Sanjeev Sanyal

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Sanjeev Sanyal
Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)
Assumed office
22 February 2022
Principal Economic Advisor, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance
In office
21 February 2017 - 20 February 2022
Personal details
Born (1970-08-27) 27 August 1970 (age 53)
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Relatives
Alma materShri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi
St John's College, Oxford
Occupation
  • Economist
  • Writer

Sanjeev Sanyal is an Indian economist and popular historian. A member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, he has helped prepare six editions of the Economic Survey of India starting in 2017. Sanyal has written several books on Indian history to mixed reviews.

Early life and education[edit]

Sanjeev Sanyal was born in Kolkata and studied at St. Xavier's School and St. James' School. He received a Bachelor's degree in economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi. He then went to St John's College, University of Oxford, where he received a BA in philosophy, politics and economics in 1992, he was a Rhodes scholar,[3][4] and received an MSc in Economics in 1994.[5][3][4]

Career[edit]

Sanyal began working in financial economics in the 1990s.[4] In 2004, Sanyal and environmental economist Pavan Sukhdev created the Green Indian States Trust to promote sustainable development.[3][6] He worked as chief economist for South and Southeast Asia at Deutsche Bank until 2008, leaving to research and write Land of the Seven Rivers, and returned in 2011.[3] By 2015, when he resigned, he was a managing director[a] and global strategist.[8][9]

In 2017, he was appointed as the Principal Economic Adviser to the Indian Ministry of Finance and in that job helped prepare six editions of the Economic Survey of India.[10][9] In February 2022, he was appointed member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister in the rank of the Secretary to Government of India.[11][4] He has also served on the Future City Sub-Committee of the Singapore government tasked with building a long-term vision for the city-state.[12][13]

In March 2023, Sanyal led the first edition of the Delhi University Literature Festival as its patron, alongside Swapan Dasgupta as the festival director.[14]

Views[edit]

Sanyal has been a vocal critic of Nehruvian socialism, which he deems to have stemmed from an "inward-looking cultural attitude".[15] Nehru and P. C. Mahalanobis are criticized for treating the economy as a "mechanical toy", leaving little scope for the flourish of private enterprises, and ultimately throttling creativity.[15] Sanyal praises the 1991 liberalisation reforms as the harbinger of Indian Renaissance, and argues for the application of Complex Adaptive Systems framework to economic issues.[3]

Among his most-espoused views is that the historiography of India has been distorted with "Colonial, Nehruvian, and Marxist" biases — thus, requiring a "rewriting" of history by "properly revisiting" primary sources.[15] In The Ocean of Churn, Sanyal argues that the primary sources used in painting a humane image of Ashoka can also be interpreted to reconstruct him as a genocidal tyrant.[15] According to Sanyal, Ashoka did not convert to Buddhism out of laments at the Kalinga War but due to political pressure exerted by the Jains.[16] A host of other sources are invoked to compare Ashoka with "modern day fundamentalists", whose Dhaṃma Mahāmātās were "religious police"; the famed edicts about religious tolerance are read as propaganda.[15][16]

Sanyal blames the Nehruvian project for having established Ashoka as a "great king", and stresses on the urgent need of a post-socialist reading of history.[15] In Sanyal's version of this reading, the central character is Chanakya, a "professor of Political Economy at Taxila university" who had helped Chandragupta Maurya establish a pan-Indian empire and who then wrote Arthashastra about a centralised Mauryan economy.[15] Only when the Arthshastra is retrofitted to India's current political economy —by fixing the judicial system, investing in internal security, and simplifying taxation rules— among other things, Sanyal believes that we can return to the "golden age" of India that had birthed "yoga, algebra, the concept of zero, chess, plastic surgery, metallurgy, Hinduism, [and] Buddhism."[15]

Reception[edit]

Manu Pillai, a popular historian, commended The Ocean of Churn for being a "delightful introduction to the world of the Indian Ocean" despite the possibility of professional scholars challenging his narrative and conclusions.[17] He welcomed Sanyal's command over a layered and complex past, his "accessible" yet "captivating narrative", and especially the reevaluation of Ashoka.[17] Shiv Visvanathan, a social anthropologist specializing in science and technology studies, praised the same work for being a feisty, combative, and comprehensive history of the Indian Ocean aimed at a general audience; like Pillai, he commended the "devastating" reconstruction of Ashoka and recovering figures from the margins of history.[16] However, Visvanathan cautioned that "a professional historian might crib" at Sanyal's efforts.[16]

