India successfully built best digital economy, finance architecture in world: Nobel winner Spence
Noida (PTI): Noting that India is a major economy with the highest potential growth rate right now, Nobel laureate economist A Michael Spence said the country has successfully developed by far the best digital economy and finance architecture in the world.
Spence, who was awarded the Nobel prize in Economic Sciences in 2001, shared his views during an interaction with students and faculty at the Bennett University in Greater Noida on Monday.
"The major economy with the highest potential growth rate right now is India. India has successfully developed by far the best digital economy and finance architecture in the world. It is open, competitive and delivers services of an inclusive kind to a vast array of territory," the Nobel laureate said, according to a statement issued by the varsity.
Spence also pointed out that the world is experiencing a "kind of regime change in the global economy".
Tracing the evolution of the global economy after World War II, Spence said that the 70-year-old global system is "breaking down" due to pandemics, geopolitical tensions, climate shocks, etc.
Emphasising that the global system -- built on economic criteria like global supply chain centred around efficiency and comparative advantage considerations -- is undergoing a rapid transition, he pointed out that "in a shock-prone world, it doesn't make sense to have single sourcing".
With the centre of gravity shifting steadily towards the East, there is a fundamental change in the global economy whereby supply chains are getting diversified and global governance is becoming more complicated than ever before, he added.
Despite the challenging time, he said what gives optimism is the affirmative answer to the question: whether we have counter-measures to enhance human welfare?
He also outlined the enormous progress in science and technology which can contribute to enhancing human welfare, including generative AI, revolutions in biomedical life sciences and massive energy transitions.
He cited the example of competitive pricing of solar energy and quoted the cost of DNA sequencing having reduced from USD 10 million dollar earlier to USD 250 now. However, he added there is downside to this technological growth, and emphasised on its availability to both big and small businesses alike.
"We now have incredibly powerful scientific and technological tools that, if we use correctly, can be used to essentially deliver wellbeing and opportunity to a wide range of people," said Spence, who was recognized for his analysis of markets with asymmetric information.
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Congress slams Modi govt over Manipur unrest
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday attacked the Modi government over the situation in Manipur, accusing it of being apathetic and remorseless.
In a post on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge noted that Manipur started burning exactly a year ago on May 3, 2023.
"Humanity perished in Manipur The cruel combination of an apathetic Modi Government and an inept BJP State Government have virtually divided the state into two halves.
"A remorseless PM Modi has not set foot in this border state, for it exposes his rank incompetency and absolute indifference. His ego has damaged the social fabric of a beautiful state," he charged in a post on X.
Kharge noted that the people of Manipur, from all communities now know how the BJP made their lives miserable.
"People of Northeast, now know that Modi Government's shameless drumbeating about so called development drowned the voices of humanity in the region. People of India, now know that PM Modi and his Government has no iota of sympathy for the countless lives they destroyed in Manipur," the Congress chief said.
He claimed that more than 220 people have been killed, 60,000 people have been displaced and thousands, including women and children, still continue to languish in camps.
"Women were raped, paraded and horrific violence took place, but the PM kept quiet. Only after outrage, that the PM bothered to pay lip-service in August 2023, which now reverberates hollow," he alleged.
Our security personnel are getting martyred. Police trainees of two communities shot at each other and arms and ammunition were looted, he claimed.
In January, we witnessed, how an armed group coerced MPs/MLAs to attend a meeting at the heavily guarded Kangla Fort, where @INCManipur President was brutally assaulted and tortured, he said.
Kharge claimed that there is no semblance of governance in Manipur and that law and order has collapsed.
"With deep sense of sadness, we pay our tribute to the countless innocent lives who suffered this unimaginable violence and who are still suffering, searching for a glimmer of hope for peace to return.
"Due to the BJP, normalcy and peace evades Manipur," the Congress president alleged questioning the silence of the Modi government and the prime minister on the situation in the north eastern state.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the prime minister of abandoning the people of Manipur and outsourcing the management of the state to the Home Minister, who, he charged, has proved to be "hopelessly inadequate, insensitive, and incompetent".
"Exactly a year ago today, Manipur erupted - or more accurately, was made to erupt by the cynical and divisive politics of the ruling BJP," he alleged.
"Hundreds of people have been killed, thousands have been displaced, and Manipur’s communities now live in a deep-rooted suspicion of each other.Security forces themselves are routinely attacked and armed militias enjoying official patronage rule the roost...What is astounding is that just fifteen months earlier in the assembly elections the BJP and its allies had received a thundering mandate. That mandate evaporated on May 3rd 2023 entirely because of the BJP's own (mis)calculations and manipulations," he said.
Even amidst this "civil war-like situation", the prime minister has been eloquent in his silence, Ramesh said criticising Modi for not visiting Manipur even for a few minutes, even though he has been to Assam, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh for his campaign.
The Congress leader charged that the situation in Manipur today is the doing of the Modi Sarkar’s policy of ‘Bluff and Rule,’ which has characterised its actions in the Northeast.
"It is a shortsighted policy that prioritises stringing communities and stakeholders along for as long as possible, without meaningfully addressing their concerns. It has blown apart the social fabric of Manipur, and it is now blowing apart Nagaland as well. The voter turnout in six districts of Eastern Nagaland, which went to polls in Phase I of the Lok Sabha elections, was a very high zero - which even the Election Commission could not revise to a higher number. The PM has talked of trailers: Manipur is itself a trailer of what the BJP will do to our wonderful diversity, he said.
"The pain and agony of the people of Manipur is the pain and agony of the people of India. RahulGandhi has visited Manipur twice in the last year, and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra began in Imphal on the 14th of January, 2024. Today is a day when we empathise with the people of all sections of Manipur society and hope that peace and social harmony will once again return soon," he added.
