Tag: Planning Commission

IG Patel as Deputy Economic Adviser

As the Chairman of the Planning Commission, Prime Minister Nehru signs the draft first five year plan in 1951. To his right is Gulzarilal Nanda, Deputy Chairman. Behind Nanda is RK Patil (ICS, 1931), Member, who resigned from the service in 1943 for social work. Partially covered behind him is probably N Raghavan Pillai (ICS,1922), Cabinet Secretary and ex-officio Secretary to the Commission. To his right is Tarlok Singh, the Deputy Secretary, who served for long on the Commission earning it the moniker, Tarlok Sabha. Behind him is a young KN Raj, 27, who prepared the draft. To Nehru’s left are, in that order, CD Deshmukh, Finance Minister and Member, GL Mehta, later Indian Ambassador to the US (1952-58), and VT Krishnamachari, who we meet again and will encounter again.

Dr IG Patel’s tenure as Deputy Economic Adviser lasted from 1954 to 1959. By then, the first five year plan was already in progress. The work on the second plan had started. In the third part on IG’s life, we discuss a few major developments and other anecdotes. A detailed discussion on the second plan follows in another post. Continue reading “IG Patel as Deputy Economic Adviser”

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Book Review: Backstage by Montek Singh Ahluwalia

I have two versions of a review of this recent book by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years. When I first wrote it, it was too long, at over 3000 words. I had to trim it down considerable and make it 700 words, for The Open Magazine. I will post a link to that review here as and when it is published in that shorter form. Those who might be interested in the longer form, please read on. Continue reading “Book Review: Backstage by Montek Singh Ahluwalia”

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