In search of the a real “Doyen”!

Delhi School of Economics Prof Pulin B Nayak writes in today’s ET that “Prof Chelliah was decidedly different. Nor did he have any propensity towards or time for political sloganeering. He wanted to employ the body of academic knowledge in the era of post-Keynesian macroeconomic and fiscal policy making to make a difference to the human condition in his home country. But for this it was vital that he must return home.”  

Except the tax reform he is not able to site a single research paper which breaks the usual thoughts of other Indian economists. I never heard (I am may be mistaken) of telling anyone that Prof Chelliah was a great Indian reform team! Even when he was alive forget about now. 

I respect him a lot as a human being but I am unable to take any of his ideas/suggestions. Of course he was not outside of socialist economists as Mr Nayak writes “He wanted to employ the body of academic knowledge in the era of post-Keynesian macroeconomic”s. 

Further, Mr Nayak says quite unconvincingly that “The only thing that ever mattered was the academic merit of an individual, regardless of region, linguistic background, sex, religion or caste.”  I guess, he perhaps never heard of what one of greatest 20^th century economists and economics Nobel laureate F A Hayek said “Differences in wealth, education, tradition, religion, language or race may today become the cause of differential treatment on the pretext of a pretended principle of social justice or of public necessity. Once such discrimination is recognised as legitimate, all the safeguards of individual freedom of the liberal tradition are gone”.

Dr Subroto Roy on Dr Raja Chelliah

He writes with a dimmed mind by remembering his meeting with Dr Raja that “The institute he founded appears to consist mostly of a name and some buildings and a lot of wasteful bureaucratic public expenditure as is typical of the new Dilli Raj of recent decades.   I recall a heated discussion with two of his successors there in the late 1990s in which they somehow attempted to say they were beyond Government of India control and could do as they pleased (which they had in fact proceeded to do).  Neither could be said to have been familiar with Indian public finance data at the degree of precision necessary to grasp  the fiscal problems Dr Chelliah had warned against.  Like the Planning Commission and similar sets of public buildings, it is all mostly a waste;   Delhi’s “think tanks” have been largely incapable of any real thought.” 

In fact the same point was already raised by another economist Suman Bery, who is also head of NCAER.

Economist Raja Chelliah passes away

I had opportunity to see economist Mr Raja Chelliah at Madras School of Economic and during some conferences. Today’s there is a new which says “Renowned economist Raja Chelliah passes away”.