Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 11: Department of Economics, Central University of Jammu has organised a lecture on Challenges for Economic Theory and Policy in the 21st Century under the aegis of Eminent Lecture Series.
The eminent speaker was Prof. Pritam Singh, Visiting Scholar, Wolfson College, University of Oxford and Professor Emeritus, Oxford Brookes Business School, UK. He was introduced by Prof. Sunil Dhar, Head, Department of Economics.
Prof. Pritam is an eminent economist with a Doctorate from the University of Oxford and has been awarded the Edward Boyle/ Charles Wallace Scholarship. In his lecture Prof. Pritam Singh gave a comprehensive overview of economic theory and its impact on society from classical political economy to the era of neo-liberalism, dwelling on periods of economic crises in world history. He explained the dynamics of the market and its failure, making space for new theories and policies. Prof. Pritam talked about various challenges viz. current global economic and environmental crisis, economic stagnation, massive inequalities, declining demand, misutilisation and under-utilisation of resources, global heating and bio-diversity loss, gender bias in society, gender discrimination, poverty, unemployment etc.
He also mentioned some special Indian economic problems like economic policy paralysis, control over data and institutional autonomy, lack of environmental policy etc. Towards the end of his lecture, he offered some suggestions for the way ahead for the world as well as for India. His vision of economic sustainable development includes creative engagement with ecological issues, and calls for an original approach which he terms, “ecological socialism.”
He suggests abandoning the earlier version of growth with the new definitions of prosperity in this country by generating more green jobs which would ultimately leads to green growth. Prof. Ashok Aima, Vice Chancellor, CUJ appreciated the efforts of the Department of Economics for organising a lecture on such a relevant issue and thanked Prof. Pritam Singh for his visit to CUJ. Dr. Shaveta Kohli, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics has co-ordinated the event. A formal vote of thanks by Anil Kumar Bharti from the Department of Economics concluded the programme.
|
