Interviews ⁽¹⁴⁾

Read Interview (Business Standard, 21 December 2013) Earlier this year, noted economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya had a heated debate with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on growth versus redistribution. While Sen believes India should invest more in social infrastructure to raise productivity, Bhagwati and Panagariya stress on growth, which will deliver resources for investment in the social sector. Has the phenomenal success of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recent Delhi Assembly elections shifted the focus to redistribution of resources in Indian politics? Panagariya, Bhagwati Professor of Economics at Columbia University, tells Indivjal Dhasmana now, the Indian electorate is demanding sustained improvement in their lives, not a one-time transfer of money.

Read Interview (Financial Express, 12 Dec 2013) Columbia University professor Arvind Panagariya has been one of the strongest votaries of the Gujarat model of development. In an interview with Santosh Tiwari, Panagariya explains the significance of the outcome of the assembly polls in four statesDelhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. He says the primary job of the new government at the Centre would be to formulate a roadmap for boosting investment.

Read Interview (Hindustan Times, 06 December 2013) Though critics claim that his line of thinking obliquely favours Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi’s development model, US-based economist and Columbia University professor Arvind Panagariya says that he uses Gujarat only as an illustration and that his main goal is reform. In an interview to HT, Panagariya spoke about the UPA’s social sector programmes, the election outcome and what the new government should do to get India back on the growth track. Excerpts.

Read Interview (Business Standard, 31 Jul 2013) The slowdown is a short-term blip, says this well-known economist in contrast to the many gloom and doom predictions. Myth-buster par excellence, contrarian and reformist, and irrepressible optimist — Arvind Panagariya is a bit of all three. On a bright summer afternoon, he cuts through the gloom of Lutyens’ Delhi: the slowdown is temporary, reform is irreversible. India’s long-term destiny is unchanged, he tells Mihir S Sharma.

Read Interview (Tehelka Magazine, 25 July 2013) Arvind Panagariya argues though malnutrition is a problem in India, these figures are highly exaggerated