Bibek Debroy: The reformer-economist who had the prime minister’s ear
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has relied on Bibek Debroy for advice since 2017, especially on socioeconomic matters.
New Delhi: Economist, intellectual and littérateur Bibek Debroy, a top advisor to the government over the years, died on Friday, leaving a collection of fountain pens, limericks, and a deep imprint on India’s economic trajectory in the recent past.
Debroy (69), whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi has relied on for counsel on socio-economic matters since 2017, was admired for his versatility in a variety of fields. He has served as chair of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), since it was constituted seven years ago.
Known for extensive contribution to public policy and the government’s management of the economy, Debroy played a key role in policy discourse on socio-economic trends, fiscal matters of the Centre and states, bottlenecks in the job market, the need for streamlining the goods and services tax, faster adoption of the personal income tax regime, and the transformation needed in India’s statistical system. his footprint imprinted in the latest Union budget.
An avid advocate of reforms, Debroy added momentum to modernizing India’s statistical system with a paper prepared by his council titled The State of India’s Statistical System, drawing policy makers’ attention. Officials of the Prime Minister’s Office led the efforts in this regard, involving the statistics and finance ministries as well. In July, presenting the Union Budget for 2024-25, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized the need to enhance data governance.
Debroy was also an advocate for making the new personal income tax regime more attractive, he had told Mint in an interview published in January. Sitharaman, in her budget for 2024-25, increased the benefit of standard deduction and restructured the tax slabs in the new personal income tax regime.
Also read, mobile exclusive | Bibek Debroy's limericks
‘A towering scholar’
Debroy did not hesitate in articulating important issues that required the establishment’s attention, whether it was taxing agriculture income or the need for further empowering local bodies by states.
Federal policy think tank NITI Aayog’s draft 15-year vision document, released in 2017, suggested widening the tax base and simplifying the tax system. Debroy, who was a member of NITI Aayog then, explained at a briefing that rural income, including agriculture income, could be taxed. That proposal did not get traction in the Central government, as the constitutional power to tax agriculture rests with states.
Prime Minister Modi said in a social media post on Friday that Debroy was a towering scholar well-versed in diverse domains like economics, history, culture, politics, and spirituality.
“Through his works, he left an indelible mark on India’s intellectual landscape. Beyond his contributions to public policy, he enjoyed working on our ancient texts, making them accessible to the youth,” said Modi, adding that he had known Debroy for many years.
“I will fondly remember his insights and passion for academic discourse,” Modi said, adding that he was saddened by Debroy’s passing.
President Droupadi Murmu said India had lost an eminent public intellectual who enriched diverse fields from policy making to translating India’s great scriptures.
“His understanding of India’s social, cultural and economic landscape was exceptional. For his extraordinary contributions, he was honoured with Padma Shri,” the President said in a social media post.
In 2015, a panel led by Debroy recommended a set of reforms for making Indian Railways more efficient, which included proposals for having an independent regulator and ushering in accrual-based accounting.
The papers and reports brought out regularly by the EAC-PM, some of them in collaboration with other agencies, presented a progress report of India’s socioeconomic development.
Also read | Debroy’s right, we need a revised poverty line
An epic translator
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, under Debroy, gave critical inputs to Modi during the covid years and on policy priorities to be addressed in Union budgets.
Debroy, an alumnus of Presidency College in Kolkata, Delhi School of Economics, and Trinity College, Cambridge, worked at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, the union finance ministry, and NITI Aayog before heading the EAC-PM.
Finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Debroy had profusely participated in policymaking as chair of the EAC-PM.
He was also prolific in translating epics from Sanskrit to English, Sitharaman said. “Bibek, you had so much more to do and to complete—for all our sake! Farewell!,” Sitharaman said.
Debroy, who had a fascination for fountain pens and had an interesting collection, was also a widely published author, including on Indian mythology.
Also browse | 9 books by Bibek Debroy
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Debroy was a distinguished economist, prolific author, and excellent academician who would be admired for his policy guidance on economic issues and noteworthy contributions to the country’s development.
Debroy leaves behind a lasting legacy in economics, academia and literature, Pradhan said.
A man of unusually wide-ranging interests, Debroy was first and foremost a fine theoretical and empirical economist who worked and wrote on various aspects of the Indian economy, economist and Congress party leader Jairam Ramesh said in a social media post on Friday.
Debroy also had a special skill for lucid exposition, in a manner that would make laypersons easily understand complex economic issues, Ramesh said. “He will be missed for his scholarship as well for his dry sense of humour.”
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Business NewsNewsBibek Debroy: The reformer-economist who had the prime minister’s ear
First Published:1 Nov 2024, 04:24 PM IST
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