National Conference on India’s Economic Policy and Development Initiatives: Challenges and Opportunities
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National Conference on India’s Economic Policy and Development Initiatives: Challenges and Opportunities
4-5 November 2016
Economic growth in India is expected to stay high at 7.4% in fiscal year 2016-17 due to robust consumer demand from a general increase in wages; a good monsoon season; ongoing structural reforms such as GST and various policy initiatives and economic programmes taken up by the government like Start Up India, Make in India; Digital India, Skill India, etc.
A two day National Conference on “India’s Economic Policy and Development Initiatives: Challenges and Opportunities” was organized by the Department of Economics at the IIS University with the objectives to:
- discuss the motives and challenges in implementation of various economic programmes launched by the government;
- to suggest ways to make the existing programmes more effective; and
- to evaluate economic performance post economic reforms.
The Conference comprised of four technical sessions in which eminent academicians like Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Prof. Vijay Vir Singh, Director NITI Aayog Chair, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur; Prof. P.K. Chaubey, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi; Prof. Pranab Banerji, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi; Prof. Ganesh Kawadia, School of Economics, Devi Ahilya University, Indore; Prof. Pulin B Nayak, Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi and Prof. N R Bhanumurthy, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, gave their deliberations.
In all, 82 delegates participated in the conference, out of whom, 52 gave the oral and poster presentations.
The inaugural session began with the lighting of the lamp, after which, Prof. N.K. Jain, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, extended a warm welcome to the guests, delegates and resource persons. Dr. Raakhi Gupta, Registrar, The IIS University, extended floral greetings to the guests.
The Chief Guest, Prof. Amiabh Kundu, from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi was of the view that 21st century belongs to India with a prediction of 10.5 % growth rate for India by the year 2022.
The Keynote Speaker, Prof. Vijay Vir Singh, Director NITI Aayog Chair, University of Rajasthan, talked about India’s development strategy. He further highlighted the role of pumping public investment, issues related to capacity building and demographic dividend.
The inaugural session ended with a group photo which was followed by high tea.
The first technical session was on the theme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development”, chaired by Prof. V.V. Singh. The invited speaker for the session, Prof. P.K. Chaubey shared his views on ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development- Opportunities and Challenges in India’ by mentioning that entrepreneurship is innovation and development is a process of structural changes substantially driven by innovation like JUGAAD. His deliberation was followed by paper presentations by Dr. Sunita Sharma, Mr. Pankaj Kumar, Ms. Kenisha Somra, Ms. Shruti Agarwal and Ms. Nosheen Afridi. The session concluded by Poster showcasing followed by lunch.
The second technical session with the theme “Recent Flagship programmes of the Government of India” was chaired by Prof. P.K. Chaubey. The first invited speaker, Prof. Pranab Banerji, related the macroeconomic aspect to new policies and programmes of the government. He discussed the inequalities in the developed world and the global financial crisis. He concluded by emphasizing on the potential of Indian economy and discussed the problems of human development, governance, infrastructure and innovations.
The second invited speaker, Prof. Amiabh Kundu, talked about the growth rate and its impact on various social dimensions. He also discussed the relation between energy consumption and HDI. He emphasized on the need of restructuring the social security schemes like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna and Atal Pension Yojna to suit the need of poor people.
Paper presentations were given by Ms. Sanskriti Rawat, Ms. Divya Goel, Ms. Alka Kumawat, Ms. Kshipra Jain, Ms. Khushboo Kumawat, Ms. Ashu Sharma, Ms. Seema Roj, Ms. Rita Soni, Dr. Jasleen Kaur and Dr. Himanshu Shekhawat.
The second day began with third technical session on “Policy Initiatives and Implications” which as chaired by Prof. Ganesh Kawadia. The first invited speaker of the session, Prof. Pulin B Nayak, emphasized on the fact that policy making should be for the bottom 50 % of the society and we should increase the share of public expenditure o sectors like health and education.
The second speaker of the session, Prof. Pranab Banerji, emphasized on the role of some micro initiatives to foster growth. He focused on issues like government intervention, externalities and carbon credit. This was followed by paper presentations from Dr. Seema Sharma, Ms. Divyanka Sharma, Ms. Ginisha Dewani, Mr. Dipesh Gupta, Ms. Saudamini Sharma, Ms. Sanju Shekhawat, Ms. Nishtha Narang, Ms. Yashasvi Pandey and Ms. Vaishali Gupta. The session ended with the concluding remarks of the Chairperson followed by tea.
The fourth technical session on “25 Years of Economic Reforms: Issues and Challenges” was chaired by Prof. Pulin B Nayak. The first invited speaker, Prof. N R Bhanumurthy, discussed the process, status and outcome of the economic reforms in India and the challenges faced by the Indian economy at present.
The second invited speaker, Prof. Ganesh Kawadia, gave his deliberations on 25 years of economic reforms and discussed the role of India as an emerging economy. This was followed by paper presentations from Ms. Suman Meena, Mr. Abinash Singh, Ms. Shubhangi Dhoundiyal, Ms. Sunita Sharma, Ms. Vartika Tholia, Ms. Avani Kandelwal and Ms. Arushi Shekhawat.
This two day conference has provided the required platform to all researchers and academicians to deliberate on this relevant and contemporary topic which is the need of the hour.
