Narendar Pani

Prof Narendar Pani is an economist by training who takes a multidisciplinary approach to issues of Indian political economy. In this effort he has relied on a method derived from the writings of MK Gandhi. He has over the last three and a half decades held positions in academia and the media. His books include, ‘Inclusive economics: Gandhian method and contemporary policy’ (Sage, 2002); ‘Redefining Conservatism: An essay on the bias of India’s economic reform’ (Sage, 1994); and ‘Reforms to pre-empt change: Land legislation in Karnataka’ (Concept, 1983). He is also one of the editors of ‘Bengaluru, Bangalore, Bengaluru: Imaginations and their times’ (Sage, 2010).
He was a member of the Task Force on Manufacturing set up by the Government of Karnataka, 2013.
He was a member of the Working Group set up by the Planning Commission, New Delhi, to review the performance of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
He was a member of the Steering Committee for the Evaluation Study on the programme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) conducted by the Programme Evaluation Organization of the Planning Commission, New Delhi.
He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore from 2003 to 2009.
He was a member of the editorial advisory board of the Journal for Social and Economic Development, an academic journal brought out by the Institute for Social and Economic Change Bangalore, India from its inception till 2009.
He won the Citibank Pan Asia Journalism Award for 1992. The award was given for writing on trade issues. The piece that won the award was on environment as a trade barrier.
Backgrounders
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Radhakrishna, Sindhu , and Anindya Sinha. 2010. “Living with elephants: Exploring the nature and cause of human-elephant conflict in India” ed. Narendar Pani. NIAS Backgrounders on Conflict Resolution B2. http://eprints.nias.res.in/217/.
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M Singh, Amarjeet . 2010. “Conflicts in Manipur” ed. Narendar Pani. NIAS Backgrounders on Conflict Resolution B1. http://eprints.nias.res.in/197/.
Book Chapters
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Pani, Narendar , and Anshuman Behera. 2018. “On the ‘why’ of Indian politics”. In Reasoning Indian Politics: Philosopher Politicians to Politicians Seeking Philosophy, Reasoning Indian Politics: Philosopher Politicians to Politicians Seeking Philosophy, London: Routledge, 1-22. https://www.routledge.com/Reasoning-Indian-Politics-Philosopher-Politicians-to-Politicians-Seeking/Pani-Behera/p/book/9781138201835#authorbio.
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Ramamurthy, VS , and Narendar Pani. 2013. “Energizing Sustainable Development”. In Practicing sustainability, Practicing sustainability, eds. G Madhavan, Oakley, B , Green, D , Koon, D , and Low, P . New York: Springer Science, 151–154. http://eprints.nias.res.in/367/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2012. “Wages of Poverty”. In Business Standard India 2012, Business Standard India 2012, New Delhi: BS Books. http://eprints.nias.res.in/314/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2012. “Vulnerability of Cities to Globalization: Towards a Conceptual Framework”. In Vulnerability and Globalization: Perspectives and Analyses from India, Vulnerability and Globalization: Perspectives and Analyses from India, eds. N Jayaram and Rajasekhar, D . Jaipur: Rawat Publications. http://eprints.nias.res.in/313/.
Books
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Pani, Narendar , and Anshuman Behera. 2018. Reasoning Indian Politics: Philosopher Politicians to Politicians Seeking Philosophy. Routledge India. https://www.routledge.com/Reasoning-Indian-Politics-Philosopher-Politicians-to-Politicians-Seeking/Pani-Behera/p/book/9781138201835#authorbio.
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Pani, Narendar , and Nikky Singh. 2012. Women at the threshold of globalisation. New Delhi: Routledge. http://eprints.nias.res.in/309/.
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Pani, Narendar , Sindhu Radhakrishna, and Kishor G Bhat, eds. 2010. Bengaluru, Bangalore, Bengaluru: Imaginations and their times. New Delhi: Sage Publications. http://eprints.nias.res.in/170/.
Journal Articles
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Pani, Narendar . 2020. “Towards an Asset-based Indicator of Poverty”. Indian Journal of Human Development: 1-10.
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Pani, Narendar . 2016. “Historical insights into modern corruption: Descriptive moralities and cooperative corruption in an Indian city”. Griffith Law Review 25: 1-17. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10383441.2016.1165644.
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Pani, Narendar . 2016. “Towards a socially consistent science and technology policy”. Current Science 110(9): 1624-1629. http://eprints.nias.res.in/1079/.
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Pani, Narendar , and Soundarya Iyer. 2015. “Towards a Framework to Determine Backwardness: Caste, Inequality and Reservations in India”. Journal of South Asian Development 10(1): 48-72.
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Pani, Narendar , and Soundarya Iyer. 2015. “Towards a Framework to Determine Backwardness: Caste, Inequality and Reservations in India”. Journal of South Asian Development 10(1): 48-72.
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Pani, Narendar . 2013. “Reform strategy may require a review”. The Hindu Survey of Indian Industry: 11–13. http://eprints.nias.res.in/582/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2013. “Cash subsidies for food and the fallacy of composition”. Yojana 57: 20–22. http://eprints.nias.res.in/351/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2012. “The situational dimension of cash transfers: The inflationary and differentiated effects of the proposed changes in food subsidies in India”. Indian Journal of Human Development 6: 31–47. http://eprints.nias.res.in/359/.
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Pani, Narendar , and Chidambaran G Iyer. 2012. “National strategies and local realities: The greenfield approach and the MGNREGS in Karnataka”. India Review 11: 1–22. http://eprints.nias.res.in/307/.
