The Hindu Business Line : In search of a first-rate economics talent pool

In a recent business newspaper interview, the then Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, said: "The Finance Ministry must be manned by the best possible talent in the country, but tell me where am I to invent capable officers from?" Though it was not put in so many words, the reference was to well-trained economists.

Most of us, ordinary and above average, economists included, get the impression that all that we have at the national level (completely ignoring the States' requirements) is a limited economics talent pool. The sort of talent we are looking for is first-rate academic credentials; rounded experience gained through handling a fair variety of jobs both at home and abroad; and, last but not the least, concern for the country and its fortunes against individual aggrandisement.

A typical member of the talent pool reaches the pool by working her or his way up through a variety of assignments and a high level of intellectual activity. Many also take the following route: Return from Washington or Geneva, join the Government of India department, Planning Commission or a think-tank, move to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) or the Reserve Bank of India and reach the top at one or the other key agency.

In counting the required numbers of top economists, we must, in fact, take into account not only the needs of a wide variety of national-level departments and institutions, but also the requirements of our States, of which many are comparable to some of the middle-size countries in terms of geographical area and population size. We need a much larger number of high-profile economists than that can be obtained by simply persuading a few more from the World Bank or the IMF to return home and serve the motherland. We need several of them with excellent academic training plus some exposure abroad plus experience at home as soon as possible to upgrade the economics discourse, planning and policy making at the state level.

Some initiatives

Here is a problem, which can be solved. For instance, the sorts of initiatives that may be considered are outlined below.

Away from the UGC, away from the ICSSR, and away from the AICTE, let the MoF fund a dozen economics colleges with a decent regional spread and deemed university status.

Let top economists from home and abroad (including Nobel Laureates) preside over the governing boards of those colleges. Have a national entrance test after Grade 12 for all those with good grade in mathematics to select candidates for the colleges. Let the colleges offer a five-year integrated M.Econ programme plus send the best M.Econ grads to collaborating institutions in the US and the UK for doctoral programmes.

In case it is too difficult for the powers that count to digest the idea of specialised institutions for just one subject, there is another option: Let each IIT also conduct an M.Tech (Econ) or M.Econ, capitalising on the brand those institutions have already built and using the same entrance examinations.

(The author is Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam and Visiting Faculty, Sri Sathya Sai University, Prasanthi Nilayam. He can be reached at bhanoji@gmail.com)

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