By S N Misra in Bhubaneswar, November 3, 2024: Bibek Debroy was of my age and came to our university to deliver a key note lecture on my invite. There was certain flamboyance about him which you generally do not associate with economists, who are staid and tad tiresome to listen to. Like Alan Greenspan, the longest serving Governor of Federal Reserve Bank, in the USA, he was an abashed admirer of Adam Smith and the invisible hand of the market to spin magic and create wealth.

He possibly thought that free market had a cosmic force. It spawned him to translate unabridged version of Ramayan and Mahabharat in to English in several volumes; unlike Rajgopalachari’s slim editions. They would remain his veritable legacy, unlike economics where he was a standout face, without being profound. Mr Modi’s fascination for Bibek possibly stemmed from his mythological erudition wrapped around sound market economics.

Economics as a subject has divided the Indian economists in to two sharp camps after independence, with Bombay School of Lakdawala harping on monetary policy and the Delhi School with its fiscal approach led by doyens like KN Raj. It was much like Milton Friedman getting pitted against John Maynard Keynes. Nehru who was a Fabian Socialist had his first serious ideological challenge from Rajajaji who planted early sapling of free market private economy.

While his Swatantra party died a political death, it found robust resurgence, particularly after economic liberalization when economists like Jagdish Bhagawati challenged the socialist populism of Amartya Sen. The last two decades has seen sparring between left wing ideologues like Jean Dreze with Arvind Panagariya, a protégé of Bhagawati, championing the cause of freeing the Indian economy from the shackles of public sector inefficiency. Debroy belonged to the Panagariya camp and was a prominent voice in promoting the animal spirit of the private sector. One of his most enduring contributions was Reforms in the Railways which he recommended in 2015.

We differed sharply on his lampooning the concept of distributive justice in an edit in TOI. I thought it skirted the spirit of Indian Constitution. But I admired his report on reforming the railways. He had recommended that railways should have an independent regulator, which should not fix tariff but monitor if the tariff is market determined and competitive. He was critical of the unbalanced mix of passenger and freight traffic. He was supported on this by a Parliamentary standing Committee. He was also critical of the high budgetary support for railways which did not generate enough internal resources.

While railways has been witnessing substantial modernization and capital investment, the economic efficiency of railway operation leave a lot to be desired. Sadly his recommendation was hardly acted upon. He had also a nose for recounting rare anecdotes of railways. He had interest in several things, apart from mythology. During our dinner at Mayfair at Bhubaneswar, he just loved to have handsome helpings of Bali prawn, and regaled me with Odisha’s hoary maritime tradition and adventure in Bali.

Not to be outdone, I mentioned about the invaluable musical recording of Jagannath hymns which were recorded and released when Mrs. Nandini Sathpathy was Odisha’s CM in the 1970s. When I presented him with a CD the next day, he called up after reaching Delhi, and said how the collection of bhajans sung by the best of singers from Odisha, ranging from Sikandar Alam, Akshaya Mohanty, Pranab Patnaik, Bhikari Bal, Raghunath Panigrahi to Balakrishna Das based on songs written by Salabeg, a Muslim poet had bowled him over. He was a connoisseur in music, culture and cuisine.

One does not have a control how one’s last days will pan out. When I see the elderly around me in several types of discomfiture, with amnesia and dementia topping the list, it is really scary. As Camus wrote ‘pain is solitary’; which is particularly true for the elderly. It’s a pity for a voracious reader and prolific writer like him; he could not read during his last days in AIIMS, due to the agonizing illness that debilitated him.

This was much like BR Ambedkar, who became blind towards the end of his life because of acute diabetes and his followers had to read out books to him. He was erudition personified, and wore it lightly. There was a certain elfin charm about him; which you generally do not associate with economists! He was a rightist who feasted on mythology! He was a gadfly who could be charming.