The low growth and higher inflation prevailing in India after 2008 cannot be attributed to external factors such as global economic slowdown alone, as India’s growth rate slowed down more than other countries’; the adverse supply shocks in agriculture could be related to it, said Pulapre Balakrishnan, professor at the Centre For Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.
He was delivering The Malcolm Adiseshiah Lecture at Asian College of Journalism, on Friday. Prof. Balakrishnan was also presented with the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies, by U. Sankar, chairman, Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah (M and EA) Trust.
On receiving the award, he said, “I consider this award as recognition of the importance of evidence-based research in the social sciences, and thank the trust for encouraging it.”
Prof. Balakrishnan’s book Development Perspectives was launched by N. Ram, chairman, Kasturi and Sons Limited. Speaking about Mr. Adiseshiah, Mr. Ram said, “He will be known for his robust contribution to sharing of knowledge and for presenting ideas in an accessible way to a large number of people. He was a visionary with a practical bent and was unsurpassed in what he achieved.”
Prof. Balakrishnan noted private capital formation did not fall as steeply as capital formation in the public sector, suggesting the latter may have contributed to the decline in growth by reducing its capital formation. He added that many observations were made regarding the slowing growth, but were not substantiated with evidence. “It is my task to provide analytical framework with which one can come to a conclusion,” he said.
