Just finished rereading the chapter on Migration from the 2016-17 Eco Survey when @arvindsubraman was the CEA.
It uses various methods including analysis of unreserved railway travel to argue that extant figures on no. of migrants in India were gross underestimates. 1/n
It uses various methods including analysis of unreserved railway travel to argue that extant figures on no. of migrants in India were gross underestimates. 1/n
This govt also had a report by a working group on migration India in 2017 identifying in-migrant and out-mingrant districts. The point being the government had the intellectual resources to predict the potential scale and direction of the reverse migration which was coming 2/n
So, how does a govt with the best intellectual understanding of the migrant economy end up presiding over the biggest ever crisis of migrant workers?
This is an irony which defines the governance crisis of the present govt in my view 3/n
This is an irony which defines the governance crisis of the present govt in my view 3/n
It started with getting both intellectuals & technocrats. The latter have gotten along well. From Jan Dhan to Aarogya Setu, the govt relies on them more & more. The intellectuals: An RBI governor & a CEA have ended up as biggest critiques of economic policies of this govt 4/n
Technocrats are good when it comes to performing within well-defined parameters (hard work). You need intellectuals (Harvard) to gauge things while dealing with catastrophic events or understanding policy implications of decisions beyond their planned goals. 5/n
With Harvard having lost vis-a-vis Hard Work, the only pre lockdown discussions would probably have focused on building an App rather than using the knowledge on the migrant economy.
Anti-intellectualism might pay politically, but it extracts a huge cost in the long run n/n
Anti-intellectualism might pay politically, but it extracts a huge cost in the long run n/n