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M Singh, Amarjeet , and Narendar Pani. 2012. “Territories beyond geography: an alternative approach to the demands of the new states in India”. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 50: 121–140. http://eprints.nias.res.in/295/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2011. “Identity and political choice: The co-existence of singular affiliation politics and pluralism”. Contemporary Politics 17: 35–52. http://eprints.nias.res.in/273/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2010. “Gandhi's Concept of Action and Identity Politics”. Asian Philosophy 20: 175–194. http://eprints.nias.res.in/209/.
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Pani, Narendar , and Nikki Singh. 2010. “The collective family and migration capital: Women workers in Bengaluru's garment industry”. Sociological Bulletin 59: 367–391. http://eprints.nias.res.in/274/.
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Pani, Narendar , and K Jafar. 2010. “Mass Education-led Growth and Non-agrarian Villages: Long-term Results of the Kerala Model”. Oxford Development Studies 38: 25–42. http://eprints.nias.res.in/126/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2010. “Reservations, Exclusion, and Conflict: Some Insights from Mandal and Mysore”. India Review 9: 397–424. http://eprints.nias.res.in/214/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2010. “The place of the tribunal in Inter-State water disputes”. South Asian Water Studies Journal SAWAS 2: 37–48. http://eprints.nias.res.in/245/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2009. “Resource cities across phases of globalization: Evidence from Bangalore”. Habitat International 33: 114–119. http://eprints.nias.res.in/124/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2009. “Institutions that cannot manage change: A Gandhian perspective on the Cauvery dispute in South India”. Water Alternatives 2: 315–327. http://eprints.nias.res.in/246/.
Opinions
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Pani, Narendar . 2016. “The permanence of temporary workers”. The Hindu Business Line. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/the-permanence-of-temporary-workers/article8757406.ece.
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Reports
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Pani, Narendar , Tarun Menon, Nithin Nagaraj, Kanitkar Tejal, and Srikumar M Menon. 2020. Towards an Institutional Strategy for the Study of Sustainability (NIAS/U/RR/09/2020). Bengaluru : NIAS.
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Pani, Narendar . 2020. A Strategy for Migrant Workers (NIAS/SSc/IHD/U/PB/10 /2020). Bengaluru : NIAS.
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Pani, Narendar . 2017. The Great Indian GST Debate. Bengaluru: NIAS. http://eprints.nias.res.in/1371/.
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Akila, RS , Anamika Ajay, and Narendar Pani. 2012. R6 Can dual-member constituencies be the way forward for women's reservation?. Bangalore: NIAS. http://eprints.nias.res.in/303/.
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Pani, Narendar , and Chidambaran G Iyer. 2011. R1 Evaluation of the impact of processes in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Karnataka. Bangalore: National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. http://eprints.nias.res.in/420/.
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Pani, Narendar . 2011. R2 A note on the inflationary potential of cash transfers. Bangalore: National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. http://eprints.nias.res.in/421/.
Working Papers
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Pani, Narendar , Stefan Strohschneides, Anshuman Behera, Pablo Holwitt, and Ines Kranert. 2019. “Understanding Volunteerism in Civil Safety and Security: An International Perspective (NIAS/CSS/CRE/U/WP/012/2019)”.
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P, Shihabudeen , Debosree Banerjee, Kshitija Joshi, and Narendar Pani. 2019. “Ignored in Life, Forgotten in Death: The Nature of Agricultural Labour Suicides (NIAS Working Paper 11 - 2019)”.
Prof Pani has offered a number of courses at different institutions. He is currently offering a course at NIAS on the 'Ontology of Indian development'.
National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India signed an agreement on June 3, 2015 for collaboration on a policy research initiative on inequality and human development. The aim of this initiative is to develop policy options based on a multidisciplinary conceptualization of inequality and to contribute towards public discourse to enable more informed policy choices. The motivation for this collaboration stems from the concern that popular discourse on inequality in India has tended to be fragmented. This policy research initiative based on multidisciplinary approaches will expand our ability to understand the dynamic effects that inequality has on other processes in society such as on growth, individual aspirations, and rise of regional identities.
I have also been personally involved in a longer term project on the philosophy and practice of Indian political economy. This project has had multiple components. One of the components was a conference on Indian political philosophy organized jointly with the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, South Asian Studies at Yale University and NIAS on July 6, 7 & 8 2015.
Another longer term interest is studying cities as action. This has so far led to a series of papers and could over time lead to a book.
Prof Narendar Pani has been giving lectures at a variety of fora in India and abroad since the 1990s.
Prof Narendar Pani has been writing edit page articles in newspapers since 1977 and wrote editorials between 1982 and 2007. As this writing has been very frequent it has not been possible to keep count, but he estimates that he has written around 2500 editorials and 1000 articles. The effort has been to look at issues, including national and international ones, from a local, decentralized perspective.
- Narendar Pani, "The Virus of Democratically Elected Authoritarianism",India China Institute, 19 July 2020
- Narendar Pani, "The art of walking on a knife-edge" The Hindu, 30 August 2018
- Narendar Pani, "Siddaramaiah’s brand of sense and sensitivity in an election year," The Hindu, 16 March 2017
- Narendar Pani, "Fear and Identity Politics in Urban Spaces", The Hindu Business Line, 26 September 2016
- Narendar Pani, "Boys get to be born in better hospitals", The Hindu Business Line, 24 August 2016
- Narendar Pani, "ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಹೂಡಿಕೆದಾರರಿಗಾಗಿ ದೇಶೀ ಹೂಡಿಕೆಯ ತ್ಯಾಗ", Prajavani, 18 August 2016
- Narendar Pani, "ತಳಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಪರಿಣಾಮ ಬೀರದ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಸುಧಾರಣೆ", Prajavani, 19 August 2016
- Narendar Pani, "In India, sport is divorced from play", The Hindu Business Line, 22 July 2016