Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh unveiled the foundation stone for the new NCAER Centre at the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi on Saturday morning, accompanied by NCAER’s Director General Dr. Shekhar Shah and many other dignitaries and noted economists, including members of NCAER’s Governing Body led by its President, Shri Nandan Nilekani.
Urging NCAER to maintain its high standards of applied economic research, the Prime Minister Singh said, “The best is yet to come.” Dr Singh stood on the very ground where some 54 years ago Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had stood to lay the foundation stone for NCAER’s current building in 1959, and where President Rajendra Prasad had stood to inaugurate the building in 1961. In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Singh said, NCAER “is a great asset to us, and it is obligatory on all those who work, or are associated with this magnificent institute, to never lose sight of the vision of the founding fathers of NCAER.”
NCAER is the country’s largest and oldest independent, economic policy think-tank. Singh was a member of NCAER’s Governing Body during 1976-1982, and a frequent visitor to NCAER during his earlier teaching and economic research days. Said NCAER’s Director General Dr. Shekhar Shah, “Not only has the PM laid the foundation stone for the new NCAER Centre, but with his words today he has also laid a strong foundation for the future of NCAER.”
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This one-day research workshop brought together researchers and policy analysts to explore specific aspects of macro modelling such as real output growth, inflation and the sector distribution of output; data limitations on improving model specification; and understanding the policy needs of model-based analysis for forecasting, scenario analysis, and empirical cause and effect analysis of significant economic outcomes.
The distinguished speakers at the workshop included Mr Montek Ahluwalia and Mr Arun Maira, Planning Commission; NCAER faculty; and invited paper authors and discussants.
- The workshop deliberated on the following research themes in the context of macroeconomic models:
- Fiscal deficits and Government debt: implications to growth and macroeconomic stability
- Modelling of monetary policy transmission and macroeconomic management
- Modelling savings, investment and economic growth
- Modelling the impact of productivity, efficiency and institutions on economic growth
- External balances and implications to domestic growth and prices
The workshop also included a session on the findings of a study undertaken by NCAER for the Planning Commission.
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The annual India Policy Forum (IPF) conference was held from 16 -17 July. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the conference also hosted a lecture titled ‘India: The Way Forward’ by Dr Raghuram Rajan, Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India. The conference included paper presentations by eminent economists and planners and a round table on ‘Rights, Cash Transfers, and other Approaches: Is India advancing toward a modern Safety Net System?’ moderated by Shri Montek S Ahluwalia, Planning Commission, Government of India. The IPF 2012-13 volume was released on this occasion.
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The India Human Development Survey (IHDS-I) is the first household survey in India to have a full spectrum of health, education, economic, family, and gender modules for both urban and rural samples. Today it is a premier public resource for researchers, policymakers and civil society analysts interested in issues of poverty, social inequality and human development. This workshop organised by NCAER in partnership with University of Maryland brought together researchers using IHDS-I data in India and overseas. IHDS-II, nearing completion, has visited the same households in 2011-12 and will be the first longitudinal panel data set of its kind in India when it becomes available for research.
Dr Sonalde Desai, NCAER, Prof Reeve Vanneman, Maryland, Dr Amaresh Dubey and other invited authors and discussants presented at the workshop.
At this Quarterly Seminar on ‘State of the Economy’, the NCAER QRE team presented observations, reviews and projections for 2013–14, covering various sectors including agriculture; industry and services; public finance, money; credit and finance; external sector as well as the GDP forecasts . On this occasion NCAER released its quarterly report titled “Quarterly Review of the Economy”.
