Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati is the director of the Center.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: India’s minister for finance, corporate affairs, and information and broadcasting Arun Jaitley will be the keynote speaker at the inauguration of the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at Columbia University, headed by Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati as its director, on October 5th.
Arun Kumar Singh, Ambassador of India to the United States, will also be present for the event at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), at Columbia University.
The new Center, the first of its kind in the US, will provide research and expertise necessary to inform policy decisions, deliver increased prosperity, and define India’s future role in the global economy, according to a press release.
The Center will also make comparative study of the experience of India and the United States in policy-relevant areas such as climate change and federalism, providing scholarly support for bilateral and multilateral initiatives.
The Center will pursue this work through research projects, high-visibility programs, publications, and events.
Pravin Krishna, the Chung Ju Yung Distinguished Professor of International Economics and Business at Johns Hopkins University, will serve as deputy director of the Center. Arvind Panagariya, a noted economist and SIPA professor who is currently serving in the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, led efforts to establish the Center.
“We are deeply grateful to Deepak and Neera Raj for their generous support of SIPA’s efforts in this vitally important field of inquiry,” said SIPA Dean Merit E. Janow, in a statement. “By supporting critical research and scholarship, programming, and more, the new Center will underscore SIPA’s leadership in this area of research and enhance curricular offerings and opportunities for students.”
Deepak Raj, who is managing director of the private investment firms Rush Brook Partners and Raj Associates, said in a statement: “The Indian economy is at a critical juncture and we hope that the center’s highly capable leadership will provide research and expertise to help India grow. I am thrilled that an internationally renowned expert and an iconic figure in economics, Professor Jagdish Bhagwati, has agreed to be the first director of the center.”
Bhagwati, who has been called the most creative international trade theorist of his generation, is a world-renowned scholar of international trade who has long advocated for freer trade around the world. A longtime Columbia faculty member, Bhagwati has advised the GATT, WTO, UN, and other international bodies. He is the author of numerous books and the recipient of multiple prizes, honorary degrees, and government honors.
“The transformation and growth of India’s economy remains as compelling and important a subject today as it has been for many decades,” said Bhagwati. “As a new government pursues landmark reforms, this is an especially auspicious time to be launching a center devoted to the challenging policy questions that will shape the world’s largest democracy and strive to provide better living standards for untold millions.”
Panagariya said in a statement: “The Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies is positioned to play a key role in convening discussion and policy-relevant research related to development of Indian economic policy.”
Jaitley is no stranger to Columbia University. Earlier this year, in March, just two days after he had released India’s budget, he had addressed a packed house at the Kellogg Center.
In that speech, Jaitley had emphasized that it was critical for India to sustain its growth, at 9 or 10 percent a year, and continue with that for at least 10 years. That would, in effect, create a better infrastructure in the country and bring down poverty rates, he said.
Jaitley will visit Peru after his trip to the US, where he will attend the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) meetings to be held in Lima, from October 9-11.
Jaitley will be joined in Lima by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian.
Jaitley will also participate in the G-20 finance ministers’ meeting and BRICS finance ministers meeting on the sidelines of the IMF and WB meetings.