New Delhi: Delivering the Fifth Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew Annual in Jamia Millia Islamia, Mr. Swaminathan S.A. Aiyer, a noted economist, said that “generation after generation of Indians have grown up without understanding that barely 50 years ago India was a nation that survived on foreign aid and had a 'Ship-to-mouth' existence.
Mr. Aiyar, a renowned columnist, averred that “poor governance, problems of neo-liberalization and the tardy implementation of policies have prompted companies like Apollo Tyres and Tata Group of Companies to make offshore investments owing to investment friendly regimes notwithstanding recession. A case in point is the Tata Group which is, in fact, the largest employer in the UK today.”
Aiyar said that the decline of female participation in the work force in India is also a matter of deep concern and is possibly the lowest in the world in urban areas at 18%. About 45 million women had left the overall work force in the past years due to varying reasons of social pressures, unfriendly attitudes, anti-women approaches and lack of safety at the work place thereby causing families to lose out on additional incomes.
Referring to the controversy about the Tendulkar method of assessing poverty, Mr. Aiyar said it was almost the same as that set by the World Bank for acute poverty (1 US dollar or Rs. 61.97). He emphasized that reforms in social, political, governance, administration, judicial and police were prerequisite if economic reforms were to be sustained.
Aiyar's talk was well attended and was chaired by Dr. Jaimini Bhagwati who recently retired as India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and as a development economist currently with ICRIER.
Prof. S.M. Sajid, Vice Chancellor, JMI and Prof. Sanjoy Hazarika, who holds Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew Chair and also Director, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, JMI delivered remarks at the event.
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