session 1

The topic for this session was “Market regulation in India and its emerging dimensions”, pre-
sented by Dr. Bidyadhar Majhi, Director, Advisor, Competition Commission of India & mod-
erated by Dr. Priti Gupta. In this session, Dr. Majhi divided his session into 4 broad topics - neces-
sity of market regulation, types of school of thoughts that exist under market regulation (Public In-
terest & Capture theories), Economic Philosophy of competition regulation & Competition regula-
tion with reference to Indian context. He also talked about some of the areas of concerns in the In-
dian regulatory governance, these are, prevention of market failure, removal of anti-competitive
practices & promotion of public interest. He discusses the three broad kind of economies - Free
Economy (Without any government intervention, more of capitalistic in nature), Command & Con-
trol Economy (With complete government control) & finally the mixed economy. Under this he ex-
plains, how command & control economy does not require any form of regulation & how free econ-
omy requires the most regulation.

He thereby, discusses two major school of thoughts in the scope of regulation - Public Interest
(which was propagated by famous Economist Pigou,), where the sole objective of regulation is to
improve the equity & Capture theories (propounded in 1970’s), where the sole objective of regula-
tion is to benefit for a selected interest group (and not equity).Dr. Mahi further talked about compe-
tition as the first order importance in the theory of state in a liberal market economy. He adds on the
point that greater would be the level of competition, greater would be benefits for the customers
(given market is not a natural monopoly, where regulation is applied differently). And sometimes
it's even the situation that some government policies to require regulation over time & space.

Thereafter, he talked about Ex-post regulations, which are primarily used in prohibition of anti-
competitive agreements & abuse of dominance by enterprises. Whereas Ex-ante regulation are used
in the case of Acquisition, merger & amalgamation. Here, Per se vs Rule of reason is compared,
where Per se refers to situations in which there is no need to prove anti-competitive effects while in
Rule of reason there is a need to prove appreciable adverse effects on competition- pro and anti-
competitive effects evaluation. In the final section, Dr. Majhi talked about competition regulation
being an issue in the informal section - while such informal markets are largely competitive, with
little supply barriers, relatively stable prices & supply surplus & over capacity. However, if need
arise it is equally difficult to implement regulations in such sectors because of difficulty in investi-
gation, small & mobile size, hence, likelihood of payment of penalty is less owing to
insignificant asset size. He finally discusses how Unfair Competition Impacts Economic Growth as
Informality results in vicious circle of declining tax revenues and an increasing tax burden on the
formal firms which in turn harm the productivity advantage of formal firms as well as the incentive
to innovate and invest & Inadequate tax revenue compel governments to borrow to finance the pub-
lic expenditures which in turn enlarges the inflationary gap and results in economic instability.

Day 8 - Session 2

The topic for this session was “Agricultural Credit in India: Status and Way Forward”, pre-
sented by Dr. Ashutosh Kumar, NABARD, Mumbai & moderated by Dr. Raj Yadav. In this
session, Dr. Ashutosh talks about an important point i.e. importance of credit as a vital input for
agriculture. He thereby, thereby explains the priority sector lending, lending made to agriculture &
allied activities, for educational purposes, housing & so on. RBI has strong proposition when it
comes about Priority sector lender, all the schedule commercial banks are mandatorily required to
make 40% of all their loans to the Priority sector (out of Rs 100 deposited in a bank, Schedule com-
mercial bank is required to lend Rs 40 into Priority sector). Priority sector is given so much impor-
tance as it generates massive employment in the country (54% currently) & also leads to equitable
resource allocation. He thereby, discusses various kind of agricultural credits needs of the farmer -
Short term, for meeting the working capital requirement & long term, for asset creation & capital
formation (this kind of financing enhances efficiency of the sector and have a permanent impact on
farmer’s income). Dr. Ashutosh, then discusses the agencies purveying agricultural credit - Sched-
ule commercial banks (Private Banks & Public Banks), RRBs (Regional Rural Banks) - these came
in existence in 1975, Cooperative Banks - which were further divided into two categories - Long
term (2 Tier) & Short term (3 Tier) (Consisting of State cooperative banks, District Cooperative
banks & Village cooperative banks).

