Expenditure on education, nutrition is a great investment: Rajan

Amid the heated political debate over freebies, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan says he had written to the Election Commission of India as the RBI governor for some strictures on poll promises pertaining to loan waivers. Rajan says that allocating benefits for the poorest households is not a bad investment. “If I spend on better nutrition for kids or provide them good schooling, it is a great investment,” Rajan says during an exclusive interaction with Fortune India.

“A general voter understands that to some extent the freebies are not sustainable. I think we are the prisoners of our own instruments. So what are the instruments around which the people are galvanising? Broadly government jobs, reservations and getting more freebies. It is incumbent on people like us, the intellectuals, and the media to move the needle on the things that people should ask for from their government. People should be asking for public services, health and education and so on and then freebies,” says economist Rohit Lamba. Rajan and Lamba’s latest book ‘Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future’ touches upon contemporary issues related to accelerating the country’s economic growth.