A festschrift for the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India
The book Policymaking for Indian Planning: Essays on Contemporary Issues in Honour of Montek S Ahluwalia is the second festschrift in honour of Montek Ahluwalia. Home Minister P Chidambaram in his preface insists, ?This festschrift is indeed a well-deserved tribute to the person, Montek Ahluwalia, who has given his best to the country.? The Foreword is by Dr C Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council, in which he contends, ?The articles included in this volume cover a wide range. Each article is written by an expert in the field.? And the experts are Meghnad Desai, Nitin Desai, NK Singh, Parthasarathi Shome, Kaushik Basu, Ravi Kanbur, Surjit Bhalla, Sam Pitroda, Hari Sankaran, Sameer Kochhar, Gursharan Dhanjal, D Subbarao, YV Reddy, Roberto Zagha and Raghuram Rajan. Except for one article, which is jointly written by Sameer Kochhar and Gursharan Dhanjal, all the thirteen articles are individual contributions. The essays have been written by friends, colleagues, co-workers and acquaintances of Montek. Almost all authors mention in their essays their personal association with Montek and are generous in paying tributes to his contributions, as is normally the case in any festschrift. However, a few of them are a bit over-the-top. Sample this by NK Singh: ?Montek Singh Ahluwalia?s contribution to the modernisation of the Indian economy is by any reckoning path-breaking.? A certain Kamal Nath may beg to differ, as may the critics of the R22.50 below-poverty-line definition, or the patrons of the R35 lakh toilet gags.
Festschrifts are typically published on the occasion of the honouree?s retirement or landmark birthdays, as in the case of Amartya Sen, when he turned 75 in 2008. A festschrift for Montek seems a little premature, as we are not sure about the legacy he may leave behind. However, it is the not the first festschrift for him. The literati may be aware that Shankar Acharya and Rakesh Mohan edited the first festschrift for Montek in 2010, titled India?s Economy: Performance and Challenges Essays in Honour of Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and published by Oxford University Press.
Comparison with the earlier festschrift volume is inevitable, even if odious. Both on coverage, contents of individual articles and production quality, this volume is superior to the previous one. And there are pleasant surprises too. In any edited collection, the preface is often perfunctory, especially if it is written by a Home Minister, Prime Minister or President. This one is an exception and is extremely well written by Chidambaram. He weaves strands of his association with Montek, the honouree?s contribution to policymaking, and comments on the contributors? articles seamlessly. About the early years of their acquaintance, Chidambaram says, ?In the initial years, I could only watch him from a distance. What struck me immediately was his way with words, both the spoken and the written word. He was precise, clear, cogent and convincing. Naturally, as a lawyer, I admired and envied these qualities.? Compared to the Foreword that is less than a page, the preface covering four pages is eloquent and well-expressed. After this whetting of appetite, there is a real dampener in the Introduction by Sameer Kochhar, the editor of the book. The introduction instead of the preface, in this case, is perfunctory. It contains an introduction to Montek and a summary of individual papers. Instead of the sketchy outline of Montek given in the introduction by the editor, a detailed biography with a list of all his publications would have been a better idea. Good introductions weave individual essays into an articulate, well-written, integrated piece. Instead, what we get are one-line paragraphs.
Though the individual articles are good, the editing leaves a lot to be desired. Articles and topics appear in no particular structure. The editor seems to have given a free rein to the contributors concerning the topics that they wanted to write on. For instance, Kaushik Basu chose to write on bribes. We all know that Basu is an expert in industrial economics, especially in game theory. In his article, he applies game theory to the issue of corruption, more specifically bribes, and argues that ?harassment bribes? should be made legal. The article is thought-provoking, stimulating, and even provocative. The arguments are insightful and rigorous. But, I am not sure if Montek has had any contributions to make on bribery?positive or otherwise.
The editor?s sole criteria of choosing the contributors seems to have been their association with Montek. But, if association was the criterion for inclusion, how about Bimal Jalan, Kirit Parikh, Mihir Shah, Yugandhar, NC Saxena, and AK Shiva Kumar? With a greater panel of contributors, which albeit is a difficult task for the editor, there would have been a wider array of topics discussed in the book. Given the wide canvass of policymaking, there should have been articles on administrative reforms, efficiency of public expenditure, education, health, energy and natural resources. The editor proclaims in the Introduction, ?Montek Ahluwalia recently identified energy, water management, urbanisation, climate change and ?regional balance? as the five major roadblocks for the Indian planners.? If that?s the case, then wouldn?t it have made make sense to include an article on each of the major roadblocks in the festschrift?
And while on omissions, why didn?t this volume reprint the note Montek apparently wrote in 1990, which reportedly played a crucial role in the introduction of reforms? Several contributors, including Rangarajan and Chidambaram refer to it in the book, but it isn?t in the public domain. There cannot be anything confidential regarding reforms initiated more than two decades back, at least not any more.
Of the 14 papers, 10.5 are really good. These include ?Policymaking? by Meghnad Desai, ?Planning in a liberalised economy? by Nitin Desai, ?Centre-State relations? by NK Singh, ?Governance? by Parthasarathi Shome, ?Poverty in India? by Surjit Bhalla, ?Innovation and public information infrastructure? by Sam Pitroda, ?Urbanisation and employment? by Hari Sankaran, ?Central bank governance? by D Subbarao, ?Future of financial systems? by YV Reddy and ?Currency wars again? by Raghuram Rajan. The half-good paper is by Kaushik Basu on bribes. The article per se is excellent, but the topic has no relevance to the person to whom this festschrift pays tribute.
Still, 10.5 good articles out of 14 is not a bad proportion. It marks an improvement on the first festschrift in terms of coverage, content and production quality. It is a good-read, if not a must-read, for those interested in development economics and political economy.
The author, formerly with JPMorgan Chase, is CEO, Quantum Phinance
Policymaking for Indian Planning: Essays on contemporary issues in honour of Montek S Ahluwalia
Edited by Sameer Kochhar
Academic Foundation Hardcover, Pp 306
Rs. 1,095
