The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : `Oxford Companion to Economics in India' launched

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Saturday, Feb 24, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

`Oxford Companion to Economics in India' launched

Staff Reporter

The volume provides an account of the Indian economy's evolution from obscurity to emergent global force

Raja Chelliah, Professor Emeritus, Madras School of Economics (right), launches `The Oxford Companion to Economics in India' edited by Kaushik Basu, Professor of Economics, Cornell University, in Chennai on Friday. — PHOTO: M. Vedhan

CHENNAI: The Oxford Companion to Economics in India, a reference journal for a diverse group of knowledge-seekers, was formally launched on Friday.

The volume, edited by Kaushik Basu, Professor of Economics, Cornell University, provides an accessible account of the Indian economy, spanning its evolution from relative obscurity to an emergent global force, from the `Hindu' rate of growth to its recent surge.

The over 200 entries focus on the recent cover stories of India's phenomenal growth, leadership in software and outsourcing success and document the flip side of widespread poverty, farmer suicides, child labour and the plight of the informal sector that comprises a majority of workers.

Launching the book at the British Council, Raja Chelliah, Professor Emeritus, Madras School of Economics, said the publication addressed the long-felt need for an authentic guide that would encourage the study of economics, which had been neglected, and the standards of teaching had fallen in the past three decades.

The value of the Oxford Companion, impressive in its scope of dealing with the complex subject as well its sustained quality, had to be seen in the context of the `not-up-to-the-mark' publications floating around, Prof. Chelliah said.

Comprehensive and critical

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu , said the effort was noteworthy both conceptually and in the manner in which the editor tied together "the work of many minds and many hands" to produce a volume that was both comprehensive and critical. Mr. Ram said the publication took into account the growing inequalities and disgraceful neglect of social sector that coexisted alongside the new buoyancy in the Indian economy.

Mr. Basu recounted the complex challenges of compiling so many scholarly articles written in contrasting styles on diverse strands of economics within a timeframe.

He said he was keen that in its final shape the book was reasonably comprehensive in documenting the good and bad aspects of the Indian economy.

Global coordination

Later, taking questions, Mr. Basu stressed the need for global coordination on scaling down the inequalities stemming from globalisation. It was difficult for individual countries to keep such inequalities within limits.

He called for reviving high investment in higher learning that seemed to have been sidelined. Whatever be the contemporary excellence in fundamental economics was attributable to substantial investments in the past, he said.

He said it was important that India put in place the right conditions before it embraced reforms (in 1991). Being sophisticated enough to deal with MNCs had helped the country avoid the spiralling disasters experienced in a few Latin American countries.

Chris Gibson, Director (South India), British Council, and Venugopal Bhaskaran, regional manager, Oxford University Press, Chennai, also participated.

Around 200 experts, including economists, business leaders, policy-makers and analysts, shared their insight into shaping of the volume.

The publishers expect the companion to emerge as a key reference for a diverse group ranging across researchers, policy-makers, corporates, financial analysts, donor agencies, journalists and students.

More details on www.oup.co.in

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