The Black Economy in India: Transition to Grey Political Economy (Third Edition) Book Launched At Department of Political Science, University of Delhi

New Delhi, February 21, 2019: University of Delhi, Department of Political Science in collaboration with Indian Political Economy Association and YUWA Samvaad launched a book that briefly describes the cleverly concealed character of the Indian black economy. The book named ‘The Black Economy in India: Transition to Grey Political Economy’ third edition is been written by Kamal Nayan Kabra, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Public Administration, published by Aakar Books, Delhi.

The book launch was organized at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Science, University of Delhi in the presence of Prof. Veena Kukreja, Head, Departmentof Political Science, Dr. B. P. Mathur, Ex. Deputy CAG, Government of India and Dr. Saroj Giri, Department of Political Science.

During the launch, a panel discussion was organised on the Indian economy, its grey areas, and corruption, etc., chaired by Mr. Javid Chowdhury, Union Revenue, Health and Food Secretary, Prof. Simrit Kaur, Principal, SRCC, University of Delhi, Mr. D. Raja, MP (Rajya Sabha), National Secretary CPI and Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Former editor 9EPW and a senior journalist.

On the launch of the book, Mr. Kamal Nayan Kabra said, “The updated version of my book carries forward the quest for a people-centric analysis of the deeply disequalizing changes under the garb of the factitious processes of economic growth and electoral democracy. Unfortunately over the past several decades both economic growth and formal democracy have in practice turned out to mainly to mark serious departures from both the letter and spirit of the formally instituted system.”

He further added that “This departure from the legal- constitutional and ethical practices constitutes the phenomenon of grey political economy. Thus, the study attempts to make a nuanced sense of the phenomenon of white-collar crime by the elites which is popularly understood as the problem of black money. This study intends to initiate some steps towards a thorough re-examination of the society wide perversion and calls for a real multi-disciplinary framework parallel with development discourse.”

On the occasion of the book launch, Mr. Javid Chowdhury, Union Revenue, Health and Food Secretary said, “Mr. Kabra’s book ‘The Black Economy in India: Transition to Grey Political Economy’ is a very erudite study of economic phenomenon which occupies public attention. The book gives us a detailed analysis of what is really an economic black hole. It will serve a very useful academic and broader public purpose”.

The updated version of The Black Economy in India: Problems and Policies is expected to hold some relevance for many purposes. This is so because the book presents the content which is a part of India’s living such as extortions, corruption, black marketing, smuggling, stashing away of ill-gotten wealth, electoral malpractices by drawing on appointments of favourites and relatives to key positions for illegal collections and others.

The present study, particularly the new chapters, among many other studies of Indian development experience and its evolving political economy, highlight the story of the sabotage of even the very minimum of pro-people elements of India’s post-independence development strategy by all-round corruption, its associated flourishing black economy and all that it represents.

The book argues and maintains that corruption and black economy, are the main handiwork of the rich, powerful and famous, both in the economy and polity, often with subterranean links. It is these very groups who provide the bulk of savings, investments and innovations and hence tend to assume the lead role as the agencies of economic growth. However, it is often ignored that such growth owing to the involvement of some qualitatively undesirable socially exclusionary leadership tends to evolve mutual linkages with adverse social inclusion of the general public at large. Hence corruption and the black money menace are closely associated with the growth story and its perversion in the form of mal-development.

About Kamal Nayan Kabra

Kamal Nayan Kabra (1941): Professor of Economics, (1980-2003) Indian Institute of Public Administration, and Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Chair Professor

(2010-2017), Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. Chairperson, Institute of Small Enterprises and Development, Cochin.

He has Chaired expert and review Committees of GOI to Review Forward Markets; Expert Committee on the Economics of Tobacco Use. He has been associated with and published studies concerning planning and development and management of public enterprises, including some foreign countries. He has regularly delivered lectures as special invitees, Endowment and Memorial Lectures in many institutions. He was a UGC visiting Professor at some of the Indian Universities.

Along with contributing to research Journals and popular writing, he has published several studies. These include: The Black Economy in India: Problem and Policies (it was among the first of such studies); Black economy and Mal-development, The Political Economy of Brain Drain: Development Planning in India: Exploring an Alternative Approach; Appropriate development: People First; Political Economy of Policy Options: Nationalizations in India 1947-1980 (two volumes); FDI in Retail: A Self Goal; Political Economy of Public Distribution of Food in India.

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