Media - India Lecture Series 2014-2015 Lecture by Prof Jagdish Bhagwati

On September 19, 2014, the Consulate General of India, New York organized a discussion with Professor Jagdish N. Bhagwati on "Poverty and the Pope-Learning from the Indian Experience" as part of the ongoing Media - India Lecture Series. About eighty people including young students, academicians, members of think tanks and the media attended this inspiring lecture.

Renowned economist, Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati, known for his advocacy of free trade, is University Professor (Economics, Law, and International Affairs) at Columbia University and was till recently Senior Fellow for International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Consul General of India, New York, Amb. Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay, moderated the evenings discussion. In his welcoming remarks, he thanked Prof. Bhagwati for accepting the invitation to deliver this  lecture. He reiterated that the Consulate will continue to make every effort to work as Champions in the promotion of Indian intellectual heritage, Art and Culture through various cultural events and the Media India Lecture-Series, established in March 2014, with an  endeavor to enlighten young students, mainstream American media and the American people as a whole,  about India’s global image, identity, aspirations, role and projection in the contemporary world.

Professor Bhagwati cited Pope Francis' emphasis on the poor rather than the focus on the rich. Tackling the question: How is poverty to be effectively reduced? Prof. Bhagwati, referred to the Indian experience of how economic growth in India reduced poverty and the lessons it offers to the Pope and others in finding effective ways to reduce poverty. He further emphasised that the only strategy that will help the poor to any significant effecet is economic growth led by markets overseen and encouraged by liberal state policies. He also drew on his recent book written with Professor Arvind Pangariya, "Why Growth Matters", which precisely tackles this issue, and which was recently selected as one of the Best Books of 2013 by the Financial Times.

Ms. Pujya Priyadarshini, a graduate student of Columbia University was the master of ceremony. The event concluded with a dinner reception.

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