Economic Conclave 2021: Policies at the Intersection of Society and Economy
The event saw active participation from students and senior academicians from several universities and institutions across India. The event was flagged off by a panel discussion by two renowned academicians- Prof. N.R. Bhanumurthy (Vice-Chancellor of Bengaluru, Dr B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics University) and Dr Sandeep Shastri (Vice-Chancellor, Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal). Ms Remya Nair, a senior journalist, who is currently a senior associate editor with The Print had joined the panel as the moderator. The director of the University, Fr. Dr Jossy George, delivered the presidential address of the event after the Head of the Dept. of Data Science, Dr Samiksha Shukla had welcomed the gathering. Ms Prerona Baruah, faculty member, Dept. of Data Science, introduced the panellists and Moderator. As the session progressed, the invited speakers addressed the attendees with their differing views on contemporary developments in the Indian economy.
Prof. Bhanumurthy explained the importance of quality of expenditure for effective fiscal and monetary policy coordination and pointed out how the 2021-22 budget has been all about improving the quality of expenditure. "The need of the hour for this budget is to address the problems of aggregate demand and budget deficit" he remarked and added that “Post Covid-19 pandemic, fiscal policy is the strongest and the most important tool for the economy”. He also stressed that if the government continues to spend on government consumption expenditure, it could lead to an increase in inflation. He explained that while public investment has a fiscal multiplier of 2.45, it is less than 1 for government consumption expenditure. Dr Sandeep Shastri explained why economic issues do not play a prominent role in general elections. He said that issues like employment and price rise are more important in state elections rather than in general elections. Citing a recent survey conducted after the peak of the pandemic by Lokniti, Dr Shastri said that even though people faced substantial hardships due to Covid-19, electorates were largely satisfied with both the central and the state governments. He pointed out that it takes a lot of time and problems for the electorate to say that they are dissatisfied with their government. He attributed this to the 'resilience' of the Indian population. Speaking about society and economy, Dr Sandeep Shastri stressed on looking at development from broader contours and perspectives. He argued that the centre of India is not the Centre, but instead the states. Referring to the gap between reality and rhetoric, he said that ‘We always see a gap between promise and reality. Discussing further the Union Budget, he specifically highlighted how there is an observant wide gap among the development expenditure as compared to the non-development expenditure categories.
In the afternoon session, PG students of CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa Campus made presentations on the topic “The Union Budget 2021-22 and India’s Economic Recovery”. The session was jointly moderated by Dr Ravikiran Naik, Dr Debdulal Thakur and Ms. Prerona Baruah from the Dept. of Data Science of the host university. The students discussed several technical components of the Union budget and also critically examined the proposed paths of recovery that post-pandemic India is likely to follow.
The event was coordinated by Mr Kedar Vishnu and other faculty members of Economics from the Dept. of Data Science, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa Campus. The team of student volunteers included Utkarsha Vivek Mathure, Anushka Mishra and Soumita Majumdar. In all, the event led to healthy discussions and deliberations on the current state of the economy and its future prospects.
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