Indian economy grew 3% in 2020-22, 'risks' hypernationalism: Prof Kaushik Basu

By A Representative
Contradicting the dominant view on high GDP growth in the recent past, top economist Prof Kaushik Basu has said that India’s economic growth has been a “mixed bag” during 2020-22 – it grew by a mere 3%. Speaking at the Eighth Pravin Visaria Memorial Public Lecture, organised by the Gujarat Institute of Development Research in Ahmedabad, Prof Basu, citing World Bank calculations, said, when it is stated that the Indian economy grew by 8.7% in 2021 (or 7.5% in 2022), it is forgotten that the calculaltion is based on the GDP growth of 2020, which was (minus) – 6.6%.
Currently Carl Marks Professor of International Studies, Ithaca, New York, and former chief economist, World Bank (2012-16) and chief economic adviser, Government of India (2009-12), Prof Basu’s visual presentation of the economic growth of selected countries showed that India’s growth rate in 2020-22, the Covid period, 3%, may have been better than the world average (1.7%) and emerging markets and developing economies (27%). However, it is lower than Bangladesh (5.6%), China (4.8%), Egypt (4.3%) and Vietman (3.8%).
Speaking on “Changing Nature of the Global Economy and Labour Markets: What May the Future Hold”, Prof Basu warned against the “risks” of hyper-nationalism to the Indian economy, pointing out, today, when globalisation is becoming a reality, thanks to the digital revolution, any de-globalisation move by whipping up nationalistic sentiments would prove to be counterproductive to the economy. “We have the experience of Argentina, where hypernationalism led to collapse of the economy”, he asserted.
Giving yet another example, he said, McCarthyism in the US in early 1950s, when hypernationalism was whipped up to target anyone who differed with American policies, dubbing them all as Communists, proved to be counterproductive. People got restless before it was too late. They realised it within three years, and voted it out, and the McCarthy period ended, lest the US economy would have suffered in a big way, he added.
Pointing out that the future of world economic growth, especially after the digital revolution, which has taken firmer roots during the Covid period, heavily depends on how two soft sectors develop – health and education – Prof Basu said, already this is becoming a reality for countries like South Korea and Japan, which have lately registered largest number of patents compared to other countries. “Teachers’ salary in South Korea is one of the highest in the world”, he stated.
Coming to the US economy, Prof Basu said, it is holding high not because of the hardware – cars, real estate, machines – but because it has proved to a very strong soft power, especially in the education sector, adding, India’s future growth rate would, too, depend on how these two sectors develop and perform. India has had the precedent of strong international presence in higher learning in the past, which needs to be revived, he suggested.

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog