BHUBANESWAR: IIT-Bhubaneswar director Prof Shreepad Karmalkar stressed the importance of educating people about the meaning and use of fundamental economic indices, such as GDP, FDI and stock index while discussing societal conditions.
Speaking at a conference of Indian Political Economy Association (IPEA) themed ‘Geopolitics, Energy, Finance, and Democracy’, he said, it is the duty of academics and economics-related organisations to educate others.
He discussed his experiences with economics as a subject in comparison to politics and philosophy. He described how, in debates about society, the ordinary individual is more at ease discussing politics and philosophy than economics, despite the fact that economics plays just as much, if not more, of a role in bringing about societal reform.
The deliberations in the conference focused on future research prospects and proposed effective policy measures that address the problems of inclusive growth, health and education issues besides governance in the Indian context.
IPEA signatory Prof Balwinder Singh Tiwana underscored the association’s inclusive and interdisciplinary character in economic research by placing emphasis on its democratic and non-hierarchical structure.
He spoke on international macroeconomics, finance, political economics of elections, governance, health policies and global economic footprint.
Group chief economic advisor of SBI Group Soumya Kanti Ghosh, renowned economists Prof Katharina Michaelowa of the University of Zurich and Prof CP Chandrasekhar of the University of Massachusetts Amherst also spoke.