V K R V RAO

                                          

A Passionate Humanitarian V.K.R.V. Rao ; Edited by S.L.Rao and others; Published by Academic Foundation ; Pages 289 ; Price Rs. 695/-

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Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao was a pioneering economist, politician, professor and educator. Dr.Manmohan Singh  has credited Dr.V.K.R.V. Rao (hereafter Dr.Rao)  with being responsible for the high quality of economics education and research in India, by being the founder-director of the Delhi School of Economics, the Institute of Economic Growth and the Institute for Social and Economic Change. Dr.Rao also played a major role in the evolution of the UNDP and the IDA. 

The book under review  contains  reminiscences  by 31 colleagues, friends and kin who were associated with him  during his life-time.

It is a tribute to his memory and focuses mainly on the third and final Institution, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore that he founded. All the three institutions founded by him maintain even today very close intra-institutional relationship. Another  organisation that owes its present importance  to Dr.Rao’s vision is the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi.

Dr.Rao emerges as a colossus in the academic and intellectual arena of the country for over 50 years. This volume gives us a glimpse of the remarkable  zeal with which Dr.Rao  fulfilled his mission and proved a source of inspiration.

 He was awarded a Ph.D.  from Cambridge. His doctoral thesis was "The National Income of British India, 1931-1932". He studied with the great economist J.M.Keynes. He was a member of the famous “Political Economy Club” presided over by the formidable Keynes. Other members in economics then at Cambridge included A.C.Pigou, Joan Robinson, Denis Robertson, Richard Kahn, Colin Clark and Maurice Dobb.

Dr.Rao  bagged numerous awards that include: Cobdon Club Medal in Political Economy , Sir Thomas Gresham Research Studentship, Caius College, Cambridge  Adam Smith Prize, Cambridge and Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Prize. He was a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan.  

Dr.Rao is rightly regarded as the  “Father of National Income Accounting” in India .Among his works are: Taxation of Income in India ; An essay on India’s National Income -1925-29 ; The National Income of British India ; India and International Currency Plans ; Post-War Rupee.

 His first professional employment was as Lecturer in Economics, Wilson College Bombay , which was followed by other distinguished positions .He served as  Food and Economic Adviser, Government of India at Washington ; Director, Delhi School of Economics, ; Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi ; Director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi ; Member, Planning Commission ; Union Cabinet Minister for Transport and Shipping ; Union Cabinet Minister for Education & Youth Services ;   National Professor, Government of India .

 He was member of several Commissions and Committees, prominent among which were Chairman, U.N Sub-Commission for Economic Development (which led to the establishment of the soft loan window of the World Bank, the IDA; Member, Taxation Enquiry Commission, Member, National Income Committee; Member, Planning Advisory Board, Government of India; Chairman, U.N Sub-Committee on Experts on Levels of Living; etc.

 The current prominence of the National Council of Educational Research and Training owes much to the new thrust given during VKRV Rao’s stewardship of the Ministry of Education and Youth Services.

Dr. Rao’s output was phenomenal: 39 books and monographs, 210 learned articles, 68 addresses and seminar papers as well as 6 edited works and innumerable popular writings in the media. He founded and nursed a leading economic research journal, ”The Indian Economic Review”.

Dr.Brahmananda gives a galaxy of scholars in economics whom Dr.Rao discovered or attracted —including, K.N.Raj,M.N.Srinivas, Jagdish Bhagwati, A.M.Khusro, C.T.Kurien. V.R.Panchamukhi.

Dr.Rao was inspired by Vivekananda’s call to identify and renew India’s interests with those of its vast poor. He accepted and believed in the Vedantic faith in the oneness of Truth.

The volume has contributions from distinguished persons like  C.T.Kurien, K.S.Krishnaswamy, P.R.Brahamananda, V.R.Panchamukhi, as also of those close to him, like Meera Ramakrishnan, his daughter, P.Ramachandran, his Secretary.

A wonderful summing up of this Colossus is given by Dr.K.S.Krishnaswamy, ex-Deputy Governor of the R B I  who describes the many-splendoured characteristics of Dr.Rao— “brilliant as an economist, his quick temper and equally quick return to warm friendship, his razor-sharp analytical prowess and immense energy . He was motivated by a burning idealism to benefit society and make it better informed as well as more ethical. Bhavabhuti’s aphorism aptly sums up Dr.Rao—                  “ Vajraadapi Kathoram Mridooni Kusumadapi” meaning”Tougher than a diamond but softer than a flower”

 Dr.Rao passed away on July 25, 1991, at the age of 83.

 P.P.Ramachandran.

26 / 11 / 2017.

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Tit Bits

 Dr. Rao  could  be abrasive and prickly but also  hasty A shocking illustration of this in 1969 immediately after the death of the much loved and charismatic ``Anna'' — C. N. Annadurai, the first DMK Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. There was initially a wrong report of his having passed away and Rao, who was then Union Minister, promptly telephoned newspapers to dictate a message of condolence. The news agencies, however, withdrew the wrong report and issued a fresh one about his being alive. When the New Delhi bureau of a newspaper brought this to the notice of Rao, the response from him — to say the least — was outrageous. Instead of expressing regrets and withdrawing his premature condolence message and even wishing ``Anna'' a long life, he said that it could be retained for the ``appropriate occasion''!

PPR

26 / 11 / 2017