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Kerala economists resent ADB's choice

Sanu George in Thiruvananthapuram

The selection of Bangalore-based Institute for Social and Economic Change as consultants to study Kerala's fiscal restructuring plan has evoked mixed response from economists.

The ISEC and an Australian consultancy firm, PGP Australia, have been appointed as advisors to a Rs 45 billion Asian Development Bank-sponsored project to revitalise the state's economy.

Chandan Mukerjee, director of the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, said that he was dismayed his institute had not been considered for consultancy by the ADB despite its acknowledged expertise on issues concerning the state.

"The irony is that anyone intending to study Kerala and its economy has to refer to our studies and it would have been better if the ADB had consulted us," said Mukerjee.

"The reputation of our institute is such that anyone studying Kerala, be it any sector, comes here to refer the work done by us."

The CDS is an affiliate of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, a nodal agency that governs and promotes research in the country.

It has done extensive research on Kerala since its inception in the early 1970s.

K N Raj, I S Gulati, late P G K Panicker, K K Subramaniom are some of its noted economists.

However, a senior professor of the CDS felt the ADB had made a right choice.

"I feel what the ADB has done is good. It has entrusted (the study) to ISEC whose director Rao is an eminent fiscal reforms expert. Moreover, to get a correct picture, I feel it is always better to engage someone from outside."

Thomas Issac, former economist and a Communist Party of India-Marxist legislator, said he would have preferred local scholars included in the study.

"Since it is a complete study of the Kerala economy, it would have been very good had Kerala scholars been also taken into confidence."

He, however, added: "We don't doubt the competence of the Bangalore-based institute."

Issac said the involvement of local economists and institutions like the Centre for Taxation would help make the study and the subsequent reforms more transparent.

"It is for the Kerala government to come clean and become more transparent in its dealings with the ADB."

A top official of Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony's office said he was not aware of any such study.

"We do not know of this study and if at all there is any such thing then it could be part of the rules and regulations of the ADB. We cannot tell what to do," he said.

Indo-Asian News Service

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