Department of Economics

About Department of Economics

 

After the partition of the country, the teaching of Economics in this University was centered in Government College, Hoshiarpur under the guidance of Professor K K Dewett. His hands were strengthened by the appointment of Professor S B Rangnekar in 1951. The location of the department was shifted to the Chandigarh Campus in 1958 and it continues to be a leading center of teaching, research and learning of economics in the region.

The department has had the honour of having produced many well-known economists like Dr. Manmohan Singh (former Prime Minister of India), Late Dr. G.K. Chadha (former President of South Asian University, New Delhi and former Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi) and Dr. B S Minhas. The department also had the privilege of having had Dr. Manmohan Singh, Dr. Gautam Mathur (former Director of the Institute of Manpower Planning, New Delhi, and Ex Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University), Dr. Karam Singh Gill (former Advisor, Planning Commission and Ex Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar), Dr. G S Bhalla, (former Member Planning Commission and Ex Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) and Dr. G.K. Chadha on its faculty. The department is actively engaged in the following areas:

1. Chair Professors: Chair Professorships are vital for maintaining the highest quality faculty as they enrich the academic environment and create opportunities for academic collaboration, thereby attracting the brightest scholars from different parts of the country. In view of this, Panjab University offers following chairs to the distinguished Indian economists:
   1. Jawahar Lal Nehru Chair: Panjab University alumnus, Dr. Manmohan Singh (former Prime Minister of India) who taught in the Department of Economics, has been nominated as Chair Professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru Chair.
   2. Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair: Prof. Yoginder K Alagh (noted Economist and the Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat) has been nominated as Chair Professor of Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair.
2. Internationalization:
   1. A number of international students from Iran, Afghanistan, Thailand, etc. have been studying at both undergraduate and Post- graduate levels, which reflects student diversity in the department.
   2. The department has the privilege of having outstanding faculty members who have been selected as Fullbright-Nehru fellow and have visited United States higher education institutions for Fulbright-Nehru Educational Administrators Seminar held at Chicago, Washington DC and New York.
   3. The Department has recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Wurzburg, Germany under which student exchange, faculty exchange and collaborative work will be undertaken.
   4. The department is also actively engaged through the office of Director, Research Promotion Cell (RPC) for an academic collaboration with the Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
3. Economic Consultation: The faculty of the department of Economics is actively engaged in providing consultation on economic and policy issues to state Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh (U.T.) and Government of India.
4. Fellowships: Faculty members of the department have received various prestigious research scholarships such as Fullbright-Nehru fellowship, DAAD Scholarship for Academic Exchange with Germany, etc.
5. Research Activities: Departmet is UGC SAP DRS-II recipient and the research activity in the department can be broadly classified into five following areas:
   1. Economic Development and Structural Change
   2. Public Policy and Governance
   3. Money, Trade and Finance
   4. Agricultural Economics
   5. Industrial Economics
   The faculty members are actively involved in guiding Post Doctoral, Ph.D. as well as M Phil and M.A. research students.
6. Research Publications: All the faculty members have contributed academically by publishing extensively in research journals of repute and other professional publications, besides undertaking Government of India / State sponsored projects. Faculty members have also shown keen interest in economic issues of academic and public interest as is evident from their publications in the news papers and in the form of books, articles, working papers, monographs, etc.

With such a competent faculty, the department, as always, continues to be a leading center for training in Economics in the entire North-West region. This fact has been amply borne out by the success rate of its alumni in various competitive examinations and academic institutes both within the country and abroad. Thanks to the leadership and contributions of the old stalwarts, the department had a glorious past, and now given the professional caliber and moral commitment of the present faculty as well as the support staff (non-teaching), has a bright future as well.