If so, we are all probably better off with me skipping the rest of the speech, and all of us going on to other pressing duties. Nevertheless, I am going to look beyond my personal incentives and fulfil my dharma as Chief Guest. I will speak on why India’s tradition of debate and an open spirit of enquiry is critical for its economic progress.
Let me explain. Robert Solow, won the Nobel Prize in Economics for work that showed that the bulk of economic growth did not come from putting more factors of production such as labour and capital to work. Instead, it came from putting those factors of production together more cleverly, that is, from what he called total factor productivity growth.