Indeed, academic historians have rejected Sanyal's revionism. Meera Visvanathan, a historian of ancient India, finds him ignorant of methodologies in historical research.[15] For all his clarion calls to go back to primary sources, Sanyal's citations remained restricted to secondary sources and mostly, mainstream histories that he seeked to critique.[15] In deconstructing the narrative of Ashoka, Sanyal failed to apply source-criticism[b] and imposed a host of anachronistic categories on the past; likewise, Sanyal remained oblivious of recent scholarship on Mauryan India[c] and misrecognised a shastra of political economy, as it developed in Ancient India, as a manual of Mauryan statecraft.[15] Similarly, Sanyal's analysis of the Mahabharata was held to be an exercise in speculation to fit preconceived notions of history.[15] Overall, Visvanathan found his works to be "riddled with holes" which commanded popularity among masses only because of Sanyal's "rhetorical flourish" and a simplicity that synced to majoritarian prejudices — Sanyal's work having not been critiqued or contested by professional historians, who have never taken him seriously, is why, Visvanathan suggests, he has grown in stature and confidence.[15]

Rohan D'Souza, a historian of South Asia at Kyoto University, approved of Visvanathan's critique as a "reality-check" to Sanyal's amateur efforts at rewriting history.[18] R. Mahalakshmi, a historian of ancient India at Jawaharlal Nehru University, held Sanya's reinterpretation of Ashoka to be entirely lacking in "contextual understanding" of the King and a politically motivated endeavor on the overall.[19]

Honours[edit]

Sanyal was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship in 2007 for his work on urban issues.[4] In 2010, he was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.[3] He has been an Adjunct Fellow of the Institute of Policy Studies at the National University of Singapore and Senior Fellow of IDFC Institute (Mumbai).[20][21] Sanyal has been a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London, visiting scholar at Oxford University, adjunct fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore), and a senior fellow of the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund).[4]

In 2022, Sanyal's Revolutionaries: The Other Story of How India Won its Freedom won the best Non-fiction Book Award 2022 in English at the Kalinga Literary Festival.[22] In 2023, he was awarded the KPS Menon Memorial Award for 2023 for his contributions to economic policy-making and public service.[23]

Works[edit]

Books[edit]

  • The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline, World Scientific, 2008, 264 p.[24]
  • Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography, Penguin, 2013, 192 p.[25]
  • The Incredible History of India's Geography, Penguin, 2015, 264 p.[26]
  • The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History, Penguin, 2017, 324 p.[27]
  • Life over Two Beers and Other Stories, Penguin, 2018, 232 p.[28]
  • India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018, Westland, 2018, 318 p.[29]
  • Revolutionaries : The Other Story of How India Won Its Freedom, HarperCollins India, 2023, 364 p.[30]
  • The Incredible History of The Indian Ocean, Penguin, 2020, 298 p, [31]

Columns[edit]

