Vijay Kelkar, Ajay Shah launch ‘In the Service of Republic’ | A Book on Art and Science of Economic Policy in India
Vishal Malhotra/Lokesh Goswami Tennews New Delhi :
New Delhi (11/12/2019): Yesterday, former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh attended a book launch as a chief guest and witnessed a discussion by Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah along with other delegates who played crucial roles as a part of ‘In the Service of Republic’, the product of Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
As a $3-trillion economy, India is on her way to becoming an economic superpower. Between 1991 and 2011, the period of our best growth, there was also a substantial decline in the number of people below the poverty line.
Since 2011, however, there has been a marked retreat in the high growth performance of the previous two decades.
What happened to the promise? Where have we faltered? How do we change course? How do we overcome the ever-present dangers of the middle-income trap, and get rich before we grow old? And one question above all else: What do we need to do to make our tryst with destiny?
As professional economists as well as former civil servants, Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah have spent most of their lives thinking about and working on these questions. The result: In Service of the Republic, a meticulously researched work that stands at the intersection of economics, political philosophy and public administration. This highly readable book lays out the art and the science of the policymaking that we need, from the high ideas to the gritty practicalities that go into building the Republic.
Vijay Kelkar served the Government of India as petroleum secretary, finance secretary and chairman of the Thirteenth Finance Commission of India. He also served as director of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and as executive director of the International Monetary Fund. In 2011, the President of India conferred the Padma Vibhushan upon him. He has a master’s from the University of Minnesota and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ajay Shah has worked at the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research and the Ministry of Finance. He is a professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). His areas of research include economics, law and public administration. He has a BTech in aeronautical engineering from IIT, Bombay, and a PhD in economics from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
