Reorient Economics Education
Economics is the basis of life. Sound economics is the
pre-requisite for the meaningful functioning of the societies. Ancient
civilizations must have followed certain basic principles of economics, as
otherwise they could not have continued. This is true more in the case of the
successful civilizations such as India and China, which have flourished over
several centuries since the earlier times.
All the educational institutions and text books teach
us that the economic theories and concepts are the products of the West; and
the economic development began with the Industrial Revolution during the 18th
and 19th centuries in Europe. They called the economics that they
presented as “modern”, purely based on their limited European experience and
world views.
They did this as they considered themselves as the
superior race in the world. All others were inferior and hence their history,
practices, beliefs and ways of life had to be thrown out for they contained
nothing useful. The colonial masters introduced the Macaulay education system during
the 1830s with the ulterior motive of producing students without any national
orientation. Unfortunately even after sixty seven years of Independence, we are
still following a largely west-centric economics education.
As a result, all our discourses at the academic and
policy making levels are based on the Western theories, concepts and approaches.
Meanwhile studies of the economic histories of different countries undertaken since
the 1980s reveal many new facts. They all conclude that India and China - and
not the Western countries - were economically more powerful than the rest of
the World before the Industrial Revolution.
Several studies note that the economic emergence of
the European countries was predominantly due to the colonial exploitation. Maddison
notes that India and China remained the two most prosperous nations for most of
the time from the ancient periods. The details also show that these two
countries remained the most sustainable economies during the last two
millennia.
But none of these studies finds a place in our text
books. Nor they are discussed in class rooms. With the result, even many of the
University professors remain unaware of these important findings. It is not the
history alone, they are not even aware of the contemporary realities.
Colonial exploitation and the subsequent rule by the
British destroyed Indian economy and her strong foundations. With the result
India became poor and underdeveloped. The alien interference made our country
largely illiterate and social systems very weak.
But today India is emerging as the most promising
nation in the World. During the latest year India has become the fastest
growing economy overtaking China. India has achieved this in spite of serious
difficulties and limitations. Policy makers over the years have always tried to
follow the western approaches and there remains lack of proper understanding of
the realities.
Hence India’s emergence as a highly potential economy
in about six and half decades is almost without parallel in the contemporary
history. From being one of the poorest countries, it has emerged as the third
largest economy in the World. All these achievements are in spite of the unsuitable
theories and approaches guiding our policy making circles over the past
decades.
The world witnessed the collapse of both the Western
economic ideologies namely communism and market capitalism in less than three
decades. Hence there is a huge vacuum before them and they do not know where to
go. They are beginning to understand that their economic theories lack
foundations.
At the same India has been rising slowly, but steadily
over the past decades. There is no doubt that there are serious problems in the
economy. But at the same time it is clear that the economy has been moving
forward. The difficulty in India is not with the economy, but with the people
who are closely dealing with economics.
India is a unique economy, with strong foundations. We
have special factors driving the economy, with most of them are special to our
country. But the educational institutions fail to notice, study, understand and
recognize them, as they still believe that India may not have anything original
of her own to offer.
With the result, the students and scholars who come
out of the universities have no idea about the ‘functioning economy.’ The
bureaucrats and policy makers who frame policies for our country are the
‘successful products’ of such a system. This is a serious problem in
Independent India today.
Our education system still believes that the Western
theories and approaches are the only way to understand, explain and analyze the
Indian realities. Hence they have nothing original to offer to the improvement
of our economy, as they do not have a proper understanding of the Indian
situation.
Field studies undertaken over the last one and half
decades reveal a completely different India, with her own our unique
functioning systems. Limited studies undertaken by a few reputed western universities
and research bodies during the last few years also confirm the unique strengths
of the Indian economic system. But our universities do not even discuss them.
Indian family system is special in many ways. Family
system is the core strength of India. Families are not just social or cultural
units, they play the dominant role in the functioning of the Indian economy.
Our economy is safe and going strong, as it is largely driven by families. But
how many of us know it?
Do the education system acknowledge and recognize this
fact? Our text books contain only the theories based on the individualistic
approaches, as prevalent in the Western societies. They do not reflect the
ground realities here. Hence their utility is very limited for us.
When we talk to people, they acknowledge the influence
of families in all their activities. All the successful entrepreneurs admit the
contribution of their families to their success. They passionately narrate the
sacrifices of their mothers, fathers, grandparents, family members and the
society at large. But do we find at least a mention of these factors in any of
our academic discussions?
Even a cursory look at the functioning of the global
economies during the recent periods would reveal many truths. The western
economic approaches have been continuously failing. At the same time, India has
been rising. The global economic crisis during 2008 affected countries
different parts of the world, though its influence was severe in the Western
world. But India remained one of the least affected nations.
There must be some strong reasons for this. What are
they? What are the factors that protect
us from the global crisis and make our country to continuously move on? In spite of so much of evidence pointing to
our strengths, our education system refuse to study the ground realities. So we
not only ignore the historical facts, but also the contemporary functioning
systems.
Hence our economics education is almost completely
away from the realities. In spite of having many reputed economists in our
midst and built well known institutions specializing in different aspects of
the economics, we have largely failed to study the Indian economy from the national
perspectives. With the result we do not have any Indian economic theories. We
have not attempted to develop at all.
Hence at least now when India is emerging at the
global level, we need to give a new orientation to our economics education. It
should look at our economy from the native perspectives, understand it and try
to contribute to its development based on our core strengths.
( Yuva Bharati, Vivekananda Kendra, Aug.2015)