Sanyal is an occasional columnist for the Hindustan Times,[32] Project Syndicate, The Economic Times,[33] Live Mint,[34] Business Standard, and several other publications.[35][36]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Deutsche Bank has many employees whose job title is managing director. For example, in January 2019, Deutsche Bank promoted 63 employees in Europe and 24-36 in the United States to managing director positions.[7]
  2. ^ Sanyal is noted to have subjected contemporary edicts, Buddhist hagiographies, and Sri Lankan legends to the same treatment.
  3. ^ Visvanathan emphasises the documented fuzziness of the Mauryan economy and the determination that Arthshastra was the work of multiple post-Mauryan scholars.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dhara, Tushar (30 April 2017). "Policy Should be Broad and Flexible Like English and Hinduism: Sanjeev Sanyal". News18. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  2. ^ Dhawan, Himanshi (15 January 2023). "'Mainstream history always presents Indians as losers. Our heroes were edited out': Sanjeev Sanyal". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gupta, Soumya (5 October 2015). "A contrarian looks at world affairs". Fortune India. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Sanjeev Sanyal appointed full-time member of Economic Advisory Council to PM". Moneycontrol. 22 February 2022. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Sanjeev Sanyal". St John's College. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  6. ^ Dasgupta, Debarshi (22 December 2008). "Log Jam Street". Outlook. p. 18. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  7. ^ Wajid, Darakshan (29 January 2019). "Report: Deutsche Bank names 63 managing directors in Europe". S & P Global Market Intelligence.
  8. ^ Chakraborty, Shrim (25 February 2015). "Modi's first full year Budget". Asia House. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015.
  9. ^ a b Ghosh, Saptaparno (27 February 2022). "Sanjeev Sanyal, The man of 'economic sutras'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  10. ^ Economic Survey 2016-17 (PDF). Government of India Ministry of Finance (Report). Vol. 2. August 2017. p. v. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
    Economic Survey 2017-18 (PDF). Government of India Ministry of Finance (Report). Vol. 1. July 2018. p. v. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
    Economic Survey 2018-19 (PDF). Government of India Ministry of Finance (Report). Vol. 1. July 2019. p. vii. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
    Economic Survey 2019-20 (PDF). Government of India Ministry of Finance (Report). Vol. 1. January 2020. p. v. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
    Economic Survey 2020-21. Government of India Ministry of Finance (Report). Vol. 1. January 2021. p. vii. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
    Economic Survey 2021-22. Government of India Ministry of Finance (Report). Vol. 1. January 2022. p. vii. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  11. ^ "Shri. Sanjeev Sanyal – EAC-PM". Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  12. ^ Sinha, Shishir (23 February 2022). "Sanjeev Sanyal heads to PM EAC, after 5 years in Finance Ministry". www.thehindubusinessline.com. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  13. ^ "Report of committee on the future economy" (PDF). p. 125.
  14. ^ "It's raining lit fests at Delhi University". The Indian Express. 19 March 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Visvanathan, Meera (1 October 2021). "Against History: Sanjeev Sanyal's attempts to rewrite India's past". The Caravan. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  16. ^ a b c d "At sea level". The Hindu. 20 August 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  17. ^ a b Pillai, Manu S (17 August 2016). "Rim of Life". Open The Magazine. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  18. ^ D'Souza, Rohan (20 October 2021). "The Risks of Looking at India's History Through the Eyes of Pseudo-Historians". The Wire.
  19. ^ Mahalakshmi, R. (27 July 2023). "Scrutinising the Asokan approach: Review of 'The Asoka Inscriptions' by Herman Tieken". Frontline. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Sanjeev Sanyal appointed as Principal Economic Adviser: All you need to know about him". DNA India. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  21. ^ 10th Annual International G20 Conference (PDF), 11–12 October 2018, p. 10
  22. ^ "Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) Book Awards 2022 announced: Meet the winners". The Indian Express. 20 January 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  23. ^ Bureau, The Hindu (28 December 2023). "K.P.S. Menon Award for Sanjeev Sanyal". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  24. ^ Sanjeev, Sanyal (18 August 2008). Indian Renaissance, The: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline. World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-4470-76-6.
  25. ^ Sanjeev, Sanyal (15 November 2012). Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 9788184756715.
  26. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev; Rajendran, Sowmya (28 November 2017). The Incredible History of India's Geography. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-93-5118-932-9.
  27. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev (10 August 2016). The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-93-86057-61-7.
  28. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev (15 May 2018). Life over Two Beers and other stories. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5305-024-5.
  29. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev (2018). India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018. Westland. ISBN 978-93-87894-57-0.
  30. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev (2023). Revolutionaries : The Other Story of How India Won Its Freedom. HarperCollins India. ISBN 978-9356295940.
  31. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev (2020). The Incredible History of the Indian Ocean. Penguin Random House India. p. 298. ISBN 9780143446019.
  32. ^ "This excerpt from a book demolishes Ashoka's reputation as pacifist". Hindustan Times. 6 August 2016.
  33. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev (26 January 2016). "Why India needs to no longer be an Ashokan republic, but a Chanakyan one". The Economic Times.
  34. ^ Sanyal, Sanjeev (15 June 2015). "Our history books need rewriting". Live Mint.
  35. ^ "Sanjeev Sanyal". Business Standard India – via Business Standard.
  36. ^ "Author's bio: Sanjeev Sanyal". Project Syndicate. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.


External links[edit]

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