E19 - Why India is Poor with Ajay Shah, Economist and Author

Why is India poor? Who is the reason for the lack of prosperity in India? What is the single activity that can help change the story? You’ll have to listen to this week’s hippoBrain conversation with Ajay Shah, Economist and Author of the book ‘In Service of the Republic’, to find out the reasons for India's rampant poverty and lack of prosperity. Ajay also explains how things changed through the eras—across the post-independence era under Jawaharlal Nehru’s rule, in and around the Emergency in the 80s, pre and post the 1991 LPG reforms, and after 2011. Interestingly, he speaks about why all hope lies in India’s private sector to eliminate poverty, the mistakes that he—and others with him—made during their time in the Ministry of Finance, and the disturbing signs he sees for India’s near future. A must-watch for everyone who is interested in what’s happening to India’s economy and politics. P.S.: To those who are wondering if Jawaharlal Nehru was great or made grave errors, you’ll probably find a nuanced answer at around 27 minutes. Chapters: 00:00 Introducing Ajay Shah, Economist and author of the book, ’In service of the republic’ 1:25 Ajay Shah’s shift from Aeronautical Engineering to Economics 3:01 Is India poor? If so why? 6:46 Government’s regulations that hurt India’s ability to prosper 8:31 Why is GDP growth the only solution? What about the theory that ‘the rich becomes richer’? 13:36 India’s history of growth and reforms, and what it needs to do next 21:31 The economists’ model dream of India and their intellectual failure 26:43 Jawaharlal Nehru’s greatness and faults 31:36 Institutions India needs for prosperity 38:22 Is India losing its demographic dividend? 40:18 What’s more important than rhetorics like ‘Swasth Suraksha & Shiksha’ 45:57 The institutional knowledge and groundwork of 1991 49:11 The power of people, ideas, knowledge and foundation 52:21 Service of the Republic and Seeing like a State 54:00 The turning point in Ajay Shah’s life 55:36 Unleashing the power of enterprise on opportunity . You can also search for hippoBrain on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ONeSDA... Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast... Google Podcast: https://google.com/podcasts?feed/aHR0... . Connect with us: hippoBrain:   / hipp0brain   Rajesh Jain:   / rajeshjain   Jaimit Doshi:   / jaimitd   . SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more updates * Click the BELL ICON to get notified for new videos *