For the Left, these 2 women, 12 men are Indian economy’s cross-border terror

These experts work for international agencies like the World Bank and McKinsey, so Left parties feel they would have their own ‘‘agendas’’ (read American) to push.

Between them, these “outsiders” might be able to influence the consultative groups of which they are members, the Left claims. It even alleges that they would get access to national policies and secrets.

The facts: 13 of these 14 “outsiders” are Indians.

As for subverting the discussion, this is how the format works. Each member of the consultative group is given the same set of questions and asked for suggestions on the same topics. Like all other members, the outsiders make a short presentation, with their suggestions. Given the strength of these panels, these outsiders are outnumbered by roughly 30 to one.

It is up to the Planning Commission to pick the suggestions it likes. No discussions are held and there is no platform for these persuasive outsiders to sway other members. And no, they are not given access to secret documents, just status reports. This is what they bring to the table:

John Briscoe, senior water advisor, World Bank is on the Consultative Group on Water Resources. A representative of the Bank at all major conclaves on water management issues, Briscoe served as a water engineer in South Africa, Bangladesh and Mozambique, and then taught water resources engineering at the University of North Carolina. While with the World Bank, he worked as a senior economist for Brazil on water and sanitation issues.

Alok Bansal, senior transport planner, World Bank, is on the Consultative panel on Transport. This IIT Kanpur graduate did his PhD from Houston. He spent over a decade with the National Council for Applied Economic Research and was part of the World Bank report on India’s transport sector (2002).

Firoza Mehrotra, Deputy Regional Programme Director, UNIFEM, is on the Consultative Group on Gender and Development. The 1974, Haryana-cadre IAS officer spearheaded the movement for checking female infanticide in Haryana. She was additional advisor Planning Commission before she moved to UNIFEM on deputation.

K. Seetha Prabhu, Head, Human Development Resource Centre, UNDP, is on the Consultative Group on Social Justice and Empowerment. Taught at Bombay University before joining UNDP. Worked extensively on gender-based studies. She chaired a discussion on human development report with Left economist Jayati Ghosh who who has been seeking her ouster.

Sudipto Mundle is ADB’s deputy chief of mission. He is on the Consultative Groups on Agriculture, Financial Resources and Transport. He has been a consultant to the Finance Ministry and has authored books on public finance, pollution control and rural transformation. He has also worked at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

Pramath Sinha, Principal, McKinsey is on the Consultative Group on Higher and Technical Education. He is the founding dean of the Indian School of Business (Hyderabad). The metallurgical engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, also holds a PhD and MSE from the University of Pennsylvania.

Adil Zainulbhai, Director, McKinsey is on the Consultative Group on Industry. The IIT Mumbai mechanical engineering graduate who also holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration, moved to India last month to the McKinsey unit in Mumbai after heading the the company’s office at Washington DC. He is said to have remarked: “We were the first consultants to set up base (here) in 1992, a year after Mr Manmohan Singh initiated the economic reforms.”

Joydeep Sengupta, Principal, McKinsey is on the Consultative group on Agriculture. He has worked on wholesale banking and also served several central banks in Asia and Europe.

Uttam Dave, on the Consultative Group on Tourism, is the former CEO of Pannel Kerr Forster and now with Inter-Globe Hotels. With more than 16 years’ experience, he helped develop tourism development plans for the Chandrababu Naidu government as well as Kerala. Dave, who studied at St Stephen’s in Delhi, later obtained a Master’s degree from Massachusetts. “Just being associated with an international firm does not make me a foreign expert. I am very much an Indian,’’ he says.

Arun Maira, Chairman of the Boston Consultancy Group, is on the Consultative Group on Industry. He worked for 25 years in India before moving to the US between 1989 and 1999 to lead international consultancy practices. Says the Stephanian: ‘‘All I know is that I have been invited to take part in a consultation group which is not a decision-making body. It’s mainly to bounce ideas. The Commission hasn’t asked me to leave.’’

J S Baijal, a trustee of Morgan Stanley India, is on the Consultative Group on Financial Resources. Has been Secretary to the Government of India with stints at Ministry of Finance. He was Member-Secretary of the Planning Commission between June 1986 and 1989. He has also chaired a panel on cost and time overruns at the SAIL Durgapur Plant. A life-member of ICRIER, he is on boards of companies like ICICI and Denso India.

Vipul Tuli, Principal, McKinsey, is on the Consultative Group on Power and Energy. A graduate of IIT Delhi, he has written about China’s threat to India and on why India must make changes to its IITs and regional engineering colleges.

Shirish Sankhe, Principal, McKinsey, is on the consultative panel on Transport. In 2001, he along with some others at McKinsey did a study for the Vajpayee government and came up with a 13-step to-do list which they said would bring about a dream scenario in the Indian economy. Studied chemical engineering in 1984 at Washington University in St Louis

Gautam Kumra from McKinsey is on the Consultative Group on Health and Family Welfare. An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Kumra was part of a roadmap on healthcare which McKinsey created for CII in 2002. His report had slammed the failure of health insurance in India.