Heterodox Approaches to a Model State?

R. Ramakumar is an economist by training and is currently a Professor at the School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His areas of interest include agricultural economics, and development economics, with a focus on poverty and inequality. He was earlier the Dean of the School of Development Studies as well as the NABARD Chair Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. From September 2016, he has also been serving as a non-ministerial member of the Kerala State Planning Board. He has written two books -- of which the most recent one "Distress in the Fields" (2022) has been acclaimed by reviews as an authoritative account of agriculture in India over the past three decades. He also writes extensively in newspapers and magazines.

This podcast is part of a fresh iteration of the series Heterodox Approaches to a Post-Pandemic World that was conceptualized to commemorate the 10th death anniversary of Alice Amsden and the work of Judith Tendler who both taught at the International Development Group (IDG) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

This podcast with Professor Ramakumar focuses on how a globally renowned development experience was achieved by a small southern Indian state that upended the prevailing development theory about growth-led trickle-down economics. Ramakumar deftly unpacks over 100 years of development planning in the state, making it a beacon worldwide for social innovation and adaptation, including unprecedented literacy rates that far outpaced many developed countries. In true Amsden style, he looks at how significant historical events such as land reform, decentralization, and public action created a highly literate and healthy society that would chart its way in forming a new industrial policy based on the state’s knowledge economy and how a strong political acumen by the state’s leaders allowed the state to avoid the conservative shift in India towards right-wing religious fervor and keep on its developmental course of adaptation.