Gita Gopinath, a professor of international studies and economics at Harvard, has accepted Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s invitation to join his team as an adviser.
In a statement issued from Cambridge, Gopinath said Kerala has made substantial progress on social indicators like health and education and she hoped to contribute towards further developing sustainable policies.
The appointment of Gopinath marks a significant shift from the dogmatic approach of the previous Left government to embrace “neo-liberal” policies followed by the national governments of the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.
Gopinath had praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reform measures, dubbed by leftist economists as disastrous for the poor, and complemented his government’s efforts to improve fundamentals of the economy.
Former Kerala Planning Board vice-chairman and Marxist economist Prabhat Patnaik criticised her appointment while Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac, who is also a development economist, refused to comment.
Many believe her appointment could undermine Isaac’s role in policy formulations of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government.
Gopinath’s role is also clearly defined, and it goes beyond ornamental but rather she would be calling the shots on many crucial areas, especially changes in archaic laws that drive away investors, officials said.
She has already made her views clear on the land acquisition bill which the communists opposed. She advocates groundbreaking reforms to attract investors.
Gopinath said her mandate was to respond to any requests from the chief minister for advice on the impact on Kerala’s economy of global, national and state events and policies.
“Given my location, I anticipate most of this will be done remotely, rather than in person,” she said.
“I hope to play a convening role to connect various state departments to the knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala like public finance, management, labour and development economics and entrepreneurship.”
Given this advisory nature of the appointment and her location, Gopinath said, she did not anticipate frequent interactions with the media to explain government policies or her opinion on those.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to contribute my skills and effort to the development of Kerala. I am hopeful that under (Vijayan’s) leadership, the state will make great strides in achieving its development goals,” she said.
She also stresses that it is an honorary position, in that “there is no remuneration, no expectation that I will move to Thiruvananthapuram to engage on a daily basis with the government or be involved in all its economic policy decisions.”
“Instead, I will continue as a full-time professor at Harvard University and carry on my commitments including research and teaching.”