22nd ANNUAL WINTER CONFERENCE
TOPIC - INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
The editorial board of Ramjas Economic Review, in collaboration with The Ramjas Economics Society organised the 22nd Annual Winter Conference with the theme ‘Inclusive Development and Economic Growth’. After much deliberation, the editorial board chose a topic which was a fairly broad one. This helped our panelists, Professor Ishan Anand and Mr. Roshan Kishore, streamline the discussion into a category of their choosing. Both panelists at the Annual Winter Conference 2024 were Alumnus of Ramjas College, Delhi University.
Roshan Kishore is a prominent figure in the field of journalism and political economy, currently serving as the Data and Political Editor at Hindustan Times, one of India’s leading newspapers. His coverage primarily focuses on critical areas such as finance, the economy, government policies and political dynamics in India. After graduating from the Department of Economics at Ramjas college in 2004, he pursued a Master of Philosophy degree in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Dr. Ishan Anand is an assistant professor of economics at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. His areas of interest are inequality, caste, agriculture, and development. As a recipient of the World Bank Robert S McNamara fellowship, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Anand completed his bachelors in economics from Ramjas in 2009. He also has a PhD and MPhil in Economics from Jawaharlal Lal Nehru University along with his MA in Economics from the University of Hyderabad.
The discussion began with Mr. Roshan Kishore shedding light on the topic from the point of view of a journalist. He focused his discussion on inclusive development and employment share. He shared how the sectors that drive growth employ very less people. This reflected in the data he shared about employment patterns. The data for agriculture was certainly an alarming one, almost half of the workforce works in a sector that contributes only 5% to the GVA. Income inequality and the urban-rural divide are extremely high today. The discussion then led to a talk on the political economy. There is a class divide on opinions on the current government’s economic policy.
The talk was followed by a brief question and answer session by the audience. Interesting questions relating to the gig economy, Uniform Civil Code and fiscal federalism were raised.
Dr. Ishan Anand’s talk was more research oriented with focus on data from the Madison project and our world in data. He correlated life expectancy and GDP and showed us discrepancies in our belief that a higher GDP leads to an increase in life expectancy with an example from the US economy where the life expectancy has actually fallen despite rise in income. According to him, the aggregate demand indicators might be misleading. The development strategy followed by the government must be broad with a wide umbrella. It is necessary to recognize the historical transmission of disadvantages and provide freedom to the people.
After the AWC, the paper presentation competition was held on 25th February. Students from various colleges over South Asia presented their research papers on wide ranging topics like cycle tourism, Correlation between Orphanhood and Nutritional and Educational Disparities and Global stock markets. The competition was judged by the faculty members of the Department of Economics, Ramjas College who were very impressed by the participants. After presenting their case, each team had to answer a string of questions put forth by both the judges and the audience. After much deliberation, the paper titled “Can Orphanhood Explain Nutritional & Educational Disparities? Empirical Evidence from India” by Ayush Shahi and Rishika Jain was declared as the winner of the competitions.