shaktikanta das : journey towards inclusive growth in india opening remarks by mr shaktikanta das, governor of the reserve bank of india, at the third suresh tendulkar memorial lecture by mr tharman shanmugaratnam, senior minister, republic of singapore, and chairman of the monetary authority of singapore, mumbai, 7 january 2020. * * * on behalf of the reserve bank of india, i am delighted to welcome mr. tharman shanmugaratnam to deliver the professor suresh tendulkar memorial lecture, the third in the series. we are also deeply honoured to have smt. sunetra tendulkar, the wife of late professor tendulkar and his daughter smt. saee sapre with us. a hearty welcome to all the distinguished invitees of the reserve bank. about prof. suresh d. tendulkar 2. prof. suresh d. tendulkar was a great teacher, economist and policy analyst. his seminal work on the measurement and analysis of living standards in the country will remain his enduring legacy to public policy formulation. in fact, a defining feature of prof. tendulkar ’ s life as a professional economist was his deep sensitivity to poverty and a commitment to data - based research to understand poverty. 3. with a formidable academic record of great distinction, he joined the indian statistical institute in 1968. this was followed by a prestigious two - year assignment at the development research centre of the world bank. from 1978 onwards, he served with great distinction in the delhi school of economics in different capacities until his retirement in 2004. he served on numerous working groups on the design and conduct of the national sample surveys and was the chairman of the governing council of the national sample survey organisation ; chairman of the national accounts advisory committee ; and chairman of the national statistical commission. he was a member of the lakdawala committee for estimation of poverty in 1993, which recommended state specific consumption baskets for estimation of poverty. he became a member of the prime minister ’ s economic advisory council in 2004 and in 2008 he was appointed the chairman of the council. 4. prof. tendulkar served as director on the central board and the chairman of the eastern region local board of the reserve bank from 2006 till his sad demise on june 21, 2011. this lecture series was instituted in his honour in 2013 in recognition of his contribution to the economics profession and his association with the reserve bank. about mr. tharman shan

policymakers only have non - standard instruments in their arsenal, they can also make do with waiting a little longer for inflation to return to a path that is consistent with the definition of price stability. after all, the ecb governing council stipulated quite intentionally its inflation target of below, but close to, 2 % is its medium - term objective that need not be achieved at all times, whatever the cost. particularly in the aftermath of a severe crisis, there ’ s a good case for seeing patience as a virtue. 5 conclusion ladies and gentlemen i would like to bring my speech to a close by saying that you have truly been brave souls for staying with me this far. given the colourful range of professions gathered here at this reception, the occasionally gloomy topics covered by my speech and, above all, the festive carnival - themed decorations here at this venue, i think i will round things off with an entertaining anecdote after all. a doctor, an architect and an economist meet and start arguing over who out of the three has the most honourable profession. says the doctor, " it ’ s obvious. god used adam ’ s rib to create eve – he must have been a surgeon. " says the architect, " well, before adam and eve, order had to be brought out of chaos to create the universe. who other than an architect would have been capable of doing such a thing? " says the economist, " that ’ s all well and good, but who do you think created all that chaos? " i do hope that my speech has helped to bring a little order to the chaos, and i thank you for being such an attentive audience. 9 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches