C.T. Kurien, distinguished economist and former professor of Madras Christian College, was among the few economists who took up the cause of economic policy for the people, said Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan.
In a statement sent for a webinar organised to commemorate the 90th birthday of Mr. Kurien, Mr. Vijayan said that the dominant stream of economics eluded the understanding of non-professionals and was used as a convenient tool by a section of policy makers who believed in restricting the role of the State and did not think of wealth distribution.
“It is here that people like Prof. Kurien have made the difference by taking up the cause of economic policy for the people,” he said.
He highlighted that Mr. Kurien, who was one of the co-founders and former Director of Madras Institute of Development Studies, was one of the early advocates of a scheme like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Neo-liberal policies
Prakash Karat, politburo member of the CPI (M), said that Mr. Kurien was always committed to the cause of abolishing poverty and fighting for social and economic justice.
He said that during these times of COVID-19 pandemic, when people were suffering economically and socially, the sane voice of economists like Mr. Kurien became significant.
N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group, said that what runs like a red thread through Mr. Kurien’s life and work, going beyond economics, was his progressive and pro-people thinking that brought him to his calling as a researcher and teacher of economics.
Highlighting that Mr. Kurien was a teacher who had few peers, Mr. Ram recollected the three questions that he consistently told the students as essential to understanding economy, which were “Who owns what? Who does what? and Who gets what?.”
His well-reasoned and conscientious positions went beyond economics and to other issues like the fight against communalism, freedom of speech and democracy, campaign for secular democracy.
“I cannot think of a single issue where CTK (Mr. Kurien) and people like me have not made a common stand for over five decades.”
P.G. Babu, Director, MIDS, recollected the role of Mr. Kurien in launching the half-yearly journal, The Review of Development and Change, brought out by the institution with a distinguished editorial board.
M.A. Oommen, former Chairperson of State Finance Commission, Kerala, and Professor Emeritus of the Institute of Social Sciences, said that economics was never just an intellectual pursuit for Mr. Kurien, but a tool to make sense of the world we lived in and to transform it for the better.
Amiya Bagchi, Professor Emeritus of The Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, and Barbara Harriss-White, Professor Emeritus, University of Oxford, and John Harriss, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Canada, spoke.
Madhura Swaminathan, Chairperson, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, economists Venkatesh Athreya, K. Nagaraj and many others shared their experience of working with Mr. Kurien.
V.K. Ramachandran, Vice-Chairperson, Kerala State Planning Board and former student of Mr. Kurien, chaired and coordinated the event.
