RABINDRANATH TAGORE PEERS over his shoulder as a silent spectator to the conversation. In fact, Tagore seems to be a constant companion, beyond his pride of place on the wall in Kaushik Basu's study. A former chief economic adviser (CEA) who has not hit controversy—a rarity these days—Basu is back in academia at Cornell University. His morning has been “punishing” and the Zoom interview has been pushed back 15 minutes for him to grab a coffee.
Basu's stints in the government (CEA from 2009 to 2012) and the World Bank (chief economist from 2012 to 2016) have been turned into a rather dauntingly titled Policymaker's Journal: From New Delhi to Washington, DC and he is bound to make headlines for his rather candid take on the economy. “An economy which is on the rise, it is too early to tell, but it is floundering right now,” says Basu, who recently received the prestigious Humboldt Research Award.
He faithfully kept a diary; hurried, and sometimes, illegible notes detailing his experience—slightly wide-eyed, baffled with the vivid colourful descriptions of life in North Block. His observations are delightful, honest, philosophical and always amusing. “I decided right at the beginning that I have to record it,” he says. “It was the shock of life in government and North Block, which was completely different to my world, the flat world of academia where I had spent my career.”
Basu’s jottings provide a fascinating journey into the heart of the babu Dilli with its archaic, quaint idiosyncrasies. Early in job, his driver Manbir—a recurring character—“gently’’ admonished him, “Now that you are not a professor, but the chief economist of India, you don’t need to wear a seatbelt.”
The perks of the job included access to a well-maintained bathroom on the first floor for secretaries where “three nicely laundered towels marked ‘Finance Secretary’, ‘Revenue Secretary’ and ‘Expenditure Secretary” were on three racks. Basu's staff waged a personal battle till he was allowed to use it, victorious when a fresh towel marked ‘CEA’ appeared. And a bureaucratic lesson: “To any question that you may be asked, you never say you don't have an answer. If you don't have an answer to the question asked, then give an answer to a question for which you do have an answer, never mind no one asked that question.”
Peppered generously with anecdotes—a dinner party at 7RCR with Deepika Padukone, L.K. Advani, Mukesh Ambani, Nirupama Rao, Sonia Gandhi and no alcohol; encounters with Rahul Gandhi who “has a moral compass” (him referring to “CP” left Basu baffled—he meant Congress President Sonia); his conversation with Madeleine Albright over Kim Jong-il (she found him “quite personable”); meeting and hitting it off with Vikram Seth (he romanced a mannequin outside his window with whiskey); a soup and tea meeting with Chandrababu Naidu; a fondness for Nitish Kumar; interrupting the People’s Bank of China’s governor at a lecture on the express orders of Pranab Mukherjee; and suggesting to President Barack Obama to remind Indians of their country's history of plurality. Basu believes the conversation led to Obama's final lecture at the Siri Fort auditorium.
It is easy to see that the Obama meeting is a favourite story, the kind recounted and retold often at gatherings to become a highlight, like a perfect dish. “I began the meeting by saying ‘Mr President, we have met once before’. He nodded but I am not sure he remembered,” recounts Basu, settling to a familiar rhythm.
He was at that time the chief economist at the World Bank and Obama was to come to India as the chief guest for the Republic Day. “The bulk of the meeting was about the economy, India and US economic relations,” he recounts. (Another of Basu's passions. “We are two countries similarly founded.”) “During the end of the conversation, I said ‘Mr. President, remind Indians of this heritage that is common of openness and tolerance.’ It was laughed off,” he recounts. But just as he was leaving, an adviser came up to him and asked him, “Is there anything in the Indian writings that these were principles?” “I said, ‘Of course, just go and read the constitution…’ Then, it was a surprise when Obama referred to the same. You never know whether it was my sentence that triggered that,” he says.
Basu loves a good story, and he retells it in the best way—wry, with an eye for details, with his impressions in good measure. But more than just his account of Delhi, it records a past which was less divisive, and certainly simpler and more open. He met Arun Jaitley at the North Block on July 4, 2014, as the finance minister was putting final touches to his first budget. “I asked him if he had met the erstwhile prime minister since he took office,” he writes. Jaitley replied that he had not. Basu recommended that he should. Jaitley called his secretary and fixed a time.
Basu also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi—a 35-minute conversation on the economy at 7RCR “where most of the decor was unchanged”. He left “his office feeling good.” “I have to say that he gave me a very good hearing,” he says. “I said ‘Prime Minister, India should be held together as an inclusive society.’ I walked out feeling that he listened to me very carefully. I had broad ideological differences with the government, but thought that they would run the economy well. But subsequently, the running of the economy has been a big disappointment.” His assessment? “We are relying only on gut feelings without the honest bureaucrats and honest advisers which has happened several times during my time in government,” he says.
This book, however, does not delve into the current economic crisis. It is not about the economy or a triumphant we-handled-it-better sort of book. “As a senior bureaucrat, you expect an incident of corruption or something. I was never privy to anything like that,” he says.
It is, however, a book that hopes to restore the halo of respectability to former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Basu worked closely with Singh, often turning to him for advice, offering it, watching him from close quarters and remained in touch with him till the pandemic broke out. “I think, in many ways it requires a deep courage to be the person he is,” says Basu. “Contrary to what people say, you need to have courage to be modest as a prime minister. He has that courage.”
Policymaker’s Journal: From New Delhi to Washington, DC
Author:Kaushik Basu
Publishers: Simon &
Schuster India
Price: Rs699,
Pages: 375