Book Review

C.T. KURIEN reviewed the new book on SUSTAINING INDIA’S GROWTH MIRACLE Edited by Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Charles W. Calomiris

The following are the key ideas suggested by authors:

Arvind Panagariy: Comparing the growth profiles of China and India, Panagariya points out that in the former, capital flow was into unskilled/labour-intensive industries which helped the country to become a major supplier of light industry goods to the rest of the world. 

…..suggests that if foreign capital is to move into unskilled/labour-intensive industrial segments in India, now dominated by the informal sector, some drastic changes in labour legislation favouring foreign capital are called for.

T.N.Srinivasan: The first is to create a Fiscal Review Council, partly to replace the periodic Finance Commission, but mainly to provide a forum for the Centre and the states to discuss each other’s fiscal policies in a common forum.

…..the second, to convert the Planning Commission into a Fund for Public Investment is questionable as it perceives the role of the Planning Commission solely as a funding body.