On Wednesday 6 March, Montek Singh Ahluwalia visited the Blavatnik School of Government to speak to MPP students and to deliver a public lecture.
In delivering a masterclass to MPP students, he discussed his experiences of working on national planning for the Indian government, and on international policy issues with the World Bank and the IMF. He answered students' questions on a range of topics including food security, being middle class in India, the 2010 Commonwealth Games and India’s position on receiving aid from the UK government.
Mr Ahluwalia was an integral part of bringing economic reform to India, with the most serious efforts beginning in 1991, gradually liberalising the economy and opening it up to competition and foreign investment. This has not always been a smooth ride. 'Politics in India is highly participative,' he explained, and 'this is to be expected in a country so populous and diverse'. In hindsight he believes it might have been better to roll out reforms over five years rather than ten, but he explained that a gradualist approach made it easier to manage the opposition the reforms were sure to stir up.
The Vice-Chancellor, Andrew Hamilton introduced Mr Ahluwalia’s public lecture at the University of Oxford's Examination Schools. In speaking about 'India's Challenges Ahead', Mr Ahluwalia laid out the goals of India's recently published 12th Five Year Plan: faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth.
Mr Ahluwalia discussed how to strengthen growth in India in the face of a global economic slowdown. He says this growth will come from skills increases, infrastructure investment and more entrepreneurialism - not exports. He also explained that poverty reduction in India was picking up speed, although until recently it had been more modest than was desirable. Still, he believes that growth is becoming more equitable, bringing 'good news for the poor'. On the sustainability side, he called for better resource management.
Mr Ahluwalia ended on an optimistic note, praising the benefits of economic reform for the people of India.
Watch the lecture here:
