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Is it overconfidence or sheer coincidence? Just after losing the Assembly elections in four States, the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre is organising a major economic conclave with the theme being, ‘The Agenda for the Next Five Years’.
The fourth edition of the Delhi Economic Conclave will be inaugurated by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on December 11.
Justifying the theme, a Finance Ministry official said with general elections round the corner, the theme is most appropriate. But on whether deliberations and suggestions from such meetings will have any impact on policy-making, the official remained non-committal.
The Ministry official also could not list any suggestions from previous editions of the conclave that were adopted or implemented by the Government.
Ironically, among the special speakers at the conclave will be world-renowned economist Jagdish N. Bhagwati of Columbia University who is considered to be a supporter of Gujarat model of development. In fact, earlier this year, his spat with Noble Laureate Amartya Sen over development issues hogged headlines.
During the conclave, Bhagwati will speak on: “How we assaulted poverty through growth-enhancing economic reforms and what we need to do prevent a relapse’.
In a recent article Bhagwati wrote, “The United Progressive Alliance government is now poised to damage the economy, and to harm the poor as in the pre-1991 reforms years, because its near-paralysis on Track I reforms has meant that revenue growth has slowed too, making it more difficult to finance the Track II reforms on health, education and PDS expansion for the poor.”
He also stated that owing to electoral pressures and with the populist rationales provided by the likes of Amartya Sen, the expenditures on Track II policies are set to go up this year.
The December 11 event will also be addressed by Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council C. Rangarajan, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot and Road Minister Oscar Fernandes.
Gita Gopinath and Nathan Nunn from Harvard University, and Ruth Kattumuri of the London School of Economics, are the other special speakers.
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