Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | New angle in Nitish Kumar-Narendra Modi fight: Academic brawl takes political hues-Ullekh NP

New angle in Nitish Kumar-Narendra Modi fight: Academic brawl takes political hues-Ullekh NP

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jul 18, 2013   modified Modified on Jul 18, 2013
-The Economic Times


NEW DELHI: What happens when academic rivalry spills over into the political arena? A riveting contest ensues, if the one being played out in the run-up to the general elections along with the Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar showdown is any indication.

While the Jagdish Bhagwati-Arvind Panagariya combo - both professors of economics at Columbia University - are packing a fair punch, Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen is ducking and dodging, but without ceding turf. The Bhagwati-Panagariya duo is unapologetically in favour of Gujarat CM and BJP's poster boy Narendra Modi. "We are impressed by Modi's economics," they said in an interview to ET. Sen, on the other hand, has let his actions do the talking: a few months ago, he slammed opposition lawmakers bent upon "disrupting" Parliament and stated that they were guilty for the deaths being caused by non-passage of the Food Security Bill, suggesting that the government take the "ordinance route" - which it subsequently did.

With the Congress warming up to Kumar's JD (U), which recently snapped its 17-year-old ties with the BJP, a book on the Bihar model of development - titled 'New Bihar' - in which Sen is one of the contributors, is slated to be released by president Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday. The book, edited by JD (U)'s member of Parliament NK Singh, will be released at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, where Congress leaders are expected to turn up in large numbers.

Bhagwati has often invited Sen for an open debate on whether it is growth or investment in human capabilities that will result in development. With both sides treating it as the chick-or-egg argument, what becomes significant clearly is the political hue the arguments have acquired.

Sen has refused to be drawn into a debate of sorts - the author of 'The Argumentative Indian' maintains he is not interested in a brawl. "Jagdish has tried it many times, but I have never said a thing about him," Sen told ET recently. The debate is nonetheless fast turning into an academic brawl.

Late last year, in their book 'India's Tryst With Destiny: Debunking Myths That Undermine Progress and Addressing New Challenges', Bhagwati and Panagariya brought back to the fore the Kerala Model vs Gujarat Model debate. Sen had often lapped up what he called "Kerala experience" - state-driven development - as a role model for other Indian states. In Bhagwati-Panagariya's book, the "Kerala Model" is a metaphor for a primarily redistribution and state-driven development while the "Gujarat Model" is a metaphor for development driven primarily by growth and private-entrepreneurship. Opposing Sen's "anti-growth assertions", the authors argued that growth is the single most important instrument of poverty reduction and that India needs both to accelerate growth.

Sen, who refused to be drawn into a debate over the issue, however, came up with a book that he co-authored with eminent economist and former NAC member Jean Dreze. 'Uncertain Glory', their book, argues that the feasibility of high economic growth is threatened by the underdevelopment of social and physical infrastructure and the neglect of human capabilities, in contrast with the Asian approach of simultaneous pursuit of economic growth and human development, as pioneered by Japan, South Korea and China.

Evidently, that was a strong riposte to 'India's Tryst With Destiny'.

Meanwhile, the attack from Bhagwati & Co has continued unabated. In a recent interview with ET, Bhagwati said, "You must ask Professor Sen, not me, why he will not engage in a debate with me, even though he has been invited to do so by others. After all, he is the one who used the phrase "argumentative Indian" to describe Indians." Bhagwati has also attacked Sen over his recent "obsessions" with Bangladesh and China, countries lauded by Sen for greater state participation in health care, education, etc. "An educated and healthy workforce brings economic growth and for that we need a fundamental change," Sen said. In the face of attack from his rivals such as Bhagwati over "pamphleteering", Sen has said that "Jagdish may be interested in talking about me, but I am not interested in talking about him".

Bhagwati and Panagariya have launched their book overseas with a different title, 'Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries'. Dreze and Sen will launch their book, 'Uncertain Glory', in Delhi on Monday.


The Economic Times, 18 July, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/new-angle-in-nitish-kumar-narendra-modi-fight-academic-brawl-takes-political-hues/articleshow/21133902.c


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close