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Journalism of Courage
Underscoring that RBI and the government are not adversaries,governor D Subbarao today said the disagreements are ‘natural’ and mechanisms need to be devised to work through the obvious differences.
“The government and RBI are not adversaries,we share a common goal. And I think some disagreement is natural,” Subbarao said at the central bank’s headquarters here after releasing a book containing unpublished essays by the late RBI governor IG Patel.
“There are disagreements within the government,there are disagreements between the government and regulators and the public policy institutions. In fact,I would worry if there is complete agreement,” he said.
As a way forward,Subbarao said the two need to devise mechanisms which could help to work through the obvious differences.
“Wisdom arises out of disagreement,but what we need is a mechanism for distilling wisdom out of this disagreement,” said the RBI governor.
Reading an excerpt from the book “Of Economics,Policy and Development: An Intellectual Journey of IG Patel,” Subbarao also spoke on the likely fallouts of stand-offs in case of disagreements.
“Don’t knit-pick,pick your battles and once you pick your battle,fight it valiantly,” he said,summarising the policy of the late Patel.
In case of a likely stand-off,the “ultimate defence” for the RBI governor to justify his actions “is democracy and the tradition of free debate,” Subbarao said.
The book is edited by former RBI governor YV Reddy and ex-research director at the central bank Deena Khatkhate.