Dr. Ashutosh uses data from secondary sources like Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare,
Department of agriculture & farmers welfare, GOI, RBI, NABARD & other published sources to
analysis trends in agricultural credit & suggest steps to improve the livelihood of people engaged
in this sector. The time period for analysis was between 2011-12 to 2022-23. He also mentioned im-
portant literatures in the segment, Maurya, & Vishwakarma, (2021), Meenakshi, & Pranav (2018),
NAFIS, NABARD (2018),Bathala et al. (2022),Ramakumar and Chavan (2007) & Rakesh Mohan
(2006). He demonstrates following results - The GLC to agriculture increased from
Rs 5.11 lakh crore in 2011-12 to Rs 18.63 lakh crore in 2021-22 at a CAGR of 12.8 %. The ratio of
agricultural credit to total Gross Value Added (GA) has increased from 6.30% in 2011-12 to 8.72%
in 2021-22. Agricultural credit per hectare, increased from 726,100 in 2011-12 to {93,210 in 2021-
22 indicating the growing importance of credit in ensuring the availability of purchased inputs
in this sector. The highest target of 215 lakh (75%) has been given to Commercial Banks, followed
by Cooperative Banks (13.1%) and RRBs (11.95%). As regards the growth of total agricultural
credit, it has grown at a CAGR of 12.8%. And some other major results.

In the last session, he talked about various steps & initiatives taken up by RBI & NABARD to im-
prove credit facilities for the agricultural sector - Major Special refinance scheme for RBs, RCBs,
and NABARD subsidiaries introduced in FY2022 to encourage RFIs to fund post-harvest manage-
ment infrastructure and community farming assets projects under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
(AIF). To enhance the credit absorption capacity of rural population, NABARD initiated a product
called as Rural Infrastructure Assistance to State Governments (RIAS) for providing financial assis-
tance for creating infrastructure to support rural livelihoods in Eastern states. Monitoring saturation
drive of Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) to provide adequate and timely bank credit to farmers under a
single window for cultivation, animal husbandry and fisheries. Some policy suggestion to enhance
outreach of rural financial institutions, addressing demand side challenges & addressing basic struc-
tural issues were finally presented in the session.

Day 8 - Session 3

The topic for this session was “Contemporary Relevance of Economic Thoughts of Pandit Deen
Dayal Upadhyay”, presented by Professor Ashutosh Sinha, Avadh University, Ayodhya &
moderated by Dr. C Jayashree. In this session, Professor Ashutosh talked extensively about Pandit
Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU). He briefed us about the life history of Pandit DDU, the principles on
which he believed, though he wasn’t a trained economist but had strong ideas on how to shape
economy & choose inclusive development which could have positive impact on the entire Indian
population. Pandit Deendayal Upadhayaya was an exceptional organizer, a thinker par excellence,
an outstanding individual and a great soul who dedicated his entire life for the service of the nation
and promotion of Indian culture and philosophy. His greatest gift to the nation is the philosophy of
integral humanism which offers a unique solution to all the problems faced by humans whether so-
cial, political or economic and is truly a panacea for all ills. His contributions have left an indelible
impression on not only Indian sociopolitical but economic system as well and his legacy continues
till date. Professor Ashutosh, talks extensively about the life of Pandit DDU, his scholarly achieve-
ment in early life, his choice of subjects - Mathematics, Sanskrit, English & Hindi, his association
with the Bhartiya Jan Sangh since its inception, his rising to the ranks of secretary at an early age.
He also talked about his major publications - Rastradharma, Panchjanya, Samrat Chandragupta, Ja-
gadguru Shri Shankaracharya.

He discusses the concept of 4 fold happiness which is attached with - Intellect, mind, body & soul
(and how this was different from Western philosophy of happiness, where only mind & body are
considered).