CEA refutes Raghuram Rajan’s “nonsense” remark; says $30-trillion target achievable

The Chief Economic Advisor to Government of India V Anantha Nageswaran disagrees with his predecessor, Raghuram Rajan, who recently termed the “$30 trillion GDP by 2047” as “nonsense”. 

Nageswaran, who felt the Viksit Bharat (Developed India) target was stiff but not unachievable, said that “if a target is easily reachable, it is no target.” 

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In a conversation with businessline’s editor Raghuvir Srinivasan, at a breakfast with businessline meet, Nageswaran agreed with Rajan that improvements in education and skills are needed to grow to the targeted level.  

“Absolutely. There is no denying,” he said.  

In an interview with Bloomberg, Rajan pointed out that Viksit Bharat target was “nonsense” because “so many of your kids still don’t have high school education”.

Quoting some studies, he further said that the learning ability of Indian kids had dropped. 

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Responding to this, Nageswaran noted that the distribution of education attainment had improved. Education in rural areas was growing higher than in urban regions; ratio of enrolment of women to men, which used to be about 75 women to 100 men, had improved to 98.6. 

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“Earlier, we used to be worried about enrolment; today the problem has shifted to a higher level,” Nageswaran said, making a point that there were notable improvements in education.  

breakfast with businessline

breakfast with businessline, a gathering of Chennai business community was organised by businessline.

The event was at ITC Grand Chola, which has said it is “delighted and privileged to host the meeting.”

Shaariq Akhtar, General Manager, ITC Grand Chola, said that it is a LEED Platinum and LEED Zero Carbon certified hotel with “responsible luxury” at the core of its operations.

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“Our breakfast menu is a testament to our commitment to sustainability, featuring locally sourced regional options, as is our signature bespoke bottled drinking water, Sunya Aqua, produced from an atmospheric water generator in-house. We also highlight millets—in a variety of culinary avatars—especially significant in 2023, the designated Year of the Millet,” Akhtar said. 

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