Letters: Economy in words

With reference to “Wrong choice of words can create big news: Panagariya” (April 28), in Malayalam there is a saying that “four men may agree, but no two women will agree”. But that was the position long back! One recalled it when thinking of a situation now when “four politicians may agree, but no two economists will have the same view”.

How else can one explain the following? First, post-demonetisation observations by Manmohan Singh, Amartya Sen, Raghuram Rajan, Dr Y V Reddy and Arvind Subramanian, some of which were made controversial later. Second, positions that are now being taken by members of the NITI Aayog on agricultural income. What’s wrong in having a debate on managing the country’s resources? How long can real issues be swept under the carpet, just because they are politically sensitive? Caution about choice of words coming from celebrity economists may stifle open healthy debates on current issues. After all, did we not accommodate two consecutive Economic Surveys which fancied into unchartered territories while talking about resources management?

M G Warrier | Thiruvananthapuram

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