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Economic Advisory Council
India needs greater decentralisation but in many states, there is resistance to devolving powers to local councils, according to Mahendra Dev, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). At a ceremony to award the fourth Rohini Nayyar Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Rural Development, Dev said the level of decentralisation in China and the US is much higher. "India needs greater decentralisation, which should involve giving more powers to panchayats and local bodies, along with increased use of technology in the agricultural sector to improve rural wages,... There is resistance in many states to devolving powers to local councils," he said. Recalling the contribution of former economist and bureaucrat Rohini Nayyar, Dev said the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) through panchayats not only helped improve wages but also helped build trust in grassroots democracy. He presented the prize to Pune's
Former Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Vice Chancellor S Mahendra Dev has taken charge as the new Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The eminent economist replaced Niti Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery, who was holding the additional charge of EAC-PM. The EAC-PM had been without a full-time chairman since last November, following the death of its first chairman, Bibek Debroy. An order issued by the Cabinet Secretariat had earlier said the prime minister approved the re-constitution of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister for two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. While three full-time members - Sanjeev Sanyal, Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Shamika Ravi - have been retained, new part-time members appointed include Soumya Kanti Ghosh (group chief economic advisor at SBI). Other part-time members are Rakesh Mohan, Sajid Chenoy, Neelkanth Misra, Nilesh Shah, TT Ram Mohan, KV Raju, Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua,
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's economic advisor, Basavaraj Rayareddi, on Wednesday said he never claimed that "Karnataka is number one in corruption" during the tenure of the present Congress government. Rayareddi issued a clarification after a few publications in Karnataka reported that, during a review meeting by a committee for the redressal of regional imbalance, he had told officers that Karnataka tops the country in corruption. Accusing the media of twisting his statement made in Koppal, the Yelburga Congress MLA said he had only highlighted the perception that "Karnataka is branded as the most corrupt state", which, he said, is unfortunate. "I did not say that corruption has increased during Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's tenure. It's a phenomenon that has been prevailing for the past two to three decades," Rayareddi told reporters here. Insisting that he never made such a statement at a press conference, Rayareddi claimed, "I never said Karnataka is the number one corrupt sta
Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, on Sunday said he has accepted the Chancellorship of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) Pune, 10 days after Bibek Debroy resigned from the post. EAC-PM chairman Debroy resigned as Chancellor of the GIPE on September 27, a day after the Bombay High Court extended interim relief to Vice-Chancellor Ajit Ranade, who was earlier removed from his post. "This is just to state that I have accepted the Chancellorship of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. Look forward to working with faculty, staff and students to build on GIPE's well-established legacy," Sanyal said in a post on social media platform X. "For those uninitiated with the structure of academic administration, the Chancellor of a university is somewhat like a 'non-executive chairman' - duties relate to broad direction and governance rather than the daily running of the institution. This role does not impact my normal work
West Bengal has experienced a continuous decline in its relative economic performance over several decades, according to a working paper by Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister(EAC-PM). Authored by EAC-PM member Sanjeev Sanyal, the paper 'Relative Economic Performance of Indian States: 1960-61 to 2023-24' said the development of eastern part of the country remains a concern. It said maritime states have clearly outperformed other states, with the exception of West Bengal. Although Bihar's relative position has stabilized in the last two decades, it remains significantly behind other states and requires much faster growth to catch up, the paper noted. Conversely, Odisha, traditionally a laggard, has shown a marked improvement in recent years. "West Bengal, which held the third-largest share of national GDP at 10.5 per cent in 1960-61, now accounts for only 5.6 per cent in 2023-24. It has seen a consistent decline throughout this period. "West Bengal's per capita income