Social Infrastructure as Political Investment for Economic Development: TN Experience - 12 Apr 2021

DISCUSSION ON THE THEME OF THE BOOK

S A E R U T C U R T S A R F N I L A R O F SOCI T N E M T S E V N I L A C I T I : L T O N P E M P O L E V E D C I M O N ECO

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GUESTS

OF

U D A N L I M A T E C N E I R E P X E

Y A D N M P MO 0 3 : 7 0 0 : 6 | 1 2 0 2 R 12 AP

HONOUR 6:00 PM

Welcome Address Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM Executive Director Madras Management Association

Launch of the Book Address by the Author

DR S NARAYAN, IAS (RETD) Former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister & Finance Secretary, Government of India

Mr N Sathiya Moorthy Distinguished Fellow & Head (Chennai Initiative), ORF Author, veteran journalist and political analyst

Discussion on the theme Guests of Honour MS SUSHILA RAVINDRANATH

Dr S Narayan, IAS (Retd)

Journalist/Columnist

Former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister & Finance Secretary, Government of India

Ms Sushila Ravindranath Journalist/Columnist

Prof S Janakarajan

PROF S JANAKARAJAN, PH.D

President, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water

President, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies, Hyderabad & Former Professor, MIDS

Resources Studies, Hyderabad & Former Professor, MIDS

Mr N Sathiya Moorthy

Q&A Session MR N SATHIYA MOORTHY

7:30 PM

Vote of Thanks

Distinguished Fellow & Head (Chennai Initiative), Observer Research Foundation Author, veteran journalist and political analyst

MADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

SYNOPSIS Across the country, the economic experience of Tamil Nadu has been an unique and successful experiment that is often applauded by international agencies for adoption by other State Governments and also the Centre, and also counterparts elsewhere across the Third World. The State's experience with the noon-meal scheme for school children is a good, but not the only, example in this regard.

Over the past century, successive Governments in what is commonly dubbed the 'Dravidian' Tamil Nadu has invested heavily on building social infrastructure aimed at overall societal empowerment -- through the enhancement of identity, education and healthcare, and with those, the employability and incomegeneration and retention, at the level of the individual. In turn, families too are ploughing back a substantial part of their incomes for the socio-economic uplift of their own future generations, and thus that of the state.

The Government's interest in and contribution to this growth process at every turn and in every which way has only increased, not decreased. Competing manifestos for every Dravidian political party in every election, especially through the Economic Reforms era, bear testimony. So are the post-poll implementation processes.

The

result

is

that

despite

perceptions

of

non-availability

of

commonly

understood

physical

infrastructural inputs like electricity and water, international investors continue to feel wanted in Tamil Nadu with their multiple proposals.

This is not to overlook traditional strengths like functional ports, multiple airports, within the state and closer to the state's borders, as in the case of Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.

At last count, even during the economically dreaded pandemic time, the state government signed MoUs for investments worth Rs 57,000 crores, promising to create a high number of 20-lakh jobs -- that too at a time when the global concern was over more and more people losing jobs over the past many years in a row.

This owes to the large-scale presence of skilled and semi-skilled labour and a welcome industrial environment, and better law and order situation. All these are sine quo non for a stable and growing investment climate.

MMA MANAGEMENT CENTER TEMPLE FOR KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM

MADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

SPEAKERS DR S NARAYAN, IAS (RETD) Dr S Narayan, IAS (Retd) Dr. S. Narayan (IAS, 1965 batch), with nearly four decades (1965 to 2004) in Public Service in the State and Central Governments, in Development Administration, was the Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister during 2003-04.

Prior to this assignment, Dr. S. Narayan served the Government of India as Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary, Secretary in the Departments of Revenue, Petroleum and Industrial Development.

Dr.S.Narayan obtained his Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

He has an M.Phil (Development

Economics) from Cambridge University and Master of Business Management (Finance) from the University of Adelaide.

He graduated with an M.Sc (Physics) from the University of Madras (Madras Christian College).

Dr Narayan has single authored two books, edited two books and written numerous policy papers, reports and book chapters. He also writes regularly in newspapers, both locally and internationally on issues relating to Public Policy, Governance, Public Finance, Trade and Energy.

He has been the visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore since 2005.

SUSHILA RAVINDRANATH Over 30 years in business journalism gives you a unique perspective. For Sushila Ravindranath—who began her career with Business India in Mumbai in the 80s, before moving to Chennai a few years later—this has meant a ring-side seat to an evolving industrial and entrepreneurial hub. But despite multi-billion dollar industries like the Murugappa Group and TVS Group, she tells us Tamil Nadu’s growth story remains “one of India’s best-kept secrets”. Attempting to change this, she has débuted as an author, with Surge, a book that traces the state’s growth. “We are entrepreneurial, but quiet. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, which is one of the reasons we never got credit as an entrepreneurial state,” says the veteran.

PROF S JANAKARAJAN S. Janakarajan, Ph.D, an Economist, currently a Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies MIDS, Adyar, obtained his Masters degree from Madras Christian College, Tambaram and Ph.D from MIDS, Chennai. He has done his Post-Doctoral work at the Cornell University, USA, during 1992-93 and subsequently a Visiting Professor at the Oxford University, UK for one year during 1995-96. He has travelled widely and has presented many papers in international and national workshops and conferences. His areas of interest are rural development and agrarian institutions, climate change and disaster management, water management and irrigation institutions, conflicts and conflict resolution, delta vulnerability, environment, urban and peri-urban issues, and markets. He is currently engaged in a project on Sustaining Urban ecology and urban water: The case of Chennai”, funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India. He has published several books and many papers in national and international journals.

He is the author of the 'Cauvery Family', an initiative which he started in 2003 that has brought together farmers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to resolve the most vexed inter-state water dispute in the history of contemporary India through farmer to farmer dialogue. At the moment, after thirteen meetings, farmers of both states have arrived at some understanding which has resulted in the formulation of a key formula for water sharing. He is the President of South Asia Consortium of Inter-Disciplinary Water Studies (SaciWATERs).

N SATHIYA MOORTHY The author, N Sathiya Moorthy, a veteran journalist and political analyst, is at present Distinguished Fellow and HeadChennai Initiative, Observer Research Foundation. A keen observer of the national and neighbourhood political scene, his last publication, 'Jallikattu: New Symbol of Tamil Angst', brought out in January 2018, on the first anniversary of the successful 'Jallikattu protests' across Tamil Nadu.

Sathiya Moorthy has worked with several newspapers in India, both in English and local languages. He was editorial advisor at a trilingual TV group in Sri Lanka and was based in Colombo, from October 2005 to March 2006.

He toured the US as an ‘IVP Scholar’ of the US State Department in October-November 2005 where he obtained firsthand knowledge of the US electoral system and operation.