Rupee at record low of late a relavent Article: Ambedkar, rupee and our current troubles By Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Mint, Aug 20 2013 Ambedkar initially made a name for himself as a monetary economist and his London doctoral thesis was on the rupee. Ambedkar later became famous as a relentless critic of the pernicious caste system, an inspiring political leader and the moving spirit of the Indian Constitution, but his early training was as an economist. He had come to Columbia University to study under Edwin Seligman, who also happened to be a friend of Lala Lajpat Rai. The young scholar would sit for hours in the university library. In his three years at Columbia, Ambedkar took 29 courses in economics, 11 in history, six in sociology, five in philosophy, four in anthropology, three in politics and one each in elementary French and German, according to the Columbia website. Ambedkar was one of the first generation of professionally trained economists in India. He was also the first Indian political leader with formal training in economics, with research papers published in noted academic journals. He came back from the US in 1916, taught economics at a Mumbai college for three years, and then went to London to do his doctorate at the London School of Economics under Edwin Canaan. The London doctorate was awarded in 1923 and the Columbia one in 1927. He also became a lawyer during his stay in London. The centenary of his forgotten voyage to New York comes at a time when the fall in the Indian rupee has grabbed headlines. It is interesting that Ambedkar initially made a name for himself as a monetary economist. His London doctoral thesis was on the problem of the rupee, which was published as a book in 1923. Some of his insights are worth taking a look at, given the current troubles. Ambedkar looked into the problem of the rupee at a time when there was a clash between the colonial administration and Indian business interests on its value. The latter argued that the government was maintaining an overvalued exchange rate to help British exporters who sold their goods in India. The Congress backed Indian business in calling for a devaluation. London eventually agreed to set up a royal commission in 1925 to examine the matter. The main focus of the doctoral thesis was on how Indian monetary affairs should be arranged. Ambedkar argued in favour of a gold standard as opposed to the suggestion by John Maynard Keynes that India should embrace a gold exchange standard. His interest in economics, however, was never purely theoretical—it also lay in what implications it had for public policy, as economic historian S. Ambirajan pointed out in a 2001 speech on Ambedkar’s contributions to Indian economics. Read more: bit.ly/150OXfS
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 23:50:25 +0000
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