Like Karl Marx in Kolkata

The year was 1993 and a report was talked about by Indian economists interested in policy formulation. This was the Khatkhate report on financial-sector reforms. Only the privileged few had access. Despite a precondition set by the author that the report should be disseminated and debated, as far as I know, it has never been placed in the public domain. That’s the Khatkhate tragedy. Khatkhate is a name that should have immediate brand recognition, outside the fraternity/sorority of economists. There are few commentators who write with such sarcasm, satire and wit, backed with erudition, and yet manage to produce good copy.

Deena Khatkhate has worked for the RBI, IMF, the UN system and the World Bank, before retiring from the IMF and revamping the academic journal World Development. He has published in most professional journals one can think of. And if every employer disliked what he had to say, he must have written worthwhile stuff.
So why doesn’t the name have wider recognition? First, he writes mostly about the financial sector and there, too, rarely about the capital market. That’s perceived to be esoteric stuff, not easy to identify with. Second, his popular writings have appeared mostly in business and academic journals. Third, he has sometimes been constrained to write under an alias.

... contd.