GUWAHATI: Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz on Tuesday said that a holistic approach is needed for sustainable development and for removing the inequalities and disparities that have been on the rise in different parts of the world.
Participating in an interaction – Asia Rising: Implications for the World Economy – here on Tuesday along with noted economist and author Lord Meghnad Desai, Stiglitz said governments would have to play a more pro-active role in shaping the economic policies that are more tuned to the hopes and aspirations of the people.
“Economic reforms have to address the key issues affecting the people and have to bring about qualitative changes in their economic conditions,” Stiglitz, a Professor at the Columbia University, added.
He stressed on the need for harnessing the natural and human resources in a proper way for the benefit of the people.
He also underscored the need for restructuring the economy through a slew of reforms aimed at bringing about changes in the living conditions of the common man.
Stiglitz said the driving force behind the success of any economy is the participation of the people in a big way.
He echoed the sentiments of Lord Desai that participation of civil societies, NGOs and SHGs in the development process can catapult any State or nation towards the path of economic glory and prosperity.
The Nobel Laureate, while speaking about the economic emergence of the Asian giants, China and India in the global economy, said to keep the momentum going more emphasis has to be on investments in human capital, infrastructure development and capital knowledge coupled with high savings.
“The gap in per capita income between the Asian countries and the West has to be narrowed down considerably,” he added. Stiglitz, while dwelling at length on Assam’s huge natural resources, said the State can make remarkable progress if it makes use of its resources in a proper way.
“Assam is India’s window to South East Asia,” he said, adding that the State should focus on eco-tourism, organic farming and organic tea plantation in a big way.
Lord Desai while agreeing to Stiglitz’s viewpoint, said Assam has to make use of its strategic location in reaching out to the countries of South East Asia ‘for reaping the greater opportunities’.
Stiglitz said International Monetary Fund would have to play a pro-active role like the World Bank in focusing more on reducing poverty and inequalities that can cause economic and political upheavals.
Joseph Eugene Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979).
He is also the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. (UNI)