What we need are better educated economists, said Jairam Ramesh at a panel on the subject 'Do we need more Indian-educated economists' at the ThinkEdu 2018 Conclave. "Max Mueller never came to India, wasn't educated in India and isn't an Indian, but his work continues to be quoted to this day. There are many people who are not Indian educated who know India much better." he added. The former Union minister was the first to address the audience after the chair, Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-Convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch introduced the panel.
"What we need are individuals who are more sensitive to Indian conditions and our lifestyle; who are willing to spend a lifetime working on the complex problems of our economy and are able to change their mind depending on the circumstances which they confront on the field," he explained. Ramesh followed up by emphasising that the only way to move forward within the profession would be to revamp and restructure Economics education in Indian universities, putting a premium on scholarships and securing first class faculty members.
Ramesh cited various examples of Indian and foreign-educated economists like Manmohan Singh, Subramanian Swamy and his co-panelist and former RBI Governor, YV Reddy who is an Indian educated economist. Reddy took the stage and explained, "Most prominent economists are Indian educated and they have proved with their role in our economy that they excel at what they do. But this type of prejudice that makes us think that those who are foreign-educated are not Indian is a mindset that we need to get out of." He explained that the the profession stands apart as an industry within itself and as one that has also branched out. "The biggest problem that advisory economists face is that they have been unable to separate economics and politics in recent years," he added.
"Education is not the problem, what this conversation has to be about his experience. In this perspective, we have resident economists and tourist economists," explained Praveen Chakravarty, Resident Senior Fellow at IDFC Institute. "Today we live in a global economy and it is critical for us to deal with the IMF, foreign investment or the World Bank. This is why it becomes important to have a broad understanding. This is why it is important to have experience," he concluded.
