Deena Khatkhate (1926-2018): A personal tribute to economist, intellectual

Deena Khatkhate, economist, intellectual, mentor, and above all wonderful human being, passed away on September 15, 2018 in Bethesda, a suburb outside Washington DC, his home of more than five decades.

Not many of today’s younger generation of economists and public policy practitioners will be familiar with Deena, his work and his background. The RBI of the 1940s-60s was a treasure trove of research talent which included K N Raj, V K Ramaswami, SLM Simha, and B R Shenoy. Deena Khatkhate, along with Anand Chandavarkar and V V Bhatt, were three others who belonged to this select group, making important contributions to understanding the Indian economy. I think of them as the three Monetary Musketeers who emigrated from the RBI at roughly the same time to work for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC.

Deena had a successful career at the RBI and the IMF. He had publications in the top academic journals early on in his career (a rare accomplishment for Indians not in academia and something that he cherished immensely) and was an expert on both monetary policy issues and on the Indian financial system. He contributed an important paper on the RBI in the volume on public institutions edited by Devesh Kapur and Pratap Mehta.

After leaving the IMF, he went on to be a consultant for the World Bank and then became editor of a highly respected academic journal, World Development. He was a great and continuous supporter of, and advocate for, the Economic and Political Weekly and its editors Krishna Raj and Ram Reddy. Had the dice of life rolled differently, Deena might have been a more prolific researcher and/or a more integral part of Indian economic policy-making.

Deena was a passionate believer in research and in the life of the mind more broadly. He took great pride in his wife’s educational accomplishments especially since she belonged to a lineage of learning and scholarship. His book, Ruminations of a Gadfly, bears testimony to Deena Khatkhate the economist and man of letters. Books — and (mostly) Maharashtrian classical musicians — provided both company and solace in his final years.

In their retirement, he and Anand Chandavarkar (author of an acclaimed book on Keynes and India) used to spend their week-days in the IMF’s library, the second home for the true intellectuals that they were. 
 

A touching, moving routine of theirs is still etched in my mind. With metronomic regularity, the two of them would emerge into the IMF’s atrium coffee shop at around 10.30 every week-day morning with Deena gently assisting the slower, older, Chandavarkar. Over cappuccino, they would discuss what they had read and share their rich experiences with the younger staff of the IMF who might happen to join them. They were like the “Old Friends” in the melancholy melody of Simon and Garfunkel. 

Deena lived two doors away from us but I think our friendship developed in those coffee mini-soirees at the IMF sometime in the early 2000s. As editor of World Development, he had published a paper of mine on the GATT’s intellectual property negotiations (TRIPs). But it was my paper (with Devesh Roy of IFPRI) on Mauritius that sealed our friendship. His liking of the paper was the provocation for the frequent invitations to join him and Chandavarkar for coffee. It was Deena who suggested that I bring out all my writings on India in one volume. I therefore owe India’s Turn: Understanding the Economic Transformation to Deena. 

Deena extended that kind of parental affection, loyalty and encouragement to many younger Indians in the Washington community, including Prakash Loungani, Arvind Panagariya, Urjit Patel and Tushar Poddar. Had he been a hardcore academic (perhaps his unfulfilled ambition), he would have devotedly supervised and mentored scores of students and left a rich intellectual legacy-by-proxy much as his illustrious friend Jagdish Bhagwati has done. 

His daughter Amla looked after him devotedly during his advancing years, and he in turn doted on her and his grand-daughter Aniya. 

Deena was never prone to self-pity or negativity, ever generous, and always wishing well for others and taking joy in their accomplishments. Above all, he exhibited integrity in his professional life, grace in bearing personal tragedy, and dignity in dealing with the solitary, autumnal years, especially after the death of his wife Shanta. 

In addition to the economist and mentor, those are the Deenas that I, and I am sure his family and many friends, will remember, cherish, and miss.

The author is a visiting lecturer, Harvard University; non-resident senior fellow, PIIE; & former chief economic adviser, GOI