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Excerpts of the lecture delivered by Dr. Thorat here:-

Dr. Ambedkar although being recognized as a great leader of marginalised sections is unfortunately not being discussed enough as an economist. He has been one of the few personalities who have been able to transcend their knowledge through diverse disciplines as economics, law, policy-making and strategist to name a few.

Dr. Ambedkar was the first person to talk about an extensive supply of capital & labour in agriculture. The theory of ‘Balance use of Economic Input’ put forward by Dr. Ambedkar in the year 1918 on the excessive supply of labour less use of capital in agriculture talks about balancing the agriculture sector by increased investments in the industry. Arthur Lewis wrote a thesis in the year 1954 on this based on this economic theory titled ‘Unlimited Supply of Labour and Economic Development’. This work enables Arthur Lewis to win the Nobel in Economics.

Further, the reasons for the fall of the trickle-down effect of wealth can also be found from the writings of Dr. Ambedkar. While most of us compare China and India in various aspects, important factors like the distribution of resources and capital in these two countries are often ignored. The caste system in India is not just a social system but it also assigns unfair division of economic rights. Many studies reflect on the discrimination in wages & opportunity on the basis of caste in the private sector, which apparently is the largest sector of the Indian economy. The two hypotheses put forward by Dr. Ambedkar as caste-based inequality creates an obstacle in economic growth and growth alone cannot help lower sections of the society to get out of poverty; have proven to chalk out the fault-lines of neoliberal policies.

Sandeep Hegade, Director, CASPR India Foundation moderated the session and Ms Komal Dadas worked as the coordinator for the same.