Vol. 22, Issue No. 33, 15 Aug, 1987
Arun Ghosh
Gentle Persuader
Essays in Economic Policy and Economic Growth by I G Patel; MacMillan, 1986; pp viii + 261. THIS collection of lectures delivered by I G Patel over a span of more than twenty- two years from March 1963 to May 1985 is a treat to read for the old-timer, and an object lesson to the economic policy-maker of today in regard to how to tread the difficult course of tendering advice in a logical and yet gentle, persuasive manner. For IG Patel, whose credentials as an economist are impeccable, has also been a successful economic policy adviser, holding many distinguished positions first in the government and the international agencies and then as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, ending up his successful career, in the midst of the intelligentsia, in the London School of Economics and Political Science where he currently holds the coveted post of director, I G Patel joined the government in 1954 (having been a member of the B M Bernstein Mission from the IMF in 1953, which produced the famous report on "Growth with Stability''), and right from the start he was (unofficially) associated with the formulation of the Second Five-Year Plan, now popularly known as the Mahalanobis plan. Latter-day critics have assailed the strategy adopted in the Second Plan and compared the growth achieved by India with that at- lained by South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore
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