Dr. Biswajit Dhar – Aug 30, 2011

Dr. Biswajit Dhar was the chief guest at the inaugural talk for the M. Sc (Economics) Programme at the Vishwabhavan auditorium (Symbiosis Campus, S. B. Road Campus), organized under the aegis of the Symbiosis School of Economics (SSE). The session was attended by students and faculty from the various SIU institutions, as well as other prominent economists and faculties from various Economics Departments across the city.

Prof. Dhar is the Director General of RIS (Research and Information System for Developing Countries), a New Delhi based autonomous think-tank under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The organization specializes in policy research on international economic issues and development cooperation and is a forum for fostering effective policy dialogue and capacity-building among developing countries on international economic issues.

Dr. Dhar enthralled the audience with his insightful lecture on the emerging global economic order, its future and challenges. He brought in his experience of the political economy of international negotiation frameworks, to talk about issues of pressing concerns such as the fate of the Doha Round, the rise of China and the relative decline of the USA, etc. and the implications of these developments for India. He also touched upon the current crisis looming large in Europe and how the contagion effect is gradually spreading across a host of European nations. Correspondingly, he also spoke of the rise of the BRIC nations as a cluster of new engines of growth for the global economy.

The response to the talk could be gauged from the elaborate follow-up session where students and faculty raised questions on topics as wide ranging as fiscal prudence, food security, domestic subsidies, multilateralism, shifts in global power, etc.

SSE intends to engage in many such constructive endeavours as a part of its institution building process.