The new chief economic advisor, having left his house at the edge of the forest, talks of what he hopes to achieve.
A youngish man in a blue blazer looking vaguely familiar whizzes by, but it’s only when he comes back with his hands outstretched that you realise it is indeed Kaushik, 57 going on 40, looking not much older from when he taught in the Delhi School of Economics 25 years ago. The new look, he explains, is warranted by the embarrassment he felt when he traipsed in first day into the new job, dressed casually “like a professor” — he has just two ties which are being recycled but, he assures, some more will be bought. It’s not as sunny as we’d like this side of the Imperial Hotel’s Spice Route restaurant in the capital, so we decide to sit inside as “the cold will eventually creep in”. Since it’s dimly lit, we opt for a table with a lamp directly on top. Kaushik recalls we last lunched at the same place five-six years ago and says he’s been here once again after that — long enough, it appears, for him to be able to order Malabar stew, some fanstastic fish and appams for us with just a quick look at the menu. That time we talked of the play Kaushik had just written (it was received well by the critics), his son taking a year off to work with Rituparno Ghosh on a movie that, Kaushik recalled with pride, had Aishwarya Rai; and of his painting sarees (till he joined government, he did one a year).
As to why he chose to come to government, Kaushik recalls he went to meet Amartya Sen, who normally says no to any government job but, this time around, encouraged him saying that, as far as governments went, this was probably as good as it gets. And, he’s honest enough to say, “It felt good to be asked despite all my writings on how the government functioned.” The PMO, as opposed to the finance ministry? Not quite, Kaushik is firm, a job in the PMO had no power, it would be more advisory in nature while the Chief Economic Advisor’s job allows him some chance at influencing policy. As for not being hands-on with data, Kaushik acknowledges that, but points to the large amount of writing he’s been doing in the public policy space. The columns, of course, are being wound up since, he says, there was no point writing if he could no longer be as forthright as he was — he will, of course, continue to be as forthright within the government and on the files. The fish is so tasty, we’re on to our third appams and Kaushik’s plate is spotless, having used the appams to wipe up all the gravy.
His first impressions? Kaushik says, three times during the course of the meal, that he was really pleasantly surprised by the high quality work of his colleagues, their approach to problems, it’s equal to that in the corporate sector. What’s worrying, therefore, he says, is that collectively the effort all gets stuck somewhere, and this is what he hopes to change — it’s like putting a rally driver in the middle of a traffic jam. In the US university system, he says by way of example, professors have certain budgets, to invite guest faculty, to buy computers, whatever and they just sign off … why aren’t there such possibilities here?
How successful has he been so far in changing things? Kaushik talks of how quick the finance minister is to grasp issues (he often speaks to him in Bangla, but for economics, “I prefer English”), but says that this is not the right time since the focus is more on the Budget right now and the Economic Survey which is his baby.
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Having talked of how sluggish the government is, Kaushik says it’s unfair to argue there’s little happening — the Goods and Service Tax, apart from lowering the tax burden, will mean a major simplification in terms of the number of places small businesses have to go to for making payments. In a different ministry — education — Kaushik says there’s a lot happening as well. We talk of education minister Kapil Sibal’s reforms and Kaushik speaks of the dissent note he had given to the Professor Yashpal committee, arguing in favour of “for profit” education. Kaushik talks of how the real need is for freeing up local universities — the bringing-Harvard-to-India stuff that Sibal talks of, is really of secondary importance.
Kaushik doesn’t talk of the Survey, but says he believes (like Surjit Bhalla, I mention) India will grow faster than China in three-four years. Even on a business as usual scenario, he says, a savings rate of 40 per cent will give us around 9 per cent. And the savings, he asserts, are something the demographic dividend will ensure. What dividend, I ask, borrowing heavily from the arguments made by Shankar Acharya, BS’ pundit on all matters economic, by virtue of his stature in the newspaper’s editorial think tank. Given the state of our education, I rattle off from memory, our youth will be uneducated and so will be a drag on growth, not a help … the growth in population will be the highest in states like Bihar where education is the worst, I trot out. Not true, says Kaushik. Our education system has a lot that’s a problem, but it is delivering something — the decade 1991 to 2001, he says, saw the highest growth in literacy — because people want to learn and see great benefit in it.
As the chief economic advisor, how will he react to the lobbying that, given the Budget season, is at its peak? Kaushik doesn’t give a direct answer, but makes two points. First, he says, given the flatter tax rates and the advent of GST, the scope for changes is minimal anyway. Second, just because a proposal comes from a lobby group, that doesn’t automatically make it bad. When I press for specifics, he says a pure economist view may be against giving tax sops for SEZs, but if other countries are doing it, you need to do it as well. He sets aside time for another meeting to get details of the specific lobbying that takes place — whether that will be information that’s useful for his job or just adda is difficult to say. Similarly, he says most people mention hire and fire policies as a panacea for all industrial problems, but Pakistan did hire and fire a long time ago, but hasn’t really benefitted from it. The solution, in India, he says, is to have contracts for different types of employees … so, while a company has to have its permanent staff, allow it to hire people on short-term contracts as well.
What are the boxes he’ll be ticking two years from now, when his contract is over, to see if he’s been successful? Making the decision-making process faster, he says, is the first; exports are another. While the latter is clearly happening on its own, whether Kaushik will succeed in the first, particularly from his new perch, is anyone’s guess. If he doesn’t though, he can go back to completing the play he was working on before he got this job — on various facets of the Indian bureaucracy and how it affects people’s everyday life. This time around, he’d have a lot more examples other than just those from Delhi University that he was noting down